photo: John Niedermeyer/ BY-NC-SA

Hosting the World Cup in the Bay Area is no longer an option. San Francisco and Oakland didn’t make the cut to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. The committee looked at potential soccer stadiums like Stanford Stadium and Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, but I guess the committee thought there were better stadium alternatives.

The U.S bid committee picked 18 cities: Atlanta, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Tampa, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Nashville, Kansas City, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. The bid committee is expected to select two cities to host 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup in December.

The Bay Area is out, but LA is still in the running for hosting the World Cup. Los Angeles has tough competitors and I see their chances fading away with Washington D.C., New York, Phoenix and Miami still in the race. It would be exciting to have 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup in LA.