re: World Cup Backup sites

Anyone think New Orleans or Baton Rouge could be a host city if this happens?

Yeah they are looking at either the Burbank soccer complex or King's Grant playground in Marerro.

I really hope this happens. I have to think the Houston would be a host site with Reliant.

And if not Houston Dallas would be............

FIFA want large venues, especially here in the U.S.
The fact that we have stadia that could be ready within a month for a major event is what they're counting on.

I would think most of the 1994 9 would be used this time around, too. At least these are my impressions.

First I think Palo Alto would be dropped, there aren't enough luxury boxes there, anymore, and the running track is now a hindrance. With improved security procedures in stadia world-wide, FIFA want the fans back on top the game. Stanford Stadium had a large capacity, but I don't think it's ready yet for something major like this.

Giant's Stadium (79,000) all they need is a grass pitch over the field turf with the gridiron lines. Give them a month and they're ready. ETA: they bring in a grass pitch for the MLS season until the NFL starts up, at least they did in the past. With the World Cup in June, ending the second weekend of July, that pitch would already be in place with only minor touch ups necessary to make it finals-worthy.

Gillette Stadium---ready to go. They played in old Foxboro/Sullivan Stadium in 1994.

Pontiac Silverdome--indoor venue, now demolished. Ford Field would be a nice venue, if wide enough, but a grass pitch would need to be brought in.

Cotton Bowl would need a month to run communications equipment. In 1994 they took down the crappy speakers on poles in front of the seating areas and put in a better sound system. They'd have to do that again. The field was widened for 1994, so it's ready.

RFK--I thought it was widened for 1994. As a home venue for DC United with great support, this would make sense. Although if FedEx is wide enough to accommodate football, the games go there.

Florida Citrus Bowl--hosts two bowl games a year, should be adequate.

Soldier Field. Opening match of 1994 was here, new stadium in old shell, has all the suites and seating FIFA could want, and natural pitch.

Rose Bowl (92,000) site of 1994 final. Would be site of 2010 final as well.

Other cities would likely be
Phoenix at Pink Taco.
Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial
Houston at Reliant
Denver at Invesco Field
All of these have natural turf pitches, plenty of luxury box suites and have hosted international or major club football in the last four or five years.

None of the new MLS parks seat more than 30,000, so they'd likely be crossed off the list. The only exception might be the Home Depot Center, but the rest of the "soccer specific" stadia are simply not big enough. I think the smallest park in Germany still sat 45,000 people.

Tiger Stadium is too narrow for international football. They'd have to take out all the fences, drainage, and handicapped seating area at ground leve, and I think it would STILL be too narrow. They'd have to do a Cotton Bowl-style widening, and I don't see LSU fans sitting still for that.

The Supredome would be a fantastic venue, and I dream of watching international football there. But it was rejected back in 1991-1992 when the bids were made for 1994. There's been no real improvement in football support here. It's solid, a good international club match might draw 15,000 at Tad Gormley, but that's no track record.

Gormley, as much as I love it, is not a World Cup class venue. they have all of two sets of dank restrooms, two quaint but antiquated locker rooms, (and I LOVE old sports venues) with only cheap chain link protection if THAT, exiting directly into the concourses of the stadium. Can you imagine Portugal playing Brazil in Tad Gormley?

For the 1992 Olympic Trials, they put tents all across the top for suites, cutting the capacity from 26,000 to about 22,000. That's way too small for international football, plus the field is about 15 yards too narrow for a World Cup. FIFA might make an exception for a women's friendly, but they'd never have a World Cup final. :lol: Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo exiting the locker room right into the main concourse of the stadium?

The 1994 World Cup set a record for attendance because the U.S. had 9 venues that seated at least 60,000 and they pretty much sold out all tickets. Most host countries have a few large venues with some much smaller ones, 30,000 to 40,000 seats, thrown in. Given the construction of several new football only stadiums in the United States that will fit the larger soccer fields, and have all the modern concession, the United States has got to be at the top of the list.

The additional benefit of significantly higher television revenue from U.S. broadcast rights should be to our advantage as well.

I was fortunate to have a client on the World Cup organizing committe in 1994. Through him I got premium tickets to all of the matches played at Stanford as well as tickets to the third place and chamopionship games. The July 4th mastch between Brazil and the U.S. was the best sporting event I've ever been to. The Brazilian fans are the only fans who can give LSU fans a run for their money at pregame tailgating. They were a fun bunch to party with.

The first game I went to in Dallas, in the Cotton Bowl, was on a Monday and the Germans withered in the Texas heat, almost losing to South Korea. They won, scoring three in the first half, one a gorgeous volley by Jurgen Klinsmann. But the Koreans were ready for the 120+ degree heat.

The match started at 3:00 CDT to accommodate a 10:00 P.M. kickoff in Europe.

I guess Zimbabwe is out of the question

Maybe next door in Namibia.

IMO it would go to England before the US. I remember hearing a few months ago when all this talk about moving the WC to another venue surfaced, that England was first choice, and US second. Ill try and find a link to it, but Id love it to be in the US. I was going to try to get tickets no matter where it was being held.

Now for the venues. 3 I think are definites are Chicago, Giants Stadium (NY or NJ, idk), and Pasadena Rose Bowl. Besides that, there is Miami, D.C. or Baltimore, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, and perhaps Pittsburgh where the Steelers play. Id LOVE for N.O. to get a game, but football isnt the same in a dome, and replacing the surface would be a bitch. We could offer great night life and hotels, and Bourbon street which would attract the tourists by the buttloads.