US Bid Committee to Support Hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup
Category soccer | Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
2018 World Cup
Yet a vastly more important number to the U.S. is 13, which is the number of votes needed from FIFA’s 24-man Executive Committee to secure the right to host one of the tournaments. And with FIFA conducting its official inspection tour of the U.S. this week, it’s clear the process has reached a critical phase.
FIFA has sent a six-person delegation that will visit five cities in three days, the better to sample some of the proposed stadiums, training sites, FIFA Fan Fest venues, transportation, hotels and media facilities. The tour follows the submission of the U.S. bid book in May, a monumental document that laid out the bid’s benefits in excruciating detail. But according to David Downs, the U.S. Bid Committee’s executive director, what the FIFA delegation has to say about the bid will carry an extraordinary amount of weight as it relates to the eight other countries the U.S. is competing with.