Should FIFA decide to move the tournament, I hope they don't simply give the World Cup to the United States. I hope they have a revote. And I'd actually advocate Australia. I though the Australian bid was strong four years ago, and this way FIFA could still go somewhere new while also keeping the 2022 World Cup in Asia (I know Australia isn't in Asia, but they are for FIFA).
With FIFA's rotation policy, South America and Europe can't host in 2022. Qatar took Asia out of the equation for 2026, which leaves just North America and Africa (they won't go back to South America so soon). The only nations that have expressed serious interest in the 2026 hosting assignment are the U.S. and Canada. Those plans have gotten very far along. Who's to say that the U.S. would want to host in 2022 instead?
There are a couple reasons why I'd prefer 2026, not the least of which is quarterfinal games in Washington and Boston or Washington and Philadelphia or Boston and Philadelphia on the 4th of July. It doesn't take a math major to figure out that July 4, 2026 will be a very significant date in American history. There should be something special going on on that day, and World Cup quarterfinals would definitely qualify.
But let's assume for a minute that the U.S. does end up hosting eight years from now. Where would the games be? In 1994, the games were played in nine cities. That was also the last time the World Cup featured only 24 teams and 48 games. Now there are 64 games between 32 teams. In fact, FIFA requires you to have at least 12 stadiums. This rule can be bent (South Africa only had 10, and there were two in Johannesburg), but finding 12 cities that have big enough football stadiums and would be willing to host games would be fairly easy in this country.
Assuming the final would be played at the Rose Bowl again (and why wouldn't it?), it would also be safe to assume that MetLife Stadium, the 49ers' new stadium, Soldier Field in Chicago and Jerry's World would be locks to host. But where else? Well, Washington and Boston would be safe bets. I'm not sure about Philadelphia (the stands are really close to the field, so it might not be wide enough), but if they can figure out a configuration that works, I'd say you could add Philly to the "lock" category.
That gives us eight host cities: the four big ones in the Northeast, one in the Midwest, one in the Southwest and two on the West Coast. It'd be smart to then use the other four to balance it out. Seattle would absolutely have to be one of those four. The loyalty that fan base shows the Sounders on a regular basis (playing in the same stadium in the Seahawks) is enough to earn the third West Coast hosting nod. I'd like say the same thing about Columbus, which always hosts the Mexico game in World Cup qualifying, but I'm not sure Columbus has enough cache to be considered a lock. Especially with larger cities in major markets that would be interested.
You'd have to figure somewhere in the Southeast would get the nod, whether that's Miami or Tampa or Atlanta. With the Falcons building a new stadium, Atlanta would probably be the most likely of those three. That leaves us with two. I think we'd be looking at either Phoenix, Houston or Denver for one. Phoenix doesn't have an MLS team and that desert heat would be very uncomfortable, so I think they're out. And you probably want to stay away from Denver's altitude if you can. So that leaves us with Houston.
Chicago probably won't be the only Midwestern city that gets to host, so my final choice would be somewhere in Big Ten country. Columbus would definitely be in the discussion and so would Detroit, which hosted games during the 1994 World Cup. Indianapolis? Maybe. But I actually have a feeling that they'd go with Minnesota. The Vikings are building their new stadium and have already been awarded a Super Bowl, and from what I understand, they want to bring an MLS team to the Twin Cities, as well. It could easily be one of the Florida cities, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Minneapolis would be selected as the 12th city over Miami.
So, the final roll call for 2022 World Cup stadiums, should it be moved to the U.S. would look like this:
- Los Angeles--Rose Bowl (Final)
- San Francisco--Levi's Stadium (3rd Place)
- New York--MetLife Stadium (Semifinal)
- Dallas--AT&T Stadium (Semifinal)
- Boston--Gillette Stadium
- Philadelphia--Lincoln Financial Field
- Washington--FedEx Field
- Chicago--Soldier Field
- Seattle--CenturyLink Field
- Atlanta--New Atlanta Stadium
- Houston--Reliant Stadium
- Minneapolis--Vikings Stadium
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