US is bidding for 2018 and 2022 World Cups

[ProjectMaximus]

Great article today from ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090817

I loved that article. Thanks for sharing.

[cdb]

Great article today from ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090817

What a good article, I have forwarded it to all my fellow soccer fans I could think of.... I can't wait for September 5th to see Jozy back and Nats playing in a hospitable and non-urine throwing environment... We should all get a thread going on where to go watch that game, and overrun the place with USA soccer fans... There are enough of us to take over a bar....

[ProjectMaximus]

ill be there.

[GatorShane]

Jax making the third cut is awesome. The city has a year to get the bid complete and try to convince the U.S.A. committe to select us. If selected we would have 8 or 12 years to improve the downtown, airport, and mass transit. (thats assuming the U.S. gets selected). This event is basically the Super Bowl for the world. Lets hope the city gets on board. This would be a huge international event and would bring in millions of tourist dollars, not to mention unparralled exposure.

[JaxByDefault]

The National Bid Committee is making the rounds this month to determine who makes the final cut.

When is the JAX visit? Who is our committee? Why hasn't the city tried to engage and enlist local soccer fans?!

Nashville: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090923/SPORTS11/909230391/U.S.+soccer+official+visits+Nashville

St. Louis: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/09/14/daily89.html

[ProjectMaximus]

From the Nashville article above:

"There are costs, obviously with facilities and security, and items like that," Spyridon said. "It's expensive, and it is on par with Super Bowl-level expenditures. But the economic impact would exceed that beyond tenfold."

[ProjectMaximus]

Sign the petition to support Jax:

http://www.gousabid.com/city

http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/jacksonville-fl/

[JaxByDefault]

^ Done. Thanks for posting the links!

[JaxBorn1962]

Can Jacksonville be a host city?

Very speculative, but one writer mentioned Jacksonville in his article on the subject.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AtpI2tTzuJXSa9WoEDg1rxMmw7YF?slug=ap-worldcupbids&prov=ap&type=lgns

Since 1994, large new stadiums also have opened in Baltimore; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Denver; Glendale, Ariz.; Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Seattle; and Tampa, Fla. In addition, the Superdome in New Orleans was refurbished after Hurricane Katrina.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090202/sp_nm/us_soccer_world_us_1

No U.S. cities have yet been penciled in as potential hosts for matches said Gulati, who added that an initial shortlist could feature as many as 40 stadiums.

"We haven't reached out to cities yet although a few have reached out to us. We have 25 to 40 venues that could host the World Cup," said Gulati who noted that the decision on cities would not be made until after the bid vote.

"We have an abundance of choices," he said citing the many existing and planned stadiums in the country.

Remember, this would be for 2018 or 2022. In my informed but far from expert opinion, the US is as much of a lock as a country can possibly be to get one of those two World Cups. Can we ride the strength of our country's bid and host a few of the games? Is this realistic? Forget the Super Bowl, the World Cup is much much bigger.

Just some facts about hosting:

-There were 9 venues in 9 cities for the 1994 World Cup in the US. The Citrus Bowl in Orlando was the only one in the Southeast.
-There were 10 venues in 9 cities for France '98. This World Cup also saw an increase in teams from 24 to 32 and increase of total games from 52 to 64. 
-10 stadiums in Japan and 10 stadiums in South Korea for 2002, all in different cities (Obviously, fewer games at each stadium)
-Germany '06 had 12 venues in 12 cities.
-South Africa in 2010 was originally to have 13 venues in 10 cities. Now it is down to 10 in 9 cities, assuming there are no more changes due to delayed construction.
-Brazil in 2014 has 19 cities vying for what is planned to be a total of 12 hosts.
-Current FIFA regulations require venues to be minimum 40,000 capacity.
-Regulations also require host nations to have between 8 and 10 host cities. (A nation can petition to have more...SEE Brazil '14)
-South Africa's preparation for the World Cup has spurred construction of a major 80 km railway to connect Johannesburg and Pretoria as well as an expansive BRT system elsewhere.
-Brazil has also announced a $15 Billion high-speed rail network to be completed ahead of their World Cup.
-The 1994 US World Cup averaged 69,000 attendance per game...still the current record for a World Cup.
-The '94 World Cup had a total of just under 3.6 million total attendance...also still the current record despite having 12 fewer games than all the subsequent Cups played.
-The '94 World Cup is the highest-attended single sporting event in US history.
-Even if they don't have tickets, World Cup fans travel to the games in droves to support their country just by being in the same city. 

This might all just be pie in the sky, but I wanted to share anyway.

Yes, but Jacksonville isn't a Miami or Atlanta were these two cities would be better to Host these World Cups.