Mayor Turner held a press convention to announce the pleasant recreation information and introduce the brand new management of Houston’s bid committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Houston will host the US males’s nationwide soccer staff in a pleasant towards Chile in March, Mayor Sylvester Turner introduced on Thursday.
The sport will happen on March 26, 2019 on the BBVA Compass Stadium. It’s the first time since 2012 that the US males’s nationwide staff has returned to Houston.
The mayor made the announcement throughout a press convention with the Harris County Sports activities Authority Thursday morning.
Through the press convention, Mayor Turner additionally launched the brand new chairman of the United Bid Committee, billionaire John Arnold.
Arnold will chair the committee working to decide on Houston as one of many host cities for the 2026 World Cup.
“Bringing the world’s hottest sporting occasion to probably the most various metropolis in our nation is a problem I am wanting ahead to. Soccer has been a lifelong ardour of mine and it’s a particular honor to characterize my hometown to assist make that occur. ” he mentioned.
Arnold mentioned the method shall be aggressive as 17 cities battle for ten spots.
The 17 US cities will be a part of three cities in Canada and three in Mexico to host the Video games.
Arnold mentioned no metropolis is extra able to host the Video games than Houston.
The Houston Video games shall be held at NRG Stadium. The soccer stadium has a capability of 72,200, barely lower than the 80,000 required for the opener or the ultimate, but it surely may nonetheless host one of many dozen different video games.
The president of Houston Dynamo mentioned the World Cup in Houston may very well be one of many biggest issues that has ever occurred to town.
“We nonetheless have quite a bit to do, however let’s hold our fingers crossed, it is our route,” mentioned Chris Canetti.
The return of the World Cup to North America marks the primary time since 1994 that the Video games have been performed on North American soil.
In keeping with a research by the Boston Consulting Group’s administration advisor, internet hosting the Video games may generate greater than $ 5 billion in financial exercise throughout North America within the brief time period, with an total web advantage of $ 3 billion to $ 4 billion.
Incremental financial exercise may quantity to $ 160 million to $ 620 million in every particular person host metropolis, making a web advantage of about $ 90 million to $ 480 million per metropolis after contemplating potential public prices.
Listed below are the potential venues for the 2026 World Cup: