TCF Stadium as World Cup Venue — Follow Up

Sunil Gulati, President of US Soccer

I was contacted Thursday morning by a PR firm working as an agent for US Soccer. They ran across my story about TCF Stadium being one of the 70 stadiums that could be part of a 2018 or 2022 World Cup should the United States win the bid for either of those tournaments. I was invited to participate in a US Soccer phone-in press conference with the president of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati. Normally I wouldn’t be invited to this type of event. The fact that US Soccer went out and hired an independent PR firm to bring attention to all of this is a sign of how hard the Federation is trying to stir up publicity concerning these bids.

I was glad I listened in, even though I could have waited until later in the day when US Soccer posted a summary of the transcript of the press conference.  There’s something about listening to the tone of questions and answers that gives one a more nuanced understanding of an event.

A couple of quick points of interest that I took away from that press conference:

US Soccer says all venues are in the loop to be considered.  I have a hard time believing that as some of the stadiums on the list may be torn down by then and others do not have the seating capacity the Federation would like to see for a WC venue. They stated US Soccer will not be able accommodate all the ticket requests they will receive for this event should the US actually win the bid. US Soccer seems interested in breaking the old attendance record currently held by the US from 2004 Cup.  So I ask, what are the chances of these games being played in a 50,000 seat stadium like TCF stadium when every game will be able to draw 70,000 or more?

I think there’s a good chance the US could get the event sooner rather than later because of the financial crisis throughout the world. The US is one of the few countries in the world that won’t have to build one bit of infrastructure to host a WC. The financial crisis was brought up in a question by a Mexican reporter. Sunil Gulati, an economics professor himself, was quick to point out that he thought the US would work their way out of the crisis sooner rather than later but also pointed to the existing infrastructure in the US.

I wasn’t able to ask a question at the conference.  Of course they stuck to mainstream newspaper reporters from across the US. Bruce Brothers of the Pioneer Press was able to ask about the TCF Stadium.  Gulati said there are a great number of factors playing into where these games will be played. Seating capacity, field dimensions and dimensions around the field, are some of the biggest factors, along with accommodations.
Interestingly, Gulati said smaller stadiums near hosting cities could be a venue for a World Cup friendly as there are always a few games in the week or so prior to the tournament start. Gulati said it was likely 9-12 venues would be chosen for the actual World Cup games. I would think that Chicago’s Soldier Field will be a no-brainer as one of those venues and with TCF Stadium being only an hour flight away, it seems that a friendly here would indeed be a definite possibility.
Gulati said it mattered that a town had a pro team as we do in the Twin Cites. He never mentioned the Thunder by name but he had mentioned the USL earlier. He said even a strong state youth organization with good participation numbers will play into the big picture of getting a venue.

So really, at this point it’s a crap shoot. The announcement of 70 venues and the big press conference was definitely staged to get interest behind the event so the US has a better chance of landing one of the two World Cup events.