Monday, June 18, 2018

Coming to (North) America

So, in the end, the vote wasn't really that close at all.  The heads of FIFA's 205 member confederations either saw how superior the bid was or how much money there was to be made.  Whatever the reason, what we've long suspected has now officially been confirmed.  The 2026 World Cup is coming to the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Even though it's still eight years away, there's a lot we already know about the first World Cup in North America since that tremendous edition hosted by the United States in 1994.  Instead of having one opening game, they'll have three...with each of the home teams playing in their home country.  The Mexico game at Azteca, the USA game at the Rose Bowl and the Canada game TBA, but most likely in Toronto.  We also know that the final will be at MetLife Stadium and the semifinals will be in Dallas and Atlanta.

We know these things because they were in the bid book, which is available online.  Although, I must admit I'm somewhat confused by some of the plans, too.

The most confusing thing to me is the fact that the US will host 75 percent of the tournament, but won't have 75 percent of the stadiums.  This is the first one that will be expanded to 48 teams, so they need 16 stadiums instead of 12.  Since 75 percent of 16 is 12, I figured that meant it'd be 12 U.S. cities, two Canadian cities, Mexico City and one additional city in Mexico.  But evidently that's not the case.  Only 10 of the stadiums will be in the U.S., while Canada and Mexico will have three host cities each.  And, since there are only three contenders remaining in each country, we know what they are.  Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton in Canada, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico.  So, instead of dropping just five of the remaining 17 American cities, that number will be cut almost in half.

Some of the cities are obvious.  The final and opening game were going to be in New York and LA in either order (my guess is the 2028 Olympics were involved in the decision), and you knew Jerry's World would be involved.  Atlanta's got a gorgeous new stadium and takes care of the Southeast, so that selection wasn't surprising, either.  But that leaves just six prospects, which will leave some tough decisions when it comes time to actually choose the final stadium list.

Cincinnati, Baltimore and Kansas City are most likely out.  Cincinnati and Kansas City aren't large enough cities, and Baltimore's too close to Washington.  I'd imagine they'll want to stay away from Denver because of the elevation, and the Central Florida humidity likely knocks out Orlando.

That leaves Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.  There's no chance the rabid Seattle fan base isn't rewarded with World Cup games, and San Francisco is a virtual lock since they need another West Coast city for late games.  Houston, meanwhile, is the fourth-largest city in the country and provides easy access to Latin America, making it easy for those fans to attend.

Three down.  Now for the three in the East.  Washington's the nation's capital, and there will likely be quarterfinal games on July 4, 2026.  Is there any other place for that 250th-anniversary celebration?  I didn't think so.  (To the guy who put on Twitter that he wants a USA-England final on that day, it can't happen.  The final's on a Sunday, and the 4th of July is a Saturday.)  Actually, there are two quarterfinals on the American Sestercentennial (yes, I looked that up).  Can you think of anything more appropriate than Washington and Boston?

Now we're left with Philadelphia, Miami and Nashville for the other host city.  Honestly, I can see it being any of the three.  Philadelphia's the largest city, but could be a victim of the Northeast Corridor already having three host cities.  So, I think it's more likely to be either Miami or Nashville, both of which will have MLS teams by then.  Just a hunch that they'll choose Miami.

Philadelphia and Nashville would be included on my list if there were 12 U.S. cities instead of 10, but since there aren't, these are the American hosts I'd select: New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Washington, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle.  In Canada, it's Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton, and in Mexico, it's Guadalajara and Monterrey, as well as Azteca in Mexico City, one of the most famous soccer venues in the world.

If I were making these decisions, I'd make it incredibly easy and just have each stadium host one group so teams don't have to travel.  But that makes too much sense, so of course they aren't doing that.  Instead, teams will be crisscrossing the continent and  going from one country to another (although Canada and Mexico would play their first four games at home as long as they win their group and round of 32 game, and the U.S., obviously, will play all of its games at home).

One of the geniuses on either FOX or BeIn was concerned about teams potentially having to go from Guadalajara to Montreal, nearly 5,000 miles away, but they'll obviously set it up to avoid extreme travel.  They implied cities will be grouped together, but judging by which games would be in certain cities, there will still be some heavy travel involved (there wouldn't be if they did it my way, BTW).

All of those logistics will have to be hashed out, but they've got eight years to do it.  For one, they've got to figure out how the keep the three hosts separated (which I think they already did in the bid book).  It's also worth noting that there will be 16 more games, but the tournament will take the same amount of time, so there will be a lot more four-game days during group play.  We won't even know the official dates until probably sometime next year.

But none of that matters now.  All that matters is that the World Cup is coming to America, and it's going to be quite the party.  And, hey, the USA already qualified!  That's enough of a reason to celebrate, isn't it?

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