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World Cup Comment: What Now For The USA Bid Committee?
The bid book is in.
May 14, 2010 8:24:00 PM
By Noah Davis
On Friday, the USA Bid Committee presented its official Bid Book to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup to FIFA president Sepp Blatter and secretary general Jerome Valcke. The American contingent included U.S. Soccer president and USA Bid Committee chairman Sunil Gulati, USA Bid Committee executive director David Downs, USA Bid Committee managing director John Kristick, and U.S. Men’s National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra.
“Submitting the U.S. Bid Book to FIFA is a major milestone in this process and the result of months of planning and hard work,” Gulati said. "But it also marks the beginning of the most critical portion of this bid in which we must make a compelling case to the 24-member FIFA Executive Committee that the United States is the right country to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The support our effort has received from the people and civic leaders of this country has been tremendous and strengthens our faith in our ability to bring the World Cup back to the United States.”
Eight other groups, including England, Russia, and Qatar, gave 15-minute presentation and turned in their bid books. FIFA plans to spend the next seven months reviewing the documents and visiting proposed sites before voting on December 2.
The U.S. has a difficult task in convincing FIFA's executive committee to award it tournament. While the 1994 World Cup remains the highest-attended event ever -- despite the 12 games added before the 1998 edition -- a European country will almost certainly host the '18 event. The American bid was seen as a favorite for four years later, but Blatter recently came out in favor of Qatar, throwing a cloud over the proceedings.
“The Arab world deserves to host the World Cup," Blatter said. "We are now nearing the end of the bidding process for the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 and Qatar is the only country bidding from the Middle East. I was an advocate of the FIFA’s rotation policy. It was important to bring the World Cup to North America and Africa. Now I strongly feel that the World Cup should come to Qatar.”
Where does that statement leave the U.S.? Well, Blatter's a powerful figure within FIFA, but his voice doesn't carry the day. He wanted South Africa to host the 2006 tournament, which went to Germany. He's advocating for a European country in '18 and, perhaps, at some point, the member nations will get tired of feeling ordered around by the powerful leader.
Additionally, the American bid features many strengths. The country's economic power means FIFA knows it will get an enormous payday (although the same could be said of Qatar). The U.S. is home to state-of-the-art stadiums, many that already exists. (The Middle Eastern country promises to build air-conditioned ones to fend off the brutal summer heat.) The States is a growing soccer power in a way that Qatar can never hope to be. (Then again, this might hurt actually the U.S.'s bid if Europe and South America feel giving the U.S. a World Cup could accelerate its improvement and hurt their dominance over the sport.) Bill Clinton looks set to join the team angling to bring the 32-team festival to American shores. He'll be in South Africa, advocating as only he can.
In the end, if FIFA decides it wants to continue to the trend of awarding major tournaments to untested countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Ukranie/Belarus, and even Brazil to some extent), the American bid will fail. If the sport's organizing body chooses to collect a huge payday while knowing preparations and the execution will go off without a hitch, the U.S. is the only choice.
Noah Davis (@noahedavis) covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com and will be reporting from the World Cup in South Africa.
The 2010 World Cup is fast approaching, so keep up to date with all the news at Goal.com's World Cup homepage and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
“Submitting the U.S. Bid Book to FIFA is a major milestone in this process and the result of months of planning and hard work,” Gulati said. "But it also marks the beginning of the most critical portion of this bid in which we must make a compelling case to the 24-member FIFA Executive Committee that the United States is the right country to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The support our effort has received from the people and civic leaders of this country has been tremendous and strengthens our faith in our ability to bring the World Cup back to the United States.”
Eight other groups, including England, Russia, and Qatar, gave 15-minute presentation and turned in their bid books. FIFA plans to spend the next seven months reviewing the documents and visiting proposed sites before voting on December 2.
The U.S. has a difficult task in convincing FIFA's executive committee to award it tournament. While the 1994 World Cup remains the highest-attended event ever -- despite the 12 games added before the 1998 edition -- a European country will almost certainly host the '18 event. The American bid was seen as a favorite for four years later, but Blatter recently came out in favor of Qatar, throwing a cloud over the proceedings.
“The Arab world deserves to host the World Cup," Blatter said. "We are now nearing the end of the bidding process for the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 and Qatar is the only country bidding from the Middle East. I was an advocate of the FIFA’s rotation policy. It was important to bring the World Cup to North America and Africa. Now I strongly feel that the World Cup should come to Qatar.”
Where does that statement leave the U.S.? Well, Blatter's a powerful figure within FIFA, but his voice doesn't carry the day. He wanted South Africa to host the 2006 tournament, which went to Germany. He's advocating for a European country in '18 and, perhaps, at some point, the member nations will get tired of feeling ordered around by the powerful leader.
Additionally, the American bid features many strengths. The country's economic power means FIFA knows it will get an enormous payday (although the same could be said of Qatar). The U.S. is home to state-of-the-art stadiums, many that already exists. (The Middle Eastern country promises to build air-conditioned ones to fend off the brutal summer heat.) The States is a growing soccer power in a way that Qatar can never hope to be. (Then again, this might hurt actually the U.S.'s bid if Europe and South America feel giving the U.S. a World Cup could accelerate its improvement and hurt their dominance over the sport.) Bill Clinton looks set to join the team angling to bring the 32-team festival to American shores. He'll be in South Africa, advocating as only he can.
In the end, if FIFA decides it wants to continue to the trend of awarding major tournaments to untested countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Ukranie/Belarus, and even Brazil to some extent), the American bid will fail. If the sport's organizing body chooses to collect a huge payday while knowing preparations and the execution will go off without a hitch, the U.S. is the only choice.
Noah Davis (@noahedavis) covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com and will be reporting from the World Cup in South Africa.
The 2010 World Cup is fast approaching, so keep up to date with all the news at Goal.com's World Cup homepage and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
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