World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Chicago is a total shock. I had Chicago as a mortal lock from the moment they announced a bid. That "Olympic fatigue" argument is bogus.

Also somewhat shocked by no Bay Area. I know the stadiums up for consideration were pretty much second tier, but there's an awful lot of time between now and when the WC would be. Was there ever any discussion in San Francisco about the 49ers maybe using the World Cup as leverage to help get a new stadium? Or are they not seriously talking about replacing Candlestick Park (which would be ludicrous)?

I do like the variety of the remaining cities though - especially Indianapolis and Nashville.

I will say this - I'll be surprised if they ultimately go with both San Diego/Phoenix AND Baltimore/Washington. Seems like one of each would be appropriate.

Apparently this list isn't as set in stone as I first thought. Somebody pointed out the rough equivalent to this list submitted to FIFA in 1988 looked almost nothing like the actual venue list. FIFA apparently stepped in and demanded the inclusion of New York.

As a lifelong 49ers fan, I feel safe guaranteeing the 49ers will not play in Candlestick in 2022. The thing is 50 years old and has never undergone a serious renovation on top of being hideous to look at. I'd hate to see that thing involved in a 1989 style quake during game day as it might look like some of the pictures coming out of Haiti. Right now the wrangling is about where the 49ers stadium will be built (Silicon Valley or closer to the actual city). The SF Chronicle had an article that basically said US Soccer had indicated to the Bay Area bid backers that when the new NFL facility has shovels in the ground, there bid can be reconsidered.

The new stadium clause might apply to Minnesota as well and LA would probably scrap their current venues for the new planned stadium. I have no idea what they want Chicago to change, other than adopting a more enthusiastic attitude.

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Purely my opinion, but I bet that way more foreigners could find Miami on a map than "The Bay Area," and probably true even if you asked about San Francisco. How many Europeans long to vacation in Northern California vs. Southern Florida? NoCal needs to get themselves a TV show to spread their image - I'm thinking "Oakland Vice" has a nice ring to it...

According to the Office of Travel and Tourism, San Francisco was the third-most visited city by foreign tourists in 2008 (page 3 of the PDF).

 

[LynahFan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Actually when I said Joe Robbie I think I meant Jack Murphy. Either way my ire was directed at San Diego, not Miami, which I agree is probably more well known

Oops - nope, you had it right, my bad. Joe Robbie = Miami, Jack Murphy = San Diego.

 

[LynahFan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

According to the Office of Travel and Tourism, San Francisco was the third-most visited city by foreign tourists in 2008 (page 3 of the PDF).

Those numbers are only based on arrivals at the port of entry, though. San Fran is obviously a huge hub for people arriving from Asia, but how many of them stay there instead of traveling on?

The numbers I found (not good enough to be worth referencing), showed over 90,000 hotel rooms in south Florida and only 40,000 in the Bay Area, which says a lot more about where tourism demand really is than visitor entries do.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Chicago is a total shock. I had Chicago as a mortal lock from the moment they announced a bid. That "Olympic fatigue" argument is bogus.

Sounds like code for "we didn't want to deal a set of corrupt, moronic politicians after dealing with the corrupt, moronic folks at FIFA."

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Those numbers are only based on arrivals at the port of entry, though. San Fran is obviously a huge hub for people arriving from Asia...

and yet you're claiming a lot of them can't find it on a map?

 

[JF_Gophers]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

The new stadium clause might apply to Minnesota as well and LA would probably scrap their current venues for the new planned stadium. I have no idea what they want Chicago to change, other than adopting a more enthusiastic attitude.

Minnesota and LA are the same thing. Because that's where the Vikings are moving to!

 

[LynahFan]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

and yet you're claiming a lot of them can't find it on a map?

Well, according to the numbers from that .pdf and wikipedia, there were approximately 6,484,985,000 foreigners (99.96% of the total) who did NOT visit San Francisco that year, so yeah.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Malawi beat Algeria 3-0.

Yes, that Algeria. Yes, that Malawi.

 

[Priceless]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Minnesota and LA are the same thing. Because that's where the Vikings are moving to!

There sure are a lot of lakes in Los Angeles

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Minnesota and LA are the same thing. Because that's where the Vikings are moving to!

There sure are a lot of lakes in Los Angeles

"Soon it was commonplace for entire teams to change cities in search of greater profits. The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City where they don't allow music."

 

[AMC]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

"Soon it was commonplace for entire teams to change cities in search of greater profits. The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City where they don't allow music."

"What a horrible thing to have happen on dozen egg night!"

"I can't believe that 10 years ago this game was being played in driveways" -Costas
"I can't believe that 10 years ago those girls were in grade school" -Michaels

 

[Rhett]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Nice to know that I wasn't the only guy watching HBO2 at 1AM last night.

 

[Rhett]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Malawi beat Algeria 3-0.

Yes, that Algeria. Yes, that Malawi.

I there anywhere to watch part of the CAF tourney on TV? I live in a FSC/Gol only universe.

 

[Craig P.]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Yes, but if that was an absolute game breaker it still wouldn't explain the presence of FedEx and the Linc, which I know are too narrow to fit World Cup regulation fields.

FedEx is widely speculated to be a placeholder for a new stadium in DC proper. I don't believe FedEx itself is a viable venue.

I don't know about the Linc. Maybe Lurie has indicated a willingness to spend the money to make it fit a regulation pitch.

 

[Craig P.]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Lord knows it wasn't a problem in '94.

The conventional wisdom is that FIFA wanted a World Cup in the U.S. badly enough that they let a lot more slide than they would this time around.

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

FedEx is widely speculated to be a placeholder for a new stadium in DC proper. I don't believe FedEx itself is a viable venue.

To be built in the near future? FedEx isn't even 15 years old.

Rhett, it seems like you're out of luck (at least during the group stage) except maybe online feeds. Try iraqgoals.net, they're listing some of the matches.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

To be built in the near future? FedEx isn't even 15 years old.

I'm sure Daniel Snyder really gives a ****. He could implode that place tomorrow without shedding a tear.

 

[Rhett]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

To be built in the near future? FedEx isn't even 15 years old.

Snyder periodically whimpers about needing to move the 'Skins back to DC. No one here would miss FedExField... it's as if they looked at the region and decided "what part of our region has the transportation infrastructure least able to support hosting events with attendance in the range of 80K-90K on a regular basis?" or, similarly, "where can we strategically put a venue where it will wreak havoc with all traffic, in any direction, within 25 miles of the site and for as long as possible?"

 

[jmh]

Re: World Soccer XI: To South Africa, and Beyond!

Snyder periodically whimpers about needing to move the 'Skins back to DC. No one here would miss FedExField... it's as if they looked at the region and decided "what part of our region has the transportation infrastructure least able to support hosting events with attendance in the range of 80K-90K on a regular basis?" or, similarly, "where can we strategically put a venue where it will wreak havoc with all traffic, in any direction, within 25 miles of the site and for as long as possible?"

I never said it was a great venue, it just seems wasteful to trash a serviceable, if imperfect, stadium after putting $250M (including about $70M of public money) into it not 20 years ago.