Since everything else revolves around $$$, I'm willing to give your statements some value. The IOC, afterall, is more than willing to bring the summer games to the US every 12-16 years. I guess there is no reason to think that FIFA should be any different. WC'94 was the cash cow that changed the face of football worldwide. It is hard to imagine empty seats at a World Cup in Europe today, but there were plenty of empties in Italia '90. World Cup '94 changed everything. For personal reasons, I would definitely like to see one here earlier than 2018, as I'll be 52 (yikes!) years old. I hope you are right. At some point, everything comes back to money, whether it's tv broadcasts, player salaries, or world cup hosting.
Have you ever been to any of the African nations bidding for the WC or are you just assuming they're crap? If it's the later, I wouldn't consider ill-informed assumptions to be particularly rational.
So, you're 36 years old? Too damn young to have an informed opinion, I say!! Andy, are you in San Francisco this weekend? I was hanging out in the Hilton lobby yesterday evening and got to say hi to Bruce, Dr. Bob, AND Don Garber. Not bad for an hour of hobnobbing. For details... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=5918
Anonymou.. Unanimously, that is! The rumours of Chuck Blazer showing up with a check book are unfounded!
Re: I'll probably get shot for saying this, but.... I can't see how this would be any different from the major European leagues (except England of course) taking a winter break, even though this would of course be a bit longer.
Re: Re: I'll probably get shot for saying this, but.... Your ideas are intriguing, and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Soccer specific stadiums? No way. Those are going to be in the 20,000 seat range. We won't win any bids relying on those bad boys. IF the Wolrd Cup comes back here soon, it'll be played in those big, big stadiums like the Rose Bowl, the new Gillette near Boston, et al.
Why the heck would we want to do that when we have demonstrated the ability to do well on our own and keep all the money?
In regards to the SSS: weren't most of the stadiums in Japan and Korea relatively small - like 20 - 30,000 seats? I imagine if the US hosted the WC some of the first round matches would be held in smaller venues like that, with the final being held some place like the Rose Bowl or Reliant Stadium (OK, OK, I confess - I live in Houston and that's mucho wishful thinking).
Oh, no they wouldn't. Because we've proven we can put 68,000 on average into a stadium for the World Cup. You'd be leaving millions on the table by playing first-round games in Columbus or Carson.
Apart from the fact that as another poster has noted, much would be lost in the forcibly reduced attendance - these are the sizes of stadia in Japorea. Korea: Daegu - 68,014 Seoul - 64,677 Busan - 55,982 Incheon - 52,179 Suwon - 44,047 Ulsan - 43,550 Gwangju - 42,880 Jeonju - 42,477 Seogwipo - 42,256 Daejeon - 42,176 Japan: Yokohama - 70,564 Saitama - 63,700 Shizuoka - 51,349 Osaka - 50,000 Sendai - 49,133 Oita - 43,000 Niigata - 42,700 Sapporo - 42,122 Kobe - 42,000 Ibaraki - 41,800 Not in the 20-30,000 bracket.
Plenty of empty seats in France 98. Hell, even France themselves did not sell out all their games. Andy