Halftime Hype

Harold Mayne-Nicholls, left, the head of the FIFA Inspection Delegation, with Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer and chairman of the USA Bid Committee. Photo by Howard Smith, ISI

Will the United States host a World Cup? A question on everyone's mind and one that will be answered on December 2. Until then, one can only hope that the FIFA Inspection Delegation was impressed by what the U.S. has to offer. As Sunil Gulati, President of U.S. Soccer, said, "“I think virtually all decisions in our lives, when there are candidates or elections, come down to the ability to convince people. This was a technical inspection tour...Clearly some people will have made decisions between now and then, or have already made decisions."

There were many highlights of the Inspection Delegation's trip to America. The Delegation arrived in New York on Labor Day afternoon, greeted by a mass of enthusiastic children, I'll bet under "The Game Is In US" banners that were hanging on 55th Street. In the evening, they were treated to a warm reception at the St. Regis Hotel, featuring New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

One of the notable stops was Cowboys Stadium, where the delegates were accompanied by Cowgirls cheerleaders, walked around the stadium, and viewed a video on the largest high-definition video screen in the world. Asked to reflect on the visit, Gulati said, "Watching the reaction of the FIFA members, I would say they were overwhelmed."

Other memorable moments included a breakfast at the White House with senior staff of the Obama administration; appearances by U.S. men's national team manager, Bob Bradley, and ESPN soccer commentator and former national team captain, John Harkes, at a visit to George Mason University's training grounds; meeting the Houston Rockets' center, Yao Ming, during the Delegation's visit to Houston.

Despite having planned "an incredibly ambitious schedule" with visits to five cities across America in three days, David Downs, the Executive Director of the USA Bid Committee, shared that the tour was often five to ten minutes ahead of schedule.

Although Harold Mayne-Nicholls, head of the FIFA Inspection Delegation, seemed mostly pleased with the inspection, he did mention concern over transportation. "There might be, on a later stage, additional needs for public transportation to cater to foreign fans," Mayne-Nicholls said.

However, Downs reassured that transportation would not be an issue. "It’s very easy, because of the capacity of our roadway system and the size of the parking lots in the stadiums, to institute shuttle bus service. My understanding is that the most recent Super Bowl, which took place in Miami at one of our stadiums, consisted of 900 shuttle buses both operating on loops from parking rides and going in and out of downtown Miami and downtown Fort Lauderdale service the capacity crowd and they were moving…30,000 people in and out of the stadium per hour, more than sufficient to handle the load of a World Cup match. So we don’t believe it will be a problem."

On the Bid Committee's side, Downs believes everything went well. Sure, it would have been great to go to a beautiful city like Seattle and watch a Sounders match, he admitted, but in spite of the time restraints, that was not possible. "The biggest regret is not so much what was specifically executed, but the fact that they were only here 3 ½ days and one of those days was a travel day."

Although the tour seems to have gone rather well, there are no guarantees for the United States. Many believe that FIFA will opt for a European nation to host the 2018 World Cup. In that case, the U.S. would be in a less competitive pool with South Korea, Qatar, Japan, and Australia for the 2022 bid. Even then, FIFA may decide to potential first-time hosts Qatar or Australia.

Nevertheless, with the United States having hosted a World Cup in 1994, a relatively recent time period, it is imperative that the Bid Committee emphasizes how much soccer has progressed in America in the last 16 years. Gulati gave his thoughts on the issue at the beginning of the tour, saying "I think some of the international community underestimates the passion for the game in the United States. When we start talking about the landscape in the U.S. they’re surprised by it. They are surprised that we have 16 teams and are growing in MLS. They are surprised that Americans were the No. 1 ticket buyers for the World Cup."

"They are surprised that you couldn’t get into bars in a lot of major cities at 10 a.m. to watch World Cup games. They’re surprised that the TV rights for the World Cup were the single largest in the world. When you look at all those things happening in a relatively short time since the 1994 World Cup, you can see the extraordinary success story. "

With the inspection over, the next phase for the Bid Committee is to prepare a presentation for FIFA, which will be shown on December 1, the day before the host nations will be declared. Downs has shared that fans can expect "big video elements" as well as some "impressive speakers." Hopefully, the United States can capitalize on its "many strengths."