World Cup 2026 stadium list drops from 49 to 44
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 7, 2017
The
three cities that didn't affirm their interest are Green Bay (Lambeau Field isn't wide enough), San Diego (Qualcomm Stadium's future is uncertain) and Calgary (no plan to get McMahon Stadium to 40,000
seats). In both Montreal and Toronto, one of the two stadiums drop out: Stade Saputo and Rogers Centre, respectively.
In the only other change in the bidding process, the timeline for
coming up with a shortlist has been extended from late September to some time in the fall.
Key Dates:
Fall 2017. Bid committee will issue a shortlist of cities and then provide more detailed bid documentation.
Early January 2018. Cities must their final bids.
March 16, 2018. Bid committees must be submit
final bids to meet FIFA's technical specifications (yet to be distributed). If no bid meets FIFA's terms, the 2026 hosting race will be opened up to all members (including Europe and Asia).
June 13, 2018. If any bid passes FIFA's technical requirements, it will be presented to the FIFA Congress in Moscow. Unlike other World Cup
bid campaigns that went to the FIFA executive committee (since replaced by the FIFA council), the 2026 World Cup hosting rights will be voted upon by full membership of 211 federations.
Requirements: All stadiums are required to have at least 40,000 seats for group stage matches, and a capacity of at least 80,000 to be
considered for the opening game and final.
USA (32 cities, 35 stadiums)
CITY STADIUM CAPACITY
*Atlanta, GA Mercedes-Benz Stadium (NFL future) 75,000
Baltimore,
MD M&T Bank Stadium (NFL) 71,008
Birmingham, AL Legion Field 71,594
Boston, MA (Foxborough) Gillette Stadium (NFL) 65,892
Charlotte, NC Bank of America
Stadium (NFL) 75,400
Chicago, IL Soldier Field (NFL) 61,500
Cincinnati, OH Paul Brown Stadium (NFL) 65,515
Cleveland, OH FirstEnergy Stadium (NFL) 68,710
Dallas, TX Cotton Bowl 92,100
Dallas, TX (Arlington) AT&T Stadium (NFL) 105,000
Denver, CO Sports Authority Field at Mile High (NFL) 76,125
Detroit,
MI Ford Field (NFL) 65,000
Houston, TX NRG Stadium (NFL) 71,500
Indianapolis, IN Lucas Oil Stadium (NFL) 65,700
Jacksonville, FL EverBank Field (NFL)
64,000
Kansas City, MO Arrowhead Stadium (NFL) 76,416
*Las Vegas, NV Raiders Stadium (NFL future) 72,000
Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (NFL)
78,500
*Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood) LA Stadium at Hollywood Park (NFL future) TBD
Los Angeles, CA (Pasadena) Rose Bowl
87,527
Miami, FL Hard Rock Stadium (NFL)
65,767
Minneapolis, MN U.S. Bank Stadium (NFL) 63,000
Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium (NFL) 69,143
New Orleans, LA Mercedes-Benz Superdome (NFL) 72,000
New
York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, NJ) MetLife Stadium (NFL) 82,500
Orlando, FL Camping World Stadium 65,000
Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field (NFL) 69,328
Phoenix, AZ (Glendale, AZ) University of Phoenix Stadium (NFL) 73,000
Pittsburgh, PA Heinz Field (NFL) 68,400
Salt Lake City, UT Rice-Eccles Stadium 45,807
San Antonio, TX Alamodome 72,000
San Francisco/San Jose, CA (Santa Clara) Levi's Stadium (NFL) 75,000
Seattle, WA CenturyLink Field (NFL) 69,000
Tampa, FL
Raymond James Stadium (NFL) 73,309
Washington, DC (Landover, MD) FedEx Field (NFL) 82,000
*Not yet open.
Canada (6
cities, 6 stadiums)
Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium 56,335
Montreal Stade Olympique 61,004
Ottawa Place Stadium 24,341
Regina Mosaic
Stadium 30,048
Toronto BMO Field 28,026
Vancouver BC Place 55,165
Mexico (3 cities, 3 stadiums)
Guadalajara Estadio Chivas 45,364
Mexico City Estadio Azteca 87,000
Monterrey Estadio Rayados 52,237
No one does it big like Texas.