U.S. World Cup Bid Committee Contacts 70 Possible Stadium Hosts

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

The USA Bid Committee for the '18 and '22 World Cups last week mailed letters to officials at 70 stadiums across the United States to gauge their interest in hosting World Cup matches. An announcement about the letters is expected later today. The letters, which went to markets ranging from New York-New Jersey to Fayetteville, Arkansas, mark an important, early step in the bid to host the World Cup. A full list of the venues under consideration and details about what the organizing committee is looking for will be released tomorrow during a conference call with U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati and USA Bid Committee Exec Dir David Downs. The bid committee is expected to narrow the list of potential stadium hosts to approximately 20 stadiums before submitting its bid in May '10. The U.S. is competing against bids from Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia, as well as joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain. The following chart lists some of the venues under consideration.