Chicago Off Final List Of North American World Cup Bid Cities

The final list of "potential venues" in North America's bid for the '26 FIFA World Cup will be released today. Chicago "has withdrawn from the effort" after Soldier Field last year was listed as one of 32 possible venues. Matt McGrath, a spokesperson for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said that Chicago "had pulled out of the joint bid and would not host any World Cup games, even if FIFA chooses to bring the tournament to North America." The mayor's office in a statement said, "FIFA could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/15).

Meanwhile, the British Columbia provincial government confirmed that Vancouver "had been dropped from the North American bid" (VANCOUVER SUN, 3/15). The Vancouver PROVINCE goes with the header, "B.C. Is Right To Reject FIFA's Sucker Deal."