World Cup bid delegation gets ready for US visit

Posted on by Karl Lusbec

Hi everyone,
In September, the FIFA World Cup bid delegation, headed by Harold Mayne-Nicholls, will visit 5 United States football venues. The FIFA officials trip to the US is scheduled from September 6 to 9 and will visit exclusively east coast venues due to time constraints.

The six-man delegation will be visiting and inspecting the New York, Washington, Miami, Dallas, Houston stadiums.  The US bidding committee headed by Sunil Gulati (USA Bid Committee Chairman and U.S. Soccer President) put a significant efforts in hosting the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The committee chose 18 cities in 21 venues to host the World Cup, should they win either of the bids. The average capacity of 12 of them can accomodate between 75.000 to 94.000 fans.

The FIFA officials will travel to the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, near Washington DC, Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington near Dallas and Reliant Stadium in Houston.

I mentioned in a previous articles that football in the US is growing. Not only the fan base is increasing, but the marketing means and investment are tremendous. A couple of key facts:

  • 24.4 million – The US has the second largest number of players in the world with 24.4 million people and 4.1 million who are registered.
  • 16.9 million – 16.9 million people in the US watched the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Final. Viewers included 11.9 million on ABC and 5 million on Univision.
  • Thierry Henry signed a 4.5 year contract with the New York Red Bulls, followed by Rafael Marquez.
  • The Ghana – USA game counted 19.4 million US viewers, the best US audience ever after the Brazil – Italy World Cup Final in 1994.

The FIFA delegation already visited Japan, South Korea Australia and will continue its tour of the bidding countries  with the Netherlands and Belgium on August 9 to 12. The FIFA executive committee will decide on the winner of both bids on December 2.

Karl Lusbec

 

 

 

*US Bidding cities: Georgia, Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New-York, Philadelphia, Phoenix-Glendale, Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, Washington.

 

 

4 thoughts on “World Cup bid delegation gets ready for US visit”

  1. Pingback: World Cup bid delegation gets ready for US visit « | Worldcup 2010 Score :: Worldcup 2010 Update Score and News

  2. Karl,

    http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2010/07/29/put-your-shirt-on-it-liverpool-and-manchester-united-surging-ahead-in-sponsor-stakes-290705/

    I thought this article might be of some interest to you. It was quite interesting to me when you take a look at the disparity between the “top dogs” of the EPL and the bottom dwellers. How can mid table and bottom dwellers clubs ever dream of one day rivaling top clubs? It appears to be a metaphor of our world. The rich get richer, while the poor remain poorer. In addition, well set-off individuals have no intentions of allowing a reconfiguration to the hierarchy. It might spell their downfall.

    We are thought to challenge the status quo. However, reality teaches us otherwise. This is the case of our modern atheletes. When you cannot defeat the status quo, join them. The former requires an exhaustion of great energy and sacrifices when the former promises a life of glory and riches. Many of us would forego the former for the latter. Who would not? Maybe a Saint. We complain constantly about injustices in our world, but not many us would be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to realize a different outcome. It is the reason why the hierarchy remains intact.

    FABO

    Like

  3. Pingback: Best of the Blogroll «

  4. Hi FABO,

    Interesting article indeed. Yes the rich clubs get richer and at the same time, the “poor” clubs get poorer. However, I would challenge this chart. If you consider clubs such as Wolves, Stoke, Wigan or Blackpool, it is not surprising that sponsors are not “fighting” to get their logos on their shirts, and the fees are low.

    On the other hand, these clubs do not have the financial capacity to keep up with the Man Utd, or Chelsea. By going further in the logic, would the “poor” clubs want to try to match the rich ones? My point is that some clubs have tried to change their steady financial approach by taking risks to try to compete with the bigger ones. They did fail. I think of Charlton Athletic who was a regular club in the mid ranking Premier League and has disappeared from the football landscape.

    My take is that all clubs do not play in the same arena, and those who are tempted to might suffer from the consequences.

    Like

Comments are closed.