Will US Soccer Win the World Cup Bid to Be the Host in 2018 or 2022?

While the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at least temporarily revitalized interest in US Soccer, the United States Soccer Federation has already been battling for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and is now anxious to bring home either of the upcoming tournaments available for bidding.

Sporting the slogan of "the game is in us," the official site for the bid, www.gousabid.com, is urging American soccer fans to sign a petition expressing interest. At the time of this writing, over 460,000 people have signed the petition.

Brazil has already claimed the 2014 World Cup, making the next two World Cups available 2018 and 2022. Additionally, FIFA made a rare move by deciding that the official location for each of these tournaments would be chosen at the same time.

Does the USA Deserve to Host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup?

While global fans were generally mum on the 1994 World Cup in the USA, US Soccer is quick to point out its triumphs. It drew a record crowd of more than 3.5 million fans, and spawned the still successful Major League Soccer professional league.

The US Soccer team meanwhile has improved over that time, from what was largely a sideshow into a respectable unit with an improved grassroots system to bring up young players into the ranks. According to the bid website, there are 24.4 million soccer players in the US, the second largest figure in the world, with 4.1 million registered players. The USA tops the world with 3.9 million youth players, and the national team has qualified for six consecutive World Cups, something only nine other teams have done.

2018 & 2022 World Cup Bid Information

For the previous several World Cups, including the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA was using a rotational policy for the bidding process. This meant that any country from the same world confederation (mostly a continental separation) could not submit a bid following another country from their confederation being the host.

Instead of this, the new policy is that host countries can't apply for the next two World Cups after their turn has host passed. This change in policy, and the fact that two World Cups are up for bidding at the same time, has brought in a larger cast of prospective hosts than ever before.

The countries currently in the running for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in addition the United States are Australia, England, Russia, and the tandem bids of Belgium and the Netherlands, and Portugal and Spain. For 2022, Japan, South Korea and Qatar also have their names in the hat. Indonesia had submitted a bit but had it rejected, and Mexico withdrew their bid after submission.

The final selections will be made on December 2, 2010, and by then US soccer fans will know if the world's largest sporting event will be brought back to American soil anytime within the next decade and a half.

The US World Cup Bid for 2018 and 2022

US Soccer has included 18 different host cities as potential sites for games in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups should they win the bid. In alphabetical order, the prospective host cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington D.C.

The US Soccer bid points to many different factors as reasons we deserve to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Visiting their official website, you see pages devoted to reasons such as "The game is in us," to "it's in our DNA", "the growth of the game" and "social change".

Members of the Board of Directors for the US World Cup bid include people as diverse as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Brad Pitt, Washington Post CEO Katharine Weymouth, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former boxer Oscar De La Hoya and US soccer stalwarts like Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm.

Realistic Chances of Winning the World Cup Bid for Either Tournament

At first glance, considering the fact that the USA hosted the 1994 World Cup and is not at all known as a soccer hotbed (after all, the rest of the world calls it football), it seems like chances would be nil for our bid.

However, that's not really the case. The United States does have several factors working in its advantage to win either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, including a large population, the presence of many of the world's largest and most sports-friendly global corporations, plenty of infrastructure, and a slew of massive and modern stadiums thanks to the NFL. Additionally, there simply isn't that much competition in the runing. The USA is one of only six bids for both of the two World Cup spots.

The true deterrent is the fact that the US hosted the World Cup in 1994. Spain hasn't hosted since 1982, England since 1966, and Russia, Portugal, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Qatar have all never been host. It seems like the frontrunners would be England, the Spain and Portugal bid, and the Belgium and Netherlands bid.

Keep in mind though, that even without the rotational policy in effect, it's unlikely that FIFA puts back to back World Cups in Europe. So what I'm saying is, there's a chance. If you're a US soccer fan that wants to see the World Cup hosted in the country in 2018 or 2022, then visit www.gousabid.com, sign the petition and spread the word.

Sources:

www.gousabid.com, www.fifa.com