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USA's Landon Donovan scores a goal on a penalty kick in a World Cup qualifier against Honduras, played this past summer at Soldier Field; Photo by Senor Codo
Earlier this week, we mentioned the current U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Yesterday, the bid committee announced a new push for cities to show their support for their role in the bid, including Soldier Field. As of this afternoon, Chicago had around 4,500; Seattle is the overall leader with over 13,000 supporters signed up and surprise Atlanta (~11,000) coming in second.
Originally, 58 stadiums expressed interest in hosting World Cup matches, a list that this summer was cut to 45 stadiums in 38 cities. Currently, there are 32 stadiums from 27 cities still in the running to host matches should the U.S. be awarded one of the two tournaments. According to a representative associated with the bid that we spoke with, the list of stadiums will be further cut down to 18 to 20 cities by the time the U.S. submits their bid book to FIFA next May.
What of FIFA's requirements for a stadium? According to a press release from the U.S. bid committee, "FIFA’s criterion requires a candidate host nation to provide a minimum of 12 stadiums and a maximum of 18 capable of seating 40,000 or more spectators. Stadiums with a minimum capacity of 80,000 are required by FIFA for consideration to play host to the Opening Match and Final Match." So what are you waiting for? ">Show Soldier Field some World Cup love.
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Yawn. Let a nation who actually loves the game have the World Cup.
Besides, there are numerous professional sports teams already in Chicago should you really want to watch grown men chase balls around.
I don't particularly want the world to see what a mess was made of Soldier Field. Go Seattle! Or Atlanta!
Unlike the Olympics, countries host the World Cup, not cities. If the US were to go get the World Cup, Chicago would most likely be one the many cities hosting games, but also would not get the final.
Does anyone know how many games Soldier Field hosted in 1994? I can't imagine more than a few. Not really a big deal for Chicago overall, in terms of impact on the city or on the [rightly maligned] field itself. As a bit of a soccer fan, this would be pretty cool to see [as a 10-year old, I unfortunately didn't see any games in 1994].
I was all set to show my support but your link is broken.
I'd bet on the US hosting one of those years as the 1994 World Cup made piles of money and FIFA loves money more than anything else, including the game itself.
Doesn't Soldier Field not hold enough people for to qualify for World Cup matches? Or is that what aaronsinger is talking about above; we could host qualifying matches but not the final?
Soldier Field currently has a capacity of 61,500, so it could do prelims and knock-out round, but not the final or opening match.
In 1994, Soldier Field co-hosted Group C along with the Cotton Bowl, so it hosted 3 of the 6 group play matches. It then hosted one match in the round of 16, but none after that, so four total.