US hopes to repeat success of 1994 World Cup

By Andy Goldberg Nov 25, 2010, 4:14 GMT

Los Angeles ­ It has the facilities, the infrastructure, the organizational chops, and thanks to the huge interest in the last World Cup and the growing popularity of the David Beckham-inspired Major League Soccer, it even has the fans.

But though many football experts have long considered the US bid for the 2022 World Cup as the favourite, it must still overcome some significant hurdles if the competition is to take place in Los Angeles, New York and 16 other cities on the shortlist of the bid committee.

Chief among FIFAs concerns is the political uncertainty facing the US at the moment, where anti-spending Republicans recently regained control of Congress from Democrats who had pledged to use government funds to support the 661 million dollar bid if needed.

The bid envisages some 5 million tickets would be available for the tournament, and notes that the US is the premier market for sports sponsorship.

Other cities featured in the shortlist include Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Washington DC.

All feature stadiums that are already hosting events, though changes would need to be made to adapt them from American football venues to meet FIFA World Cup pitch size requirements.

The bid committee envisages using profits from staging the tournament to further promote football in the US.

The US previously hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament which is considered among the most commercially successful in the history of the competition. All the games were virtual sellouts, with an average attendance of 69,000. The total attendance of 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history.

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