US World Cup Bid Takes Step With Release Of Host Cities

In attempting to win a 2018 or 2022 bid to host the World Cup, the bidding committee has realeased the 18 cities that would host the prospective tournament.

David Downs — the Executive Director of the USA Bid Committee — commented on the difficulty of the selection process:

"Just by virtue of the quality of our cities and stadiums, it was very difficult to reduce the field to the maximum of 18 established by FIFA. In fact, we could have submitted 24 cities and stadiums, making it possible for the United States to hold two World Cups simultaneously. We consider it a meaningful indicator of the significant growth of soccer in this country that we can put forth such a technically sound bid without four of our cities that served as hosts for the first FIFA World Cup™ in the United States in 1994. The emergence of passionate followings for the sport and state-of-the-art venues throughout the country has strengthened our ability to put together a truly national bid to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022."

Call me nuts, but I literally shake with excitement as we get closer and closer to the World Cup this summer in South Africa. Current drama at the African Cup of Nations Aside, I think we are in for another amazing tourney.