Minnesota’s TCF Stadium Eliminated From Short List for World Cup Venue

The USA Bid Committee, assigned to find the 9-12 final stadiums used for a World Cup if the US should win the  bid for the 2018 or 2022 event, announced today that it has pared the venues down to 27. Those cities and stadiums have passed the third stage of the city and stadium proposal review process and remain under consideration as potential host venues for the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022.

The 27 remaining candidate cities offer a wide variety of markets that range in size from New York City to Jacksonville, Fla., as well as vast coast-to-coast geographic strength.  Numerous U.S. markets that did not play host to matches during FIFA World Cup in 1994 remain under consideration, including Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle and Phoenix.

Minneapolis and its Metrodome and newly finished TCF Stadium were rejected in this round.

The other 10 cities removed during this round were: Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Fayetteville, Ark.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Las Vegas, Nev.; New Orleans, La.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Salt Lake City, Utah and San Antonio, Tex.

Officials representing a total of 38 cities received the Requests for Proposal (RFP) and had from June 16 to July 29 to complete their proposals and return them to the USA Bid Committee.  The RFPs requested information from city officials covering a vast array of subjects such as tourism, climate, security, transportation, training sites, promotion and more.

“The overwhelming interest and creativity shown by the candidate cities made our extensive review process that much more difficult in narrowing down the list,” said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer.

Jurgen Mainka, Director of Marketing and Communications for the committee told IMS that they do not have specific reasons for rejections of cities or stadiums. ” It’s a complex set of factors and a complex formula,” said Mainka. “The committee is looking at many factors, from the city itself and its ability to host an event to the stadiums and their qualities.” Mainka went on to say that the committee actually plugs all those factors into a formula and then makes difficult decisions.

The 27 remaining venues average almost 74,000 in capacity and represent a wide spectrum of facilities, featuring stadiums typically used for college and professional football, including open-air, domed and retractable roof venues. All 32 stadiums currently exist or are under construction with eight featuring capacities between 80,000 and 108,000 spectators.  A list of the finalist cities and stadiums, all of which are vying to be included in the USA Bid Committee’s formal bid book to FIFA in May 2010, can be found at the end of this news release and at the bid’s official webpage, goUSAbid.com.

Mainka was asked if the smaller size of the TCF Stadium, which was the principle stadium considered in Minneapolis, was rejected because of its smaller capacity of 50,000. Mainka stated that it certainly could have been a factor. “Sunil Gulati has said that he wants a World Cup that breaks the previous record that the US holds from World Cup 1994. Size of stadiums is certainly a factor.”

Previously, Gulati had said that US Soccer would not be able to accommodate all the ticket requests they will receive for this event should the US actually win the bid and that stadiums needed to be large enough to help this situation. However, the US Soccer president said it wasn’t the only factor and that smaller stadiums could be considered if the situation was right.

In a press conference held last April, Gulati also said smaller stadiums near hosting cities could be a venue for World Cup friendlies as there are always warm-up games in the week or so prior to the tournament start.

IMS believes that Chicago with its Soldier Field will be one of the final venues. With TCF Stadium being only an hour flight away, a friendly held in the Twin Cities would still be a definite possibility.

Final 27 Cities and Stadiums