North America’s three national soccer federations, Canada, Mexico and the United States, have combined to submit a joint bid to host a World Cup. Bids to host have been submitted to the United Bid Committee and the process to select the final dozen possible host cities is underway.
The United Bid Committee has released a list of 41 cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada that officially submitted bids to serve as Official Host Cities for the North American pending bid of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mexico is represented by three venues, including Mexico City’s legendary Azteca Stadium, which seats 87,000.
Canada’s largest stadium on the list is Stade Olympic in Montréal, Québec, which has a seating capacity of 61,004. Canada has six stadiums on the list of 41. The largest stadium among the 32 U.S. cities is AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Tx.(Arlington) with a 105,000 seating capacity for soccer.
Atlanta, Ga., Baltimore, Md., Birmingham, Al., Charlotte, NC, Jacksonville, Fl., Miami, Fl., Nashville, TN, New Orleans, LA, Orlando, FL,, Tampa, FL, and Washington, DC, also made the list. This list will be reduced to a shortlist later in the fall.
“The Host Cities will help define the United Bid, United Bid Committee Executive Director John Kristick said. “Each will offer the best facilities and infrastructure to stage the world’s biggest single-event sporting competition, the FIFA World Cup, and together they will play a key role in the development of the sport in North America.
“We’re thrilled with the submissions that we have received, especially each city’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, and we look forward to bringing the best group of candidate host cities together for our official United Bid.”
First the UBC must be selected to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Morocco has also submitted a bid to host. If successful, the North America group will likely trim the host list to no more than 25 cities for final consideration. Deadline for that is March 16, 2018. It is likely a final list will included 12 cities to host the 48-team tournament.
Here is the list of the 41 cities that offered bids at this point in the process:
| City | Stadium | Capacity | |
| Canada (6 cities) | |||
| Edmonton, Alberta | Commonwealth Stadium | 56,335 | |
| Montréal, Québec | Stade Olympique | 61,004 | |
| Ottawa, Ontario | TD Place Stadium | 24,341 | |
| Regina, Saskatchewan | Mosaic Stadium | 30,048 | |
| Toronto, Ontario | BMO Field | 28,026 | |
| Vancouver, British Columbia | BC Place | 55,165 | |
| Mexico (3 cities) | |||
| Guadalajara, Jalisco | Estadio Chivas | 45,364 | |
| Mexico City | Estadio Azteca | 87,000 | |
| Monterrey, Nuevo León | Estadio Rayados | 52,237 | |
| United States (32 cities) | ||
| 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 |
| 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 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 |