Atlanta included in U.S. World Cup bid

Atlanta has been included among the 18 cities that will constitute the U.S. World Cup bid proposal for either 2018 or 2022.

The USA Bid Committee on Tuesday unveiled the venues and cities that will be submitted to FIFA this spring as part of its formal World Cup proposal. FIFA will select the host nations for both events in December.

Should the U.S. receive a bid for either of those World Cups, Atlanta might become the rare city to host most of the major global and North American sporting events. The city has played host to the Super Bowl, several Final Fours, a number of World Series involving the Braves and the 1996 Summer Olympics.

FIFA likely would approve games in no more than 12 of those cities, and the list does not have to be finalized until five years before a World Cup.

The Georgia Dome played host to two crowds in excess of 50,000 for international soccer matches last summer. But the Atlanta bid also stipulates that if a new stadium is built for the Atlanta Falcons, that facility could be the site for World Cup matches.

“The game is on!” said Gary Stokan, president of the Atlanta Sports Council, which spearheaded the Atlanta bid committee.

He said the committee will continue to work with the USA Bid Committee and prepare for a visit later in the year from FIFA representatives, who will be inspecting all 18 cities in the U.S. proposal.

“We’ve been on pins and needles about this, because it means a lot to our community,” said Georgia Soccer executive director Rick Skirvin. “I felt pretty good about our chances because of how hard so many people worked to support this bid. We were doing things right from the beginning.”

Perhaps the biggest signs of support were a petition signing-drive launched by Georgia Soccer and a compansion fundraising effort that netted $75,000. Keeping Atlanta in the World Cup mix also gives the organization, which represents 70,000 youth players and their families around the state, a chance to build further momentum around its events and tournaments.

“All the events we put on will have an extra touch to it,” Skirvin said, referring specifically to the Atlanta Cup, Georgia Soccer’s biggest event, a youth tournament held on the Labor Day weekend that is one of the biggest in the Southeast.

The Atlanta bid also includes an offer for the city, as a major transportation and media hub, to serve as the site for an International Broadcast Center for the World Cup.

There’s a real Sun Belt feel to this selection of cities, which include Miami, Tampa Bay, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and — perhaps the biggest inclusion — Nashville, which had a crowd of more than 30,000 for a U.S.World Cup qualifying match last year.

The glaring absences: No Chicago, which recently lost its bid to play host to the 2014 Olympics. Not only is it the home of President Barack Obama, but also for the U.S. Soccer Federation.

The San Francisco Bay Area also was excluded after serving, along with Chicago, as a 1994 venue.

Cities that were 1994 World Cup venues and are on the list of 18 include Boston, Dallas, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Also on board are Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Denver, San Diego and Seattle, which quickly has become one of the biggest soccer hotbeds in North America with the inclusion of the Sounders in Major League Soccer.