Cities selected for 2026 World Cup bid

[patdog]

Birmingham
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
Nashville

Plenty of chances to see games within a day's drive.

 

[Msubulldogfan1]

Please not nashville.

 

[Junction John]

Flowood a bridesmaid again. Maybe next year**

Birmingham
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
Nashville

Plenty of chances to see games within a day's drive.

Birmingham? WTF.

 

[wpmusm]

Those are just the bids. Cities haven't been selected yet.

 

[The Maroon Pug]

Birmingham has some of the highest soccer tv viewings in the nation, and a new stadium potentially in the works for the new USL team starting in 2019.

 

[wpmusm]

They also hosted matches for the '96 Olympics and some qualifiers as well.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

So flowood still has a shot

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Here's the complete list

View attachment 7810

 

[DawgInOxford]

Please not nashville.

Nashville had a TON of fans for the Gold Cup and the EPL game a couple weeks after that.

 

[RutherfordBHayes]

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Birmingham would be fantastic if they built a 40k seat stadium on the east side of the UAB campus near (within half a mile of) Five Points.

 

[Junction John]

Didn't know about the new stadium proposal. That would be great.

 

[Sutterkane]

....why not?

 

[coachnorm]

Soccer is huge money internationally and America is quickly catching up. Just look at the keen competition for Premier League games played earlier this summer. As far as the South is concerned, just look at the NFL owners competing to host these games. I believe that Miami, because of the "El Classico" made a huge statement. Atlanta has become the soccer attendance leader in America with a facility that welcomes the game. If Atlanta's stadium was completed on time, it would have provided a spectacle this early summer. Houston had a great payday earlier this summer. Seattle used to be the soccer leader, in America, until Atlanta stepped up. Los Angeles has the facilities advantage so it is formidable. It appears that the Southern stereotype on soccer has been blown out of the water.

I do not believe that Jerry Jones will stay silent on this issue. I believe that the large Southern cities will leverage themselves to get the big soccer paydays in the future.

 

[RocketDawg]

They've been proposing a new stadium in B'ham for eons. Hasn't happened yet, and I'm not sure one is needed.

 

[The Maroon Pug]

The new USL Birmingham co-owners also own the Birmingham Barons. They will make a push to own/finance a 20k stadium in downtown B'ham (for both UAB & USL bham) to use year round. Yes there has been proposals for "eons"; but this is the best shot to finally make it happen.

 

[RocketDawg]

What would happen to Legion Field in that case? Just tear it down?

 

[The Maroon Pug]

Potentially yes. Legion Field upper deck has already been taken down due to structural issues and its tough to get people to that side of Birmingham. The 45k that UAB pulled to Legion Field last Saturday was an outlier in the data and continue to be unless UAB starts beating everyone +2 touchdowns a game.

20k stadium closer to UAB campus/Five Points South with both USL Soccer games and UAB games will pay for itself within 5 years at a minimum.

 

[josebrown]

They also hosted matches for the '96 Olympics and some qualifiers as well.

Yes they did. I stayed 2 weeks for some training at that time in B'ham before another 2 weeks in Smyrna, GA. In B'ham we had Team Mexico in the same hotel along with one other I can't remember. Outside of some language barrier them Mexicans were some pretty cool dudes. We also saw Lenny Kravitz for a time then too at the same place, the bus and the Harleys. Man that seems like a long time ago...