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U.S. Makes Bid for World Cup but Isn’t Picky About the Year
Three days after the United States soccer federation announced its preliminary World Cup roster, its president led a four-member team to Switzerland to attempt to win the right to host the tournament for the second time.
“In some ways it culminates 16 years of planning because I think we started thinking about another World Cup the day after the last one finished in July of 1994,” the federation president, Sunil Gulati, said in a teleconference from Zurich.
Thirty copies of the official bid — a 5-volume, 1,250-page set of books and one compact disc — was hand-delivered to FIFA on Friday by Gulati; David Downs, the president of the United States bid committee; John Kristick, the committee’s executive director; and Carlos Bocanegra, the national team captain.
The books offer an emotional and commercial appeal to members of the FIFA executive committee, who will vote in December to award two tournaments — in 2018 and 2022. The United States is bidding for one or the other.
“Should FIFA be looking for a safe and easy World Cup, where everything is in place, or should they be looking for someplace with great legacy potential?” Gulati asked rhetorically. “In the case of the United States, you can meet both of those objectives.”
But if the United States bid is to be successful, it is the commercial appeal that will most likely win over the 13 members of the committee needed to prevail in the voting.
The “hosting concept” included in the first volume of the bid books argues that holding the tournament in the United States “will help drive forward the entire world’s football economy.”
It cites “higher television and sponsorship rights, increased franchise and team values, more investment in player development, and the assurance of even greater innovations across all sectors.”
The bid books also provide details on the 18 proposed stadiums and host cities, training facilities, transportation, logistics, security and financial details.
“On a technical basis, our bid far exceeds the standards set by FIFA,” Gulati said. “I don’t think anyone in the world who is bidding measures up to that.”
No public financing will be required, Gulati said.
The other bidders are Australia, England, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Russia. The Netherlands and Belgium submitted a joint bid, as did Spain and Portugal.
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