2026 World Cup bid to consider 49 stadiums across U.S., Mexico, Canada
By Tom Marshall
Thirty-four cities in the United States, seven cities in Canada and three in Mexico are on the list of proposed locations to host games at the 2026 World Cup, the United Bid Committee announced on Tuesday.
The organizers will reach out to each of the cities on the list and those hoping to be selected will have until Sept. 5 to declare their interest.
Those cities will then have until early January 2018 to prepare their bid to become a World Cup host, if they make the initial shortlist, which is set to be announced in late September.
Between 20-25 venues are set to be included in the final bid to FIFA, with the committee anticipating that 12 or more locations will be official host cities, if the North American bid is successful.
The bid lists a total of 49 stadiums across 44 cities, with three venues in the Los Angeles area and two in Dallas, Montreal and Toronto. Stadiums of all 32 NFL teams are on the list except for the Buffalo Bills' New Era Field.
The official bid for the 2026 World Cup by the United States, Mexico and Canada will be delivered to FIFA by the March 16, 2018, deadline and will face competition from Morocco, which announced a last-minute bid last week.
If successful, the U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid would return the World Cup to the United States for the first time since 1994, and would also make Mexico the first three-time host.
The plan calls for the U.S. to host 60 of the 80 games, with 10 each in Mexico and Canada. The only Mexican cities included on the list are Guadalajara (Estadio Chivas), Mexico City (Estadio Azteca) and Monterrey (Estadio Rayados).
FIFA requires a capacity of 80,000 for the opener and final, making the only possible sites in the list for those games Dallas, Los Angeles and New Jersey, as well as the less likely Washington, Jacksonville and Green Bay. Lambeau Field has never even hosted a U.S. national team game before.
Estadio Azteca in Mexico City also remains a possibility for the opener, though every game from the quarterfinals on will be in the U.S.
United States City Stadium Capacity
Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium 75,000
Baltimore M&T Bank Stadium 71,008
Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field 71,594
Boston (Foxborough, Mass.) Gillette Stadium 66,829
Charlotte, N.C. Bank of America Stadium 75,525
Chicago Soldier Field 61,500
Cincinnati Paul Brown Stadium 65,515
Cleveland FirstEnergy Stadium 67,895
Dallas Cotton Bowl 92,100
Dallas (Arlington, Texas) AT&T Stadium 105,000
Denver Sports Authority Field 76,125
Detroit Ford Field 65,000
Green Bay, Wis. Lambeau Field 81,441
Houston NRG Stadium 72,200
Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium 70,000
Jacksonville, Fla. EverBank Field 82,000
Kansas City, Mo. Arrowhead Stadium 76,416
Las Vegas Raiders Stadium 72,000
Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 93,000
Los Angeles (Inglewood, Calif.) City of Champions Stadium 100,000
Los Angeles (Pasadena, Calif.) Rose Bowl 90,888
Miami Hard Rock Stadium 65,326
Minneapolis U.S. Bank Stadium 66,200
Nashville, Tenn. Nissan Stadium 69,143
New Orleans Mercedes-Benz Superdome 76,468
New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, N.J.) MetLife Stadium 82,500
Orlando, Fla. Camping World Stadium 65,000
Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field 69,596
Phoenix (Glendale, Ariz.) University of Phoenix Stadium 73,000
Pittsburgh Heinz Field 68,400
Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium 45,807
San Antonio Alamodome 72,000
San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 71,500
San Francisco/San Jose (Santa Clara, Calif.) Levi's Stadium 75,000
Seattle CenturyLink Field 72,000
Tampa, Fla. Raymond James Stadium 75,000
Washington (Landover, Md.) FedEx Field 82,000
Canada City Stadium Capacity
Calgary, Alberta McMahon Stadium 35,650
Edmonton, Alberta Commonwealth Stadium 56,302
Montreal Stade Olympique 61,004
Montreal Stade Saputo 20,801
Ottawa, Ontario TD Place Stadium 24,000
Regina, Saskatchewan Mosaic Stadium 30,048
Toronto Rogers Centre 53,506
Toronto BMO Field 30,000
Vancouver, British Columbia BC Place 54,500
Mexico City Stadium Capacity
Guadalajara, Jalisco Estadio Chivas 45,364
Mexico City Estadio Azteca 87,000
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Estadio Rayados 52,237