A total of 41 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States submitted official bids to become host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup joint bid between the North American countries, the United Bid Committee announced on Thursday.
Those 41 cities submitted bids after the United Bid Committee identified 44 cities in August. The final bid for the 2026 World Cup by the joint committee will be sent to FIFA by March, 16, 2018. A total of 20 to 25 cities will be in the final bid, and at least 12 of those cities will be selected to be host cities should the bid ultimately be approved by FIFA. The 2026 World Cup will be the first to expand to a 48-team field, and the only other potential bid that has been revealed for the tournament aside from the joint North American venture is from Morocco.
All stadiums are required to have at least 40,000 seats for group stage matches, and a capacity of at least 80,000 to be considered for the opening match and the final. In addition to a stadium capable of hosting international soccer, each city must propose top international-level training sites and locations for team base camps as well as hotels for teams, staff and VIPs.
Six current MLS venues were included in the potential bid cities: BMO Field in Toronto, Vancouver's BC Place, Seattle's CenturyLink Field, New England's Gillette Stadium, Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and Stade Olympique in Montreal in which the Impact play a few games a year.
Potential bid cities:
Canada
- Edmonton, Alberta (Commonwealth Stadium)
- Montreal, Quebec (Stade Olympique)
- Ottawa, Ontario (TD Place Stadium)
- Regina, Saskatchewan (Mosaic Stadium)
- Toronto, Ontario (BMO Field)
- Vancouver, British Columbia (BC Place)
Mexico:
- Guadalajara, Jalisco (Estadio Chivas)
- Mexico City (Estadio Azteca)
- Monterrey, Nuevo Leon (Estadio Rayados)
United States
- Atlanta, Georgia (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
- Baltimore, Maryland (M&T Bank Stadium)
- Birmingham, Alabama (Legion Field)
- Foxborough/Boston, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium)
- Charlotte, North Carolina (Bank of America Stadium)
- Chicago, Illinois (Soldier Field)
- Cincinnati, Ohio (Paul Brown Stadium)
- Cleveland, Ohio (FirstEnergy Stadium)
- Dallas, Texas (Cotton Bowl)
- Arlington/Dallas, Texas (AT&T Stadium)
- Denver, Colorado (Sports Authority Field at Mile High)
- Detroit, Michigan (Ford Field)
- Houston, Texas (NRG Stadium)
- Indianapolis, Indiana (Lucas Oil Stadium)
- Jacksonville, Florida (EverBank Field)
- Kansas City, Missouri (Arrowhead Stadium)
- Las Vegas, Nevada (Raiders Stadium)
- Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum)
- Inglewood/Los Angeles, California (LA Stadium at Hollywood Park)
- Pasadena/Los Angeles, California (Rose Bowl)
- Miami, Florida (Hard Rock Stadium)
- Minneapolis, Minnesota (U.S. Bank Stadium)
- Nashville, Tennessee (Nissan Stadium)
- New Orleans, Louisiana (Mercedes-Benz Superdome)
- East Rutherford, New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)
- Orlando, Florida (Camping World Stadium)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Lincoln Financial Field)
- Glendale/Phoenix, Arizona (University of Phoenix Stadium)
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Heinz Field)
- Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
- San Antonio, Texas (Alamodome)
- Santa Clara, California (Levi's Stadium)
- Seattle, Washington (CenturyLink Field)
- Tampa, Florida (Raymond James Stadium)
- Washington, D.C./Landover, Maryland (FedEx Field)
