USA 2018/2022 World Cup Stadiums

[Dan]

This is the final 18 cities that the USA will officially submit....

and Perth is still thinking ..."Subi"
FFS

Metro Market/City Stadium Estimated capacity for FIFA World Cup
Atlanta Georgia Dome 70,868
Baltimore M & T Bank Stadium 71,008
Boston Gillette Stadium 73,393

Dallas
Cowboys Stadium 91,600
Cotton Bowl 89,000

Denver INVESCO Field 75,165
Houston Reliant Stadium 76,000
Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium 66,500
Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 75,364

Los Angeles
Rose Bowl 93,607
Los AngelesMemorial Coliseum 89,109

Miami Land Shark Stadium 80,240
Nashville LP Field 75,000
New York/N.J. New Meadowlands Stadium 84,046
Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field 69,111
Phoenix/Glendale University of Phoenix Stadium 71,362
San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 67,700

Seattle
Qwest Field 68,056
Husky Stadium 72,500

Tampa Raymond James Stadium 75,000
Washington, D.C. FedExField 89,690

[Dan]

Interesting no Chicago,no San Francisco?

[dibo]

there are a helluva lot of seats on offer there, but i think the majority will need significant work on the lower bowls to allow for the 125m x 85m, and even just for sightlines - the front rows are invariably elevated so people won't be able to see the corner flags even if they can fit an international standard 105 x 68m pitch.

many of those grounds have no rooves:
Baltimore M & T Bank Stadium 71,008
Boston Gillette Stadium 73,393
Cotton Bowl 89,000
Denver INVESCO Field 75,165
Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 75,364
Rose Bowl 93,607
Los AngelesMemorial Coliseum 89,109
Miami Land Shark Stadium 80,240
Nashville LP Field 75,000
New York/N.J. New Meadowlands Stadium 84,046
Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field 69,111
San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 67,700
Tampa Raymond James Stadium 75,000
Washington, D.C. FedExField 89,690

FIFA requires rooves over the VIPs at the very least.

many of those fields use artificial turf too, which isn't a problem but for the fact that for example at cowboys stadium it's all permapainted with cowboys livery. they'll have to lay down natural turf or otherwise re-do the artificial surfaces.

there's also the question of legacy for football. the last USA world cup essentially left the MLS, but the MLS sides have spent the last 10 years trying to get out of the big NFL stadia and into their own soccer specific stadiums or SSSs. i'm surprised they're not talking about the convertible stadium idea that our feds talked about.

they could tick this box by building a bunch of MLS standard SSSs as training venues, and developing sporting complexes for the clubs. hell - if the MLS keeps growing maybe they'll have near enough to 32 teams by then so each club gets a new facility...

[Boba Fett]

Many of these were used the last time the US hosted the World Cup, so clearly the lack of roof on many of these stadiums isn't a big deal. It seems in the US, unless it's a domed stadium the stadiums tend not to have roofs. QWest in Seattle being the obvious exception...

And I seem to remember them laying down real turf specifically for the World Cup for the stadiums that have artificial turf.

All very solvable minor issues compared to Australia's!

[dibo]

Many of these were used the last time the US hosted the World Cup, so clearly the lack of roof on many of these stadiums isn't a big deal. It seems in the US, unless it's a domed stadium the stadiums tend not to have roofs. QWest in Seattle being the obvious exception...

that's not really true - stadium requirements have moved light years since then. the technical requirements for stadia are more onerous with each passing world cup. the cover for VIPs apparently wasn't an issue in 1994, but it certainly is now.

And I seem to remember them laying down real turf specifically for the World Cup for the stadiums that have artificial turf.

just ask john terry how good it is to strike a ball from turf laid temporarily over artificial surfaces.

All very solvable minor issues compared to Australia's!

neither needing to reshape the lower bowls of stadiums nor needing to build rooves are small issues. but they are smaller than the lack of a legacy it will leave. there's no point in FIFA taking the biggest event in the world to a country to get nothing more for the long term than a bunch of nicely done up NFL grounds.

at least in australia we'll be improving a bunch of grounds for football - if the convertible stands idea goes ahead and follows anything like some of the plans discussed here, we might see another 8 or so new or seriously improved football stadia around the country for HAL sides to play out of week to week.

obviously perth and adelaide are issues, but for the most part the benefits will accrue to football. RL or RU sides will use the new grounds as well but that's that's not a problem - if anything it helps to justify the cost. but importantly, for whatever other use they see they will actually be suited to football rather than solely improving the assets of a rival code. there's no problem with doing something that benefits the neighbourhood, but building them something that you can't use is just dumb. FIFA's not a charity for developing other sports.

but all this is irrelevant in a way - i'm not sure that the votes are going to move based on the specifics of the stadia particularly given that the designs and even the cities themselves may change after the announcement of the winning bids. it's going to be a political contest, not a technical one. whoever gets 13 votes wins, no matter what dumps they put on the list.

[Egan]

but all this is irrelevant in a way - i'm not sure that the votes are going to move based on the specifics of the stadia particularly given that the designs and even the cities themselves may change after the announcement of the winning bids. it's going to be a political contest, not a technical one. whoever gets 13 votes wins, no matter what dumps they put on the list.

While politics has something to do with it...

Why bother taking foreign media on tours of our venues? If venues are so irrelevent as you are saying.

[dibo]

but all this is irrelevant in a way - i'm not sure that the votes are going to move based on the specifics of the stadia particularly given that the designs and even the cities themselves may change after the announcement of the winning bids. it's going to be a political contest, not a technical one. whoever gets 13 votes wins, no matter what dumps they put on the list.

While politics has something to do with it...

Why bother taking foreign media on tours of our venues? If venues are so irrelevent as you are saying.

all part of the showbiz. it's a PR campaign.

[IanRitchie]

if lp field can make a shortlist there won't be much work to do in australia, to be honest.

[the crow]

so it is NFL v AFL for the WC race.........just dont put the VIP's outside...they will not like that one bit.

[hot_dogma]

Any idea on who would host the final?

Rose Bowl again or somewhere else?

[beastjim]

Cowboys Stadium? It's new and shiny and all undercover. Not sure the FIFA World Cup Final would be played in Dallas though, I guess at least the local team has been in the MLS from the start. Dallas just doesn't seem to be the city, so it probably would go to the rose bowl because of it being in LA.

[Boba Fett]

there's no point in FIFA taking the biggest event in the world to a country to get nothing more for the long term than a bunch of nicely done up NFL grounds.

at least in australia we'll be improving a bunch of grounds for football - if the convertible stands idea goes ahead and follows anything like some of the plans discussed here, we might see another 8 or so new or seriously improved football stadia around the country for HAL sides to play out of week to week.

This makes no sense whatsoever. You're saying there's no point for the US to have 16 fully FIFA World Cup compliant stadiums, but there is for Australia?!?!?

Australia does NOT need a bunch of 40,000+ capacity football stadiums for the HAL to use, no matter how schmick they are. We need to go down the MLS route and get the teams playing out of 20-25,000 seaters. There are exceptions in each league (Melbourne and Seattle), but apart from that all the teams are best served by playing out of boutique stadiums.

[dibo]

there's no point in FIFA taking the biggest event in the world to a country to get nothing more for the long term than a bunch of nicely done up NFL grounds.

at least in australia we'll be improving a bunch of grounds for football - if the convertible stands idea goes ahead and follows anything like some of the plans discussed here, we might see another 8 or so new or seriously improved football stadia around the country for HAL sides to play out of week to week.

This makes no sense whatsoever. You're saying there's no point for the US to have 16 fully FIFA World Cup compliant stadiums, but there is for Australia?!?!?

Australia does NOT need a bunch of 40,000+ capacity football stadiums for the HAL to use, no matter how schmick they are. We need to go down the MLS route and get the teams playing out of 20-25,000 seaters. There are exceptions in each league (Melbourne and Seattle), but apart from that all the teams are best served by playing out of boutique stadiums.

I said I was surprised they're not looking at convertible grounds like we apparently are in order to have FIFA compliant grounds for the world cup and offer a genuine and practical legacy for football. I was very clear that I think the reason why it's pointless playing out of NFL grounds is that it does nothing for football long term. try to keep up.

[RobertHeatleyStand]

Cowboys Stadium? It's new and shiny and all undercover. Not sure the FIFA World Cup Final would be played in Dallas though, I guess at least the local team has been in the MLS from the start. Dallas just doesn't seem to be the city, so it probably would go to the rose bowl because of it being in LA.

Cowboys stadium has it's own problems with fitting a fifa approved (size) world cup pitch.

It has field suits along the bottom of the lower tier that would take some major restructuring to remove. It was raised during the planning stage but it seems a though Jerry Jones couldn't care less about 'soccer'.

...similar problems with the new Meadowlands in NY as well.

[Timbo]

Cowboys Stadium? It's new and shiny and all undercover. Not sure the FIFA World Cup Final would be played in Dallas though, I guess at least the local team has been in the MLS from the start. Dallas just doesn't seem to be the city, so it probably would go to the rose bowl because of it being in LA.

I think New Meadowlands would give it a good shake.