North America Should Host 2026 World Cup
June 1, 2017
By: Nicholas McGrath
On April 10, 2017, the United States, Canada, and Mexico announced that they had launched a clever joint bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The three countries’ plan has the US host a total of 60 games, including those from the quarterfinals onward, while Mexico and Canada would host 10 matches each. This revolutionary move would be the first three-host nation world cup in history, as the competition transforms from its familiar 32 team layout to 48 teams; this change is a very smart decision by the three nations.
The move has been met with mixed reactions from the countries. Mexico, an already soccer-hungry country, is happy to be taking part, but is rather frustrated by their lack of representation in the tournament. Canada has dodged questions about the quality of its pitches, after the women’s world cup in 2015 used artificial turf, something that had never appeared in any prior international tournament. However, the general public of all three countries seem to support the bid, citing the 13 previous FIFA events the three countries have hosted. The three nations agree that a joint bid will demonstrate the growth in the sport of The Confederation North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).
Opposition of this world cup plan claim that the logistics of such a bid with travel among the three countries would be an overload on customs officials and travel visas. However, this statement is entirely false, as a recent study by leading sport economist Rob Baade in the book Soccernomics showed that world class events such as the world cup does not cause a boom in international travel like many are lead to believe. Travel rates remain the same, but more people divert their original plans to go to the world cup events. The only other case study available, the joint World Cup between Japan and South Korea in 2002, did not produce any major travel related problems.
Opponents also bring up the idea that conflict would arise if the two hosts play each other in the knockout stages. This premise too is false, as Mexican Football Federation President Decio de María has already explained that this is the United States’ bid, and that because Mexico could not host 48 teams in a tournament on their own, the U.S. is free to put what they want on the table. The international cooperation of the bid itself is in fact a genius move by the three federations given the current political climate. President Donald Trump has already voiced his support to the U.S. Soccer Federation move to work with other countries. This statement demonstrates that these nations are willing to cooperate, despite the rhetoric used by the current administrations. The United States could host the tournament on its own, given its vast array of stadiums from which to choose, but the fact that the U.S. is reaching out to other countries shows that the country is still supportive of its neighbors.
Currently, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada bid is the only official plan submitted to FIFA, but Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has confirmed his country’s interest in hosting. The selection of the hosts is set to take place in May 2020, giving countries like Morocco a chance to decide if they wish to host the event, while Australia has backed the U.S. plan. However, if Americans demonstrate support for the tournament, the world’s most popular sport could bring the biggest stars of the game to a North American World Cup.
Sources Used:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-fifa-soccer-baxter-20170513-story.html
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/04/10/us-canada-and-mexico-launch-joint-world-cup-bid-2026
Soccernomics by: Stefan Szymanski and Simon Kuper
