The United Bid Committee of the United States, Mexico and Canada has officially started its outreach for cities to declare their interest to serve as Official Host Cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The committee has sent requests for information (RFIs) to 44 cities across the three nations including 36 in the United States.

After cities declare their interest, the United Bid Committee will review the submissions and intends to issue a shortlist of cities by late September. The Bid Committee will then provide more detailed bid documentation to the cities and conduct meetings to discuss any questions as candidate cities prepare their final bid, due early January 2018.

The Bid Committee plans to include 20-25 venues in its final bid to FIFA. If selected to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, subject to FIFA’s determination, it is anticipated that at least 12 locations could ultimately serve as Official Host Cities. If a city is not selected to host matches, there may be other opportunities to be involved in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Those cities, as well as other cities not on the initial list, could be selected as the location for the International Broadcast Center, host Team Base Camps or host major events such as the Preliminary or Final Draw.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first tournament with the expanded 48-team format and will require world-class facilities and infrastructure. The United States, Mexico and Canada are uniquely suited to accommodate FIFA’s high-level standards for hosting a FIFA World Cup.

“The Host Cities included in our bid will be critical to its success – not only because of their facilities and ability to stage major events, but because they are committed to further developing the sport of soccer by harnessing the impact of hosting a FIFA World Cup – and looking beyond the game itself to make a positive contribution to our communities and the world,” said United Bid Committee Executive Director John Kristick. “We have had a great response so far and we’re looking forward to working closely with each city and determining the best venues for our official bid that we’ll submit next year.”

The 49 stadiums represent a wide spectrum of facilities, including stadiums for soccer and football as well as domed and retractable roof stadiums. All stadiums are required to have at least 40,000 seats for group stage matches, and a capacity of at least 80,000 to be considered for the Opening Match and the Final.

Municipal leaders in each city have been asked to provide information about each city’s transportation infrastructure, past experience hosting major sporting and cultural events, available accommodations, environmental protection initiatives, potential venues and more.

In addition to a stadium capable of hosting international soccer, each city has to propose top international-level training sites and locations for team base camps, and hotels for teams, staff and VIP’s. The Bid Committee will also evaluate cities on their commitment to sustainable event management, aspirations to develop soccer, and the positive social impact they anticipate in the local community and beyond stemming from the event.

Proposed stadiums and metropolitan markets for further consideration
Metropolitan Market	Stadium	Capacity
United States (34 cities, 37 stadiums)
Atlanta, GA	Mercedes-Benz Stadium	75,000
Baltimore, MD	M&T Bank Stadium	71,008
Birmingham, AL	Legion Field	71,594
Boston, MA (Foxborough, MA)	Gillette Stadium	65,892
Charlotte, NC	Bank of America Stadium	75,400
Chicago, IL	Soldier Field	61,500
Cincinnati, OH	Paul Brown Stadium	65,515
Cleveland, OH	FirstEnergy Stadium	68,710
Dallas, TX	Cotton Bowl	92,100
Dallas, TX (Arlington, TX)	AT&T Stadium	105,000
Denver, CO	Sports Authority Field at Mile High	76,125
Detroit, MI	Ford Field	65,000
Green Bay, WI	Lambeau Field	81,441
Houston, TX	NRG Stadium	71,500
Indianapolis, IN	Lucas Oil Stadium	65,700
Jacksonville, FL	EverBank Field	64,000
Kansas City, MO	Arrowhead Stadium	76,416
Las Vegas, NV	Raiders Stadium	72,000
Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	78,500
Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood, CA)	LA Stadium at Hollywood Park	TBD
Los Angeles, CA (Pasadena, CA)	Rose Bowl	87,527
Miami, FL	Hard Rock Stadium	65,767
Minneapolis, MN	U.S. Bank Stadium	63,000
Nashville, TN	Nissan Stadium	69,143
New Orleans, LA	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	72,000
New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, NJ)	MetLife Stadium	82,500
Orlando, FL	Camping World Stadium	65,000
Philadelphia, PA	Lincoln Financial Field	69,328
Phoenix, AZ (Glendale, AZ)	University of Phoenix Stadium	73,000
Pittsburgh, PA	Heinz Field	68,400
Salt Lake City, UT	Rice-Eccles Stadium	45,807
San Antonio, TX	Alamodome	72,000
San Diego, CA	Qualcomm Stadium	71,500
San Francisco/San Jose, CA (Santa Clara, CA)	Levi’s Stadium	72,000
Seattle, WA	CenturyLink Field	69,000
Tampa, FL	Raymond James Stadium	73,309
Washington, DC (Landover, MD)	FedEx Field	82,000

SEE MORE: Schedule of World Cup qualifiers on US TV and streaming

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