USA bid committee name World Cup host cities

The USA Bid Committee has concluded its eight-month host city selection process and today announced the list of cities that will be included in its official bid book to FIFA to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022.

Eighteen cities – the maximum allowable by FIFA – have been identified as official host cities and will be included in the formal bid book that the USA Bid Committee will submit to FIFA on May 14, 2010. These 18 cities represent the entire country in the national bid and will continue working with the USA Bid Committee both on the development and promotion of their local and national campaigns during the next 10 months leading up to FIFA’s final decision, scheduled for Dec. 2, 2010. The cities will also participate in the planning of the site visits that will be made by a technical delegation from FIFA expected to take place in September 2010.

The 18 cities that have been selected for inclusion in the official USA Bid Committee bid book that will be presented to FIFA are, in alphabetical order: 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 United States is equipped and ready to offer FIFA the opportunity to host a passionate and successful World Cup where fans, teams, partners and media can experience the beautiful game at its highest level while allowing the world soccer family to focus on the utmost mission of the game that benefits the world as a whole,” said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer.

“Today our hopes of becoming a host nation are strengthened many fold by the announcement of the 18 cities we will submit to FIFA on May 14,” continued Gulati. “These 18 cities share outstanding leadership with a vision and understanding of what a FIFA World Cup™ would mean to the United States, along with how well we can play the role of host to visitors from throughout the world.”