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FIFA and CONCACAF are closer to the final call for cities in the US, Canada and Mexico to host the 2026 World Cup matches, with decisions expected next spring.
The FIFA and CONCACAF delegation ended their second visit to Seattle on Monday, as one of the strongest candidates to host the match, due to its football history, good summer weather and the fact that it is the only city in the Pacific Northwest. .
Colin Smith, head of FIFA tournaments and events, said all site visits should be completed by the end of November, and the decision is expected in late March or early April.
‘Good problem’
“Certainly the decision is getting harder and harder at every stop, and I think that’s a good problem,” Smith said.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first with 48 teams, but it also presents a logistical challenge with the largest geographical footprint of any World Cup to date. It could be played from Edmonton, Alberta, Mexico City and Seattle to Boston. Smith said they are currently considering selecting 16 host cities, but that has not been set.
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Seattle was at the end of a number of visits including Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Monterrey, Mexico and San Francisco. The delegation visited the Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami and New York-New Jersey areas in September.
‘Puzzle’
This month another series of visits comes to Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mexico, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Toronto.
“Ultimately, it’s a puzzle of all these different areas,” Smith said. “Breaking the magic of a World Cup is obviously incredibly difficult, so the only way to do that is to study all the teams that make it up.”
One of the big questions for Seattle and other bidding cities will be what to do about stadiums with synthetic pitches. FIFA is demanding grass surfaces for the World Cup.
“It’s business location, location, location,” said CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani. “Well, it’s football field, pitch and pitch.”
It doesn’t look like Seattle will replace the synthetic field used by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field and has had mixed results in the past with temporary grass surfaces. Recently, Seattle used the temporary grass surface for the 2016 America’s Cup with great success because it was partially established and used for several weeks.
“FIFA is looking at a lot of stadiums in the NFL. Most of them are synthetic,” said Adrian Hanauer, Seattle Sounders owner and Seattle 2026 bid chief. “So I don’t think this is the most critical piece to offer.”
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