landon donovan

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On Twitter: @longisland495 Will we party again like it's 1994? One story that has gone vastly underreported among our American media is the USA's bid to host either the 2018 or the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With South Africa 2010 in the books, attention turns to the 9 countries that are vying for the opportunity to host in 2018 or 2022. Those decisions will be made by FIFA this upcoming December. Let's get this straight...the World Cup is the biggest sporting event on this planet by a 100 country miles. It is first, the Olympics are 2nd and the Super Bowl is probably 3rd. But if you listened to some of the US press corps, you'd think the World Cup is no bigger than the TPC-Bridgestone Invitational (A non-major golf tournament for those living outside of the States). This is much bigger than any preseason football game or the WNBA playoffs right now. As far as 2018 is concerned, I think FIFA has that one set in stone for a European country, most likely England or Russia. I did mention in an earlier video about how some including the manager of Arsenal (Arsene Wenger) has criticized the playing pitch at Wembley Stadium. Wembley is the nucleus of England's World Cup bid since the 2018 World Cup final would most likely take place at their new Wembley. It's receiving added attention since the 2012 Olympics in London are only 2 years away and Wembley will host the football finals. That could play somewhat into Russia's favor. Russia and England are, of course, both part of UEFA. FIFA is much like the IOC in the sense that it gives preferential treatment to European countries. Then comes the 2022 bid where the US is currently the front-runner. Many prominent American figures have expressed their support for the bid. Among them: Presidents Clinton and Obama, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California "Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Carey, Mia Hamm, Landon Donovan, Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, and Spike Lee. Then there are the Aussies. Australia also put in bids for both 2018 and 2022 but they were so convinced that 2018 was a shoo-in for Europe that they put all their energy on '22. Their two main stadia are in Sydney and Melbourne. They are marketing the Olympic Stadium that they used for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as well as the Melbourne Cricket Grounds---both of which seat at least 90,000. The Down Under bid also has plenty of star power. Nicole Kidman is among the celebs backing Australia. Australia can't use "The Rio Effect" to its advantage because of FIFA red tape. Australia is not a continent under FIFA guidelines...it's a country. Plus, it's part of Asia and not Oceania which you'd figure it and New Zealand would be part of. Some have even figured the US as more of a lock for 2022 if China expresses interest about hosting in 2026 even though China has ZERO international football history. Asia has hosted more recently than North America. We could market new stadia including New Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Reliant Stadium in Houston, New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford among others. Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens will be all football by that time and should undergo a major renovation project. It may even change its name 5 more times before 2022. Lol The rest of the world loves to think that the US isn't an international football nation. That's somewhat true but they can't ignore that the most successful World Cup in history happened on US soil (1994). Part of that was due to the capacity of our stadia compared to that of England, Japan, Australia, or Russia. We can put at least 75,000 fannies in the seats for any World Cup match in the US no matter what round it is. 21 stadia are part of the bid from 18 cities even though only 9 will make the final cut if we win for '18 or '22. Those are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas/Arlington, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, LA, Miami, Nashville, New York/East Rutherford, Philadelphia, Phoenix/Glendale, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Was...