By the time the World Cup comes to the Linc, Philadelphia Union should have somewhere between 8 to 12 MLS Cups.
That stadium is horrible if you want a loud crowd. It prices all the real fans into the upper level which is way too high and isolated due to all the clubs and suites in between the lower and upper levels. The huge screen is an eyesore. Not needed. If you want something that big it would be better to use college football stadiums that hold over 100,000 i.e. penn state or ohio state. Too bad they're not in the bid cities.
I think Penn State and the Yale Bowl and a few other college football stadiums were on the initial list, but they got dropped a few cuts ago.
After reading a few things it seems that the final would take place in the new giants stadium. That makes pretty much perfect sense in that you'll still hear the crowd, it's a nice modern stadium in a sports complex with parking, etc and it's in the northeast u.s. so some of the other bid cities are nearby.
if I had to make a bet, i would think the shoe, the big house, etc arent big enough (field wise) for this.
Yeah...i hadn't even looked into that. I was just going off the top of my head. They're not even in contention anyway.
Just to bump this up...most people here have probably signed on their support. If not, you can do so via http://www.sonsofben.net/ or http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/philadelphia-pa/ Currently, Philadelphia is running in 2nd behind Seattle. Leaders: http://www.gousabid.com/blog/entry/the-leaderboard/
Glad Philly is still at the top 2. If we do win a WC Bid, I have a strong feeling we'll be at least a host city. Shocking: 3) Miami 18,246 Sad: 14) New York City/New Jersey 8,976 That number seems about right for the amount of fans at PC Arena yesterday
Surprised me too...although, isn't Miami and Montreal the favorites for the next MLS expansion? It's difficult to believe...
Garber told the AP the other day Montreal is basically in...they are literally just finishing the small touches on the deal so Montreal is 19, and number 20 could be anybody, possibly Beckham's team.
Amazing thing is that if they use the Top 10, and it ended today, it would actually hurt the USA's chances. Why would FIFA want to have the USA host a World Cup that failed to include New York, New England, Chicago, or anywhere in California. According to that list, Philly is the only Top 5 US media market that would be hosting matches. That'll never fly.
I'm pretty sure that New York and Los Angeles soccer fans haven't voted because they know, like we all do, that they will have some part of the tournament in their city's no matter what. Smug bastards.
Not true anymore. Philly, otoh, is dropping like a rock -- even behind Tampa. http://www.gousabid.com/blog/entry/the-leaderboard-june-28-2010/
I hate to say it, but I really don't think that this city is in any way equipped to handle something of this magnitude. We lack the internal infrastructure for security, transportation, and lodging. Could we sink a bunch of money into prepping for it? Sure, but then you've made infrastructure improvements for a one-time event that you can't afford to maintain. Our city is very poorly managed.
The RNC in 2000 was a large security nightmare and it went off without a hitch. World Series and Stanley cup Finals (not as big as a World Cup match, but some of the biggest sporting events in this country) have been handled well too. I think Philly will do just fine.
Um, I don't know what you are talking about. Philadelphia has perfectly fine infrastructure to handle some World Cup games. It's not like it's the Olympics with tons of different events at one time in one place, we're talking about ~3 games over a few weeks. A single World Cup match at the Linc isn't that drastically different from the Army/Navy game that Philly hosts most of the time without issues.
So you think Philadelphia has fewer hotel rooms, worse infrastructure and is more dangerous than, say, Nespruit, South Africa, population 200,000? Or Soegwipo, Korea, population 150,000? Or for that matter Detroit, which successfully hosted games in 1994?
Actually, look at the list again and tell me how many of those stadiums have direct transit access. Transportation is a selling point for Philly. SEPTA may be terrible, but few cities have better.
I based my comments on our city's inability to come up with funding for police presence for a simple New Year's Day parade. SEPTA is one of the worst mass transit systems in the country. You make the comparison to South Africa, but I wouldn't expect the US government to fund everything that Philadelphia would need like the South African government is spending a fortune in all the areas that are hosting games. I may be wrong; it certainly wouldn't be the first time, but our city government is such a mess, and our budget is non-existent. We're losing services and paying more taxes every year now; I can't fathom what hosting an event like that would cause. We'd probably see the beverage tax, another 11% hike in property tax, and city wage tax go up as well. Plus, we'll lay off half our firefighters, close down all our libraries, and start charging money for bi-weekly trash collection...