Of course the USA is hosting the lions share of games in the Cup being hosted here as well as in Canada and Mexico, they had their such meeting in the spring ahead of the Coronavirus crisis hitting. Here, there are to be 10 cities chosen out of 17 with almost a quarter of them being in the north east. A good many of them were host to the last time the Men's version was here and there are some new markets as well. In on the call was Dan Flynn recent CEO of USSF and now head of the US City Selection and Colin Smith, FIFA Chief Tournament and Events officer. The call went about 40 minutes, say half an hour was a Q & A.
When they were asked about the time of deciding on cites as well as others that may re-enter the selection process, it was stated that they are considering those who are in the running, a pair have removed themselves from consideration. They were asked about venues that are out moded, Gillette Stadium was named. Flynn stated they had done well there in the past and it is possible upgrades may be made. Asked no less than a trio of times as to who will be involved within the cities, politicians, venue people and those from some pro sports team will be involved, a max of 8 per site. Interestingly in Miami, Inter Miami was not involved, Dan indicated that may be due to their keying on their team and season and they may join at a later date. An inquiry as to the infrastructure lead to Colin sharing that yes that is important as well as what may be coming, but also involved are the civil rights (Qatar?), sustainability, how past events of this scope were handled etc. Another aspect brought up was the build up to the games, what will be done both pre and post games in regards to the sport. Flynn lent that the sport is in a different place than it was in 1994, there is now a leagacy and a bigger sport. USSF is interested in making more than a sporting event, but FIFA has the final say on sites. Given the final must have a home of at least 80,000 seats, the largest in the local market Met LIfe, at 82,000+ fits the bill, earlier games must have at least a 40,000 capacity. DC has Fed Ex stadium with thoughts of a new one in place of RFK, does that help was asked, Flynn replied that is up to the venue, it is not even a certainty to be built at this point. Finally the role of the USSF was inquired about in the selection process, both concurred that the USSF wil have input, offer guidance but the final yes or no will come from FIFA. Smith added that the USSF would play both a critical and crucial part in the process.
It was stated that they hope to pass the record number of tickets sold the last time the US hosted the gamess. With the game being far larger now and many more games being played, rest assured that record will be shattered.
WIth this being a process, a workshop tomorrow, that was to have been done in the fall, they now hope to have a better grip on when venue visits will occur by the end of the year.