United 2026 bid: The case for USA, Canada and Mexico

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Mar 26, 2018

FIFA published the bid books in which United 2026 (USA, Canada and Mexico) and Morocco laid out their cases to host the 2026 World Cup.

United 2026:
Bid Book | Executive Summary

Morocco:
Bid Book | Executive Summary

United 2026 proposes to play the, 48-team, 80-game tournament (16 more teams and 16 more games than in the current format) at 16 venues across the three North American countries.

That means the 60 U.S. matches would be played at only 10 of 17 cities in the bid. It proposes a "west to east" flow as the tournament progresses, ending with the final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, noting, for those counting, the airport connections in the New York/New Jersey area to more than 181 cities and its more than 100,000 high quality beds.

United 2026 proposes that Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, host the semifinals. But it gives FIFA -- which will have the final say on venues and schedule -- multiple options, listing the possibilities of the 23 venues for the matches they might host:

U.S. bid cities:
Atlanta (semifinal)
Baltimore (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Boston (semifinal)
Cincinnati (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Dallas (semifinal/final)
Denver (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Houston (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Kansas City (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Los Angeles (opening game/final)
Miami (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Nashville (quarterfinal/third-place game)
New York/New Jersey (opening game/final)
Orlando (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Philadelphia (quarterfinal/third-place game)
San Francisco Bay Area (semifinal)
Seattle (quarterfinal/third-place game)
Washington D.C. (semifinal)

The U.S. cities would host 12 of the 16 round-of-32 games, six of the eight round-of-16 games and the rest of the tournament. The three Canadian and three Mexican cities would get 10 games each -- seven group matches, two round-of-32 games and one round-of-16 game.

The tournament, which would be played over a span of 34 days with seven days off, would open with games on the first day in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

With all stadiums having of a capacity of 68,000 or more, United 2026 anticipates all 80 games being sellouts with 5.8 million in ticket sales for revenues of more than $2.1 billion.