The smart thing to do: Set a June 15 deadline for China to get control of SARS. Based on news of the past week, that's probably a 50-50 bet. Then if they don't get control of it, move to Australia in November. Of course, in a climate of fear that spawned the utterly absurd postponement of badminton's world championships (in ENGLAND!), who knows what they'll do. Before long, given the hysteria over terrorism and viruses, we'll just cancel all international sports and play networked video games instead.
Most discussion about this topic is in this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=42899 I say the state of Idaho and Casa de FearM9 should offer to host the 2003 WWC. I've got five acres they could play on.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=266014&cc=5901 this article says that the US will be the favored host if the event is moved. any thoughts and if this would happen, what venues would be used?
From the Washington Post: FIFA to Mull Women's World Cup in China By NAOMI KOPPEL The Associated Press Friday, May 2, 2003; 3:46 PM GENEVA - Soccer's governing body will discuss Saturday whether to postpone the Women's World Cup because of SARS and if the men's tournament should include four more teams. FIFA will consider whether to move or postpone the women's tournament because of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China. The 16-team tournament is scheduled for Sept. 23-October 11 in and around Shanghai. FIFA said its sports medical committee is in daily contact with the World Health Organization about SARS, which has killed at least 405 people worldwide, the majority in China and neighboring Hong Kong... They need to learn the middle class cure of chicken soup, dayquil & sprite.
Women's World Cup 2003 - USA? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=266014&cc=5901 No word on dates, cities, or anything, but at the earliest, it would probably start as scheduled in September, concluding in mid-October - a time that includes NFL, college football, college soccer and MLS play. Scheduling would be a nightmare. More information will probably come to light over the weekend with the topic being discussed at the FIFA Executive Committee meeting this weekend.
Small to mid-sized venues (up to 25K) that aren't already scheduled for football. The weather in Sept/Oct will be fantastic pretty much anywhere in the country. I've got to believe that if ESPN is reporting the US in now favored, there's been some serious lobbying in that direction.
For international women's soccer this would be an absolutely HORID decision because it would serve to reinforce the elitist ideas of USA women's soccer. Also it would be perceived as a move done just for the money not for the good of the sport. While there is little doubt that this would make the WWC a VERY profitable event, even if the turnout is as paltry as many of the non-US games were in the last one, I strongly doubt that the women’s game over the world would be benefited. The clear logical choice is Australia and they are NOT a soccer power so FIFA would not be perceived as doing it just for the money. In Australia none of the main teams would have the clear advantage of playing at home and the Australians have shown the ability to make events like this work well. So far I have heard no reason to, if it must be moved, move the WWC anywhere but Australia.
Should the WWC be relocated and China were to be denied an automatic qualification, it would be one of the most absurd decisions ever made. A team is not responsible for the outbreak of an illness/epidemic. Absolutely insane and inhumane (for the team).
I think that the WHO has clinched the demise of China as a host for this with this report: SARS Virus Mutates; WHO Says China Lacks Weapons If it is percieved that China cannot contain the outbreak FIFA will not take a chance on keeping the WWC there. They should just move it to Australia and be done with this problem. I think that moving it to the US would be a HUGE mistake and damaging to international women's soccer. China keeps its automatic bid and Australia is already in so everything goes on as before and NO home field advantage to a favorite that is not China.
"FIFA loves the color of money." -- ESPN's Bob Ley, as quoted by USA Today after World Cup 1994. Moving WWC 2003 to the US, and perhaps having US Soccer funneling part of the proceeds to WUSA, may be the only way to keep WUSA running in 2004 on the cheap. Hendricks, Hostetter, and COX can't bleed red ink forever, especially now that 3 WUSA franchises have been "orphaned" by their original investors: Carolina, NY, and Philly.
Let's looks at the average attendance numbers for all past three WWC: 91: 19,615 95: 4,316 99: 38,833 I seriously doubt support will hover around the 38,000 mark. But I think the US can do better than Sweden did in 1995. 20,000 average if it was held here???? Maybe. Just maybe. I would put the figure betwixt 15,000 - 20,000. Uhhh...maybe I should revise that number downward a tad considering the lackluster attendance of the past couple of years.