Bay Area should get foot in door for ’26 World Cup
SANTA CLARA >> The Bay Area has a strong chance to play a role in the 2026 World Cup after soccer federations voted Wednesday to award the prestigious tournament to a combined bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Levi’s Stadium earned a technical score that tied it for second among all United Bid sites during a recent evaluation. The high marks fuel optimism that the stadium will be among the participating facilities when they are announced in 2020.
Not only is Levi’s a proven soccer site, but it is also located near the Earthquakes’ Avaya Stadium and San Jose State, ideal places for training before games in Santa Clara.
“The collective piece is very strong in the Bay Area, including the history and the legacy,” said Patricia Ernstrom, the local host committee leader. “I feel really good about where we are: we’ve got it all.”
The world’s most popular sporting tournament will return to the United States for the first time since 1994 after the North American bid routed Morocco’s plan 134-65 at the FIFA Congress in Moscow. The 2018 World Cup begins Thursday and runs through July 15.
In two years, FIFA officials will pick which cities get to host games as well as whether all three host countries are guaranteed a place at the tournament.
The United Bid has proposed holding 60 of the 80 games in the United States with the final at 87,000 MetLife Stadium in Greater New York. Some of the other leading facilities being considered besides Levi’s Stadium are the Rose Bowl and the NFL stadium being built in Los Angeles.
If organizers place the final in New Jersey then Los Angeles, Mexico City and Toronto probably have the best shot to hold semifinal matches.
That would put Levi’s Stadium against Atlanta, Dallas, Guadalajara, Mexico, Miami, Montreal and Seattle as possible quarterfinal and knockout stage sites.
Chicago and Vancouver withdrew earlier from consideration over financial concerns. The combined bid included 23 potential host stadiums.
Getting any game would help promote Bay Area soccer in the expanded 48team tournament, Earthquakes president Tom Fox said Wednesday.
“The event is eight years out, but the conversation around soccer is going to be elevated and prevalent every single day until 2026,” he said. “That’s the benefit.”
The Bay Area also will be considered to play host to the World Cup draw a year before the tournament. Local organizers have proposed holding the draw, which attracts worldwide attention, in the Chase Center being built in San Francisco or SAP Center in San Jose.
But there is nothing like having World Cup games in the backyard. Local fans embraced eventual champion Brazil when it stayed in Los Gatos at the 1994 World Cup. Those memories haven’t faded, Ernstorm said.
“We can’t underestimate that it is already built into the Bay Area and rekindling that will go a long
way into showcasing how well we can host the World Cup,” she added.
Stanford Stadium played host to the 1994 World Cup and soccer in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Stanford and San Jose State held games during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. Each one of those events increased soccer interest.
The 49ers, who have minority ownership stakes in Leeds United in England and the Sacramento Republic, have made soccer part of their business model. They have worked closely with the Earthquakes to attract major events to the South Bay, such as the 2017 Gold Cup final between the United States and Jamaica and the opener of the ‘16 Copa America Centenario.
Mexico played Iceland in a World Cup tuneup in March and the Earthquakes will face mighty Manchester United in the stadium July 21. Also, FC Barcelona plays A.C. Milan on Aug. 4 in an International Champions Cup exhibition at the stadium.
“Levi’s Stadium has seen the world soccer stage, and we are humbled to now be preparing for the oncein-a-lifetime possibility of hosting the FIFA World Cup,” 49ers president Al Guido said in a prepared statement.
Another advantage for the winning bid is the fact Major League Soccer will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026. The American landscape looks vastly different than when the soccer world held the tournament on U.S. soil for the first time in ‘94.
A quarter-century ago, U.S. soccer officials used the World Cup to help launch MLS, which has grown to 23 teams with three more expansion clubs already approved. Almost every team has built a soccer-specific facility.
“The one thing I’ve seen is the number of players from all markets who are thinking about our league in a different way,” said Fox, who has been in San Jose for the past year.
For the next eight years, MLS teams such as the Earthquakes will have the opportunity to play host to national teams from other countries who will want their squads getting used to playing in America. (The 2022 World Cup is scheduled for Qatar).
The more visible Levi’s and Avaya stadiums become the better chance the Quakes can attract foreign talent.
“It could propel the sport forward in the United States,” Fox said.