Chris Canetti talks about Houston’s bid to be a U.S. host city for the 2026 World Cup.
This month, former Dynamo and Dash president Chris Canetti officially began his new role as president of the Houston World Cup Bid Committee. • In the coming months and years, Canetti will work with local stakeholders to help improve Houston’s chances of being selected as one of the 10 American cities to host 2026 World Cup games when the final cities are announced in 2021. Canetti recently spoke with the Chronicle to discuss the development of Houston’s bid and what impact the global sporting event could potentially have. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What kind of economic impact do you imagine the World Cup could have on Houston?
A: When the Super Bowl was here (in 2017), (Rockport Analytics) states that the economic impact was $347 million. It states that 150,000 visitors came to Houston. We know the Super Bowl was one game, we know that it was a week or so of events. So what else do we know? We know that if we get the World Cup it’s going to be six matches, it’ll be over the course of a month. So the economic impact, the number of visitors is going to be substantially greater.
Q: What does that translate to?
A: What exactly that impact is going to be, we don’t know yet and that’s part of the job for me by the way — working with economists and forecasters who know how to calculate all these things. It’s a guessing game. I don’t know if you can say because it’s six games it’s six times larger, I don’t think that’s the right way of looking at it. But you just know that it’s going to be more significant. It’s all the spinoffs of having an event in town; people are going to eat, people who work in those restaurants and how it impacts them, the vendors that benefit from contracts, or the police officers who get overtime. The hotel workers, the Uber drivers, the airlines.
Q: The bid committee estimates a cost between $60 million to $70 million to fund World Cup events. Can you elaborate on those projected costs?
A: We know what our bid requirements are so we have a general understanding of what it’s going to cost. There’s a lot of different things that we have to cover and pay for when it comes.
When events come to town, you want it to leave a lasting legacy. You think about Brazil or Russia, they needed to go build stadiums. We don’t need to do that. We’ve got stadiums, we’ve got hotels. But what we would like to do is somehow use this game to make an impact on two things: one, a legacy of soccer and then also to address some local charitable angle.
We know that we’re going to need to provide teams with multiple world-class training facilities, and if we’re being honest that’s something we’re going to need to build. So there’s going to be a cost to that, but then that becomes the legacy to leave behind. If we need to build a couple soccer pitches around the city to accommodate the World Cup on that level, then they’re here forever. So things like that.
Q: You’ve only been on the job for a short while, but what have you accomplished up to this point?
A: It was important to announce John Arnold (as chairman of the bid committee). He’s going to be vital to what we’re doing going forward. Now that he’s been announced and is on board, I’ve been able to have two meetings with him and now we can start to frame up a strategy of how we want to go forward. That’s very high level, but on more of a low level we were able to get our social media sites up and running. Now we’re working on building content. We’re in the process of identifying other key leaders we can invite into the committee to help us in our quest.
Q: What goes into crafting and delivering the bid committee’s message?
A: Right now I have three key priorities. This is a political campaign so I’m creating a campaign which is geared at local folks, local community leaders in laying out the magnitude of the World Cup — what it represents and what the impact will be. I need to be out and about in our area with a campaign explaining why this matters to Houston and get people excited about it. Then I have another campaign which is going to be geared to the decision makers (FIFA). Why choose Houston?
Then third, it’s important for me to lead a campaign of what I’m calling right now, Support Soccer. So when U.S. vs. Chile comes to town, we need it to be successful. When the Gold Cup comes to Houston, we need it to be successful. My organization that I work for now has zero financial interest in those events, right, but we have an interest in those events because we want outsiders looking in saying that was successful.
Q: How do you gauge a successful event?
A: Generally speaking, you’re always going to look at attendance. Crowds are ultimately how people deem things successful.
I would implore soccer fans from Houston — no matter what club they support, no matter what country they support — if they care about having the World Cup in Houston, to get behind soccer this year. To go see U.S. vs. Chile, to go support the Dynamo and Dash. We know we’re an amazing soccer city, we just have to showcase it.
Q: How would you compare this job to your last?
A: I still work in soccer, that’s the main thing. When I was president of the Dynamo and Dash, I was very focused on the objectives of the club. From this seat I think I’m going to have a wider view on what’s in the best interest for soccer in Houston and how can I help grow the game community-wide through this effort.
Q: What do think of the Dynamo and Dash heading into their 2019 campaigns?
A: I like how both teams are looking on the field. I definitely think (the Dynamo) strengthened the squad going into this season and continuing to grow with that young core of talent. If they’re healthy, I think they’re a playoff team.
I think ( James) Clarkson is going to bring some very positive things to the table as the coach of the Dash, and certainly they can build on what was the most successful season on the field last year. I think they’re going to be fun teams to watch.