Seattle Makes the World Cup Pitch
Courtesy Slippery Joaquin, from our Flickr pool
Seattlest has written extensively on the success of soccer in the Emerald City, so it comes as no surprise -- nay, an expectation now -- that Seattle is officially on the list of 18 cities that would host World Cup matches if FIFA picks the United States as host country for 2018 or 2022.
Not only that, but we’re one of only three cities in the lineup, announced today by US Soccer, that offers two venues at which to play -- Qwest Field, and Husky Stadium.
The USA Bid Committee makes its formal pitch to FIFA in May, and FIFA will announce the host countries for both 2018 and 2022 on December 2.
Picking the final American lineup of cities apparently took nine months, mulling over 37 cities and 58 stadiums as potential hosts, before a series of cuts produced the maximum allowed 18 cities.
The Times’ Jose Romero posts a great, succinct roundup of the venues comprising the American bid.
Among the cities that didn’t make the cut were four that hosted matches in 1994, when last the Cup came to America: Detroit, Orlando, San Francisco, and sullen 2016 Olympics loser, Chicago.
US Soccer officials say they picked the bid cities using 21 different criteria based on FIFA requirements. But aside from our world-class stadiums and fans, we’d like to believe Seattle made it for fear if we weren’t picked, a pissed-off mob and marching band would have assembled at Occidental Park, trekked to US Soccer HQ, and burned the place down.
