Las Vegas makes another cut as future World Cup site

By Rob Miech

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 | 7:26 p.m.

Las Vegas continues to draw interest as a potential World Cup site, in 2018 or 2022, from the USA Bid Committee. Last month, the Sun broke a story about Sports City USA being involved in the World Cup venture. That would include the construction of a stadium by an as-yet-undisclosed entity in Las Vegas. Tuesday, Las Vegas remained on the Bid Committee's list -- as the only possible venue without a stadium -- on a list that has been whittled from 58 sites to 45.

Here is the official release:

USA BID COMMITTEE ISSUES REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS

TO 37 POTENTIAL FIFA WORLD CUP HOST CITIES FOR 2018 or 2022

Forty-Five Venues Make Short List of Candidate Stadiums in U.S.

NEW YORK (June 16, 2009) – The USA Bid Committee today announced it has issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to officials representing 37 U.S. cities that currently qualify as potential host cities to FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

The RFPs issued on Monday request information from city officials covering a vast array of subjects such as tourism, climate, security, transportation, promotion and more. The RFPs are an important step in the United States’ application that is due to FIFA in May 2010. FIFA’s 24‑member Executive Committee will study the bids, conduct site visits and name the two host nations for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in December 2010, completing a 21-month bid and review process.

The USA Bid Committee also released a short list of 45 stadiums associated with the 37 candidate host cities that represent a wide spectrum of facilities, including stadiums typically used for college and NFL football, domed and retractable roof stadiums, and venues with seating capacities ranging from 45,000-plus to more than 100,000. Forty-four of the 45 stadiums currently exist or are under construction, while one is in the planning stages. A list of the finalists can be found at the end of this news release.

The shortlist of venues comes as a result of an eight-week process where all 58 stadiums that had originally expressed their interest in being considered for the USA’s Bid, were asked to provide detailed information in a questionnaire that reflected strict FIFA requirements.

“Based on the stadium questionnaire 45 stadiums have been identified that we are confident will meet and exceed FIFA’s requirements for hosting FIFA World Cup matches,” said David Downs, the Executive Director of the USA Bid Committee. “In continuing with the selection process, we will now shift our focus to the cities and markets in connection to these venues. We want each city under consideration to have the best opportunity to present their case and, to that end, we are recommending that officials representing these cities, metro markets and stadiums form host city committees in the near future to help move our national bid forward at the local level.”

The 37 cities range in size from New York City, where the new Meadowlands Stadium will open in 2010 in nearby East Rutherford, N.J., to college town markets such as Fayetteville, Ark., and Knoxville, Tenn. California leads among U.S. states with five stadiums in consideration, followed by Texas and Florida with four stadiums each.

In the months ahead, the USA Bid Committee will work with these 37 cities/markets with the intention of announcing a final list of host cities/markets at the end of the year to be included in the Bid Book that will be delivered to FIFA in May 2010.

FIFA’s current criteria requires a candidate host nation to provide a minimum of 12 stadiums and a maximum of 18 capable of seating 40,000 or more spectators. Stadiums with a minimum capacity of 80,000 are required by FIFA for consideration to play host to the Opening Match and Final Match. The U.S. used stadiums in nine cities when it last played host to the FIFA World Cup in 1994.

The USA Bid Committee has added significant strength to its Board of Directors in recent weeks with the announcement of three new members – current U.S. Men’s National Team star Landon Donovan, U.S. National Women’s Team legend Mia Hamm and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Additional members will be added later this month and throughout the bid process.

The United States, Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia have formally declared their desire to host to the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted joint bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while Qatar and South Korea have applied as candidates to play host only to the tournament in 2022.

Passion for World Cup soccer is extremely strong in the United States, as evidenced by the demand for tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Of the 1.8 million ticket requests that have been received from more than 200 countries, approximately 93,000 have come from fans that live in the United States. Only host South Africa has had more ticket requests.

The USA Bid Committee’s efforts have earned the support of President Barack Obama, who has reached out to FIFA – the world's governing body of soccer – earlier this spring to endorse the efforts to bring the world’s largest sporting event back to the United States. In a letter to FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, President Obama noted the role soccer played in his life as a youth, and its ability to unite people, communities and nations from every continent.

“Hosting another successful World Cup is important for the continued growth of the sport in the United States. And it is important to me personally,” President Obama wrote in his letter. “As a child, I played soccer on a dirt road in Jakarta, and the game brought the children of my neighborhood together. As a father, I saw that same spirit of unity alive on the fields and sidelines of my own daughters’ soccer games in Chicago.

“Soccer is truly the world’s sport, and the World Cup promotes camaraderie and friendly competition across the globe. That is why this bid is about much more than a game. It is about the United States of America inviting the world to gather all across our great country in celebration of our common hopes and dreams."

President Obama echoed those sentiments last month in an exclusive Univision interview conducted at the White House by renowned journalist Jorge Ramos.

Metro Market/City Stadium Capacity

Atlanta Georgia Dome 71,250

Baltimore M & T Bank Stadium 71,008

Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field 71,000

Boston Gillette Stadium 71,693

Charlotte Bank of America Stadium 73,778

Chicago Soldier Field 61,000

Cincinnati Paul Brown Stadium 65,535

Cleveland Browns Stadium 72,000

Columbus, Ohio Ohio Stadium 101,568

Dallas Cotton Bowl 89,000

Dallas Cowboys Stadium 100,000

Denver INVESCO Field 76,125

Detroit Ford Field 67,188

Detroit Michigan Stadium 108,000

Fayetteville, Ark. Razorback Stadium 72,000

Houston Reliant Stadium 71,500

Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium 64,200

Jacksonville, Fla. Municipal Stadium 82,000

Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 77,000

Knoxville Neyland Stadium 100,011

Las Vegas Sports City USA N/A

Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 93,607

Los Angeles Rose Bowl 92,000+

Miami Land Shark Stadium 75,540

Minneapolis Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 64,000

Minneapolis TCF Bank Stadium 50,200

Nashville LP Field 69,143

New Orleans Louisiana Superdome 70,000

New York/N.J. New Meadowlands Stadium 82,000

Orlando Florida Citrus Bowl 65,616

Philadelphia Lincoln Financial 67,594

Phoenix/Glendale Sun Devil Stadium 73,500

Phoenix/Glendale University of Phoenix Stadium 71,000

Pittsburgh Heinz Field 65,000

Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium 45,603

San Antonio Alamodome 65,000

San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 70,500

San Francisco Stanford Stadium 50,500

San Francisco/Oakland Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 63,026

Seattle Husky Stadium 72,500

Seattle Qwest Field 67,000

St. Louis Edward Jones Dome 67,268

Tampa Raymond James Stadium 65,856

Washington, D.C. FedExField 91,704

Washington, D.C. RFK Stadium 45,600