PERFECT PITCH
Houston is working to land what would be the biggest sporting event in the city’s history
Houston would be excellent pick among World Cup host cities.
It is bigger and more important than the Summer Olympics.
It makes Texas (and Oklahoma) potentially leaving the Big 12 for the SEC look like a brief news blip.
The Rockets picking No. 2 overall in this week’s NBA draft? The rebuilding Texans starting training camp with or without Deshaun Watson? The Astros adding a trusted reliever before MLB’s trade deadline?
An ant versus a skyscraper, from a local and historical perspective.
This should be the biggest story right now in Houston sports. And if Chris Canetti and Co. pull this off, it will become the biggest sporting event in our city’s history.
OK. Enough of the slow buildup. Time to blast the speakers.
Houston is on the verge of becoming a host city for the 2026 World Cup, which is basically like America’s fourth-largest city being awarded six Super Bowls at one time.
“This has been a fantastic experience for me,” said Canetti, president of the Houston World Cup Bid Committee. “Obviously, the World Cup is the most popular and prestigious sporting event on the planet. So to be a part of something like this is a great honor.
“We have lots of tangible assets in Houston that we can point to that say so many great things about our city. But there’s this one intangible thing, which is the spirit of our city, that as Houstonians we’re familiar with it and we know about it, and outsiders may not always see it. But that spirit has really shined brightly for me on this World Cup process because I feel like I’ve got an entire community behind me.”
I know what a few of you are already saying: Great! Awesome! But 2026 is a long time away, 2021 is crazy enough as it is and who knows if the world will still be around in 2025.
Well, these things take time. And planning. And cities, communities, civic leaders, gazilliondollar corporations and fervent soccer believers all working together toward a shared goal for years.
You don’t just wake up one day to discover that the Federation Internationale de Football Association has decided that you deserve to be one of 16 cities throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada that will host the 2026 World Cup, which will feature 48 teams playing 80 matches.
March Madness across three huge countries for three buzzing months is a decent comparison. But that doesn’t even come close to what the Cup means to the world.
“This is definitely the most significant sporting event that could ever come to the city, which is why our leadership and our community is so squarely behind it,” said Canetti, who previously served as the president of the Dynamo and Dash.
While we’re watching the Olympics in Tokyo and debating SEC expansion and trying to figure out how much the Rockets would have to give up to get Cade Cunningham at No. 1, Canetti and his crew are trying to construct a decades-in-the-making skyscraper at the same time.
Fascinating, isn’t it?
“There’s no doubt that we are capable and deserving of being a host city in 2026,” Canetti said. “We’ve hosted more major sporting events as a city, by the way, since 2004 than anybody else, from Super Bowls to Final Fours to All-Star Games, you name it. So we’ve been there, done that and we’ve done it with success.”
Mexico already has three host cities for 2026. Canada had three, until Montreal withdrew earlier this month. Houston is one of 17 American finalists, competing with the normal big names (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) and a few (Cincinnati, Baltimore, Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tenn.) that don’t fully scream international soccer destination.
How serious and big time is this modern World Cup business?
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was front and center, smiling wide for the world to see, when I clicked on the official Kansas City webpage that included an online petition to “show the world how passionate the Midwest is about bringing the 2026 FIFA World Cup to the Heart of America.”
The Texans need another franchise quarterback. But a ton of other things should work in Houston’s favor. Two international airports. NRG Stadium, which would host all six matches if the city landed the Cup, and NRG Park. Hotels, restaurants, major corporations, BBVA Stadium, multiple training facilities and our recent experience hosting Super Bowl LI in 2017 and the NCAA men’s basketball Final
Four in 2016.
Another intriguing plus: Houston and Dallas, working together for the greater good.
The latter was a host city for the 1994 World Cup, which helped lead to the formation of Major League Soccer and the growth of the sport in America in the 21st century.
Twenty-seven years after that Cup, Houston is light years beyond its 1994 self and Canetti strongly believes that both Texas cities complement each other when it comes to landing the 2026 World Cup.
“There’s a huge value to picking both Houston and Dallas,” he said. “Keep in mind there’s three (World Cup) cities in Mexico. So if there’s a strategic outlook, if they want to create geographic clusters, to have three in Mexico and two in Texas would really be a big benefit to FIFA and the participants.
“The other thing that we both have, which in my opinion is a massive plus, is we have roofs on our stadiums. When your average viewing audience for a match is 190 million people, you don’t want weather delays.”
The biggest challenge that Canetti and the city’s primary Cup supporters face? Making sure that FIFA sees Houston like you, I and millions of Houstonians see Houston.
The diversity. The economic opportunity. The daily devotion to sports that is both local and international at the same time.
“You look at some of our competition — the New Yorks, the L.A.s, the Miamis, even Dallas to some degree — they have this sort of worldwide brand recognition,” Canetti said. “While as Houstonians we know this is a great city, sometimes that story needs to be told to others, especially foreigners who may not have ever visited here or be totally familiar with it.”
To Juan Rodriguez, Houston being this close to securing a spot as a World Cup host is a tribute to the city’s connection with soccer, which blends grassroots passion with the ability to hold packed international events, including the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup, Copa America and the Manchester Derby.
There is the economic impact of the World Cup and all the worldwide impressions that Houston would receive. Then there’s the community impact, with the awe of the Cup creating new generations of proud soccer supporters.
“Houston has become so viable,” said Rodriguez, executive vice president and general manager of BBVA Stadium and Houston Sports Park. “Day in and day out, we’ve proven as a community that this sport is huge here. We see it every day.”
A looming site visit by FIFA is pivotal.
The World Cup selection process has been a little … political in the past.
But a final decision should be made within the next year.
And if Houston is selected as one of the final 10 American host cities for the 2026 World Cup?
Years of under-the-radar work within our city will suddenly deliver the biggest sporting event in Houston history.
This better happen, right?
“We know we can do it. We know we’re deserving of doing it,” Canetti said. “But I can’t take anything for granted, so I’ve taken the approach from day one that nothing is guaranteed and that we need to outwork the rest of our competition to ensure that we’re in the final 10.”