Rice-Eccles Stadium is in the running to serve as a venue in North America’s 2026 World Cup bid.
Salt Lake City was one of 41 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico to submit a bid to serve as an official host city. The United Bid Committee, which is in charge of assembling the three countries’ joint proposal, sent out requests for information to 44 cities in July. All but Green Bay, San Diego and Calgary responded.
“The host cities will help define the United Bid,” United Bid Committee Executive Director John Kristick said in a release Thursday. “… 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.”
Rice-Eccles, which can seat 45,807, is the smallest of the possible venues on U.S. soil. Stadiums are required to have a minimum capacity of 40,000 to stage a group stage match. Rice-Eccles falls below the 80,000-seat requirement for hosting the opening match and the final.
As an MLS City, however, Salt Lake City benefits from having facilities in place. The bid by the Utah Sports Commission includes the Rio Tinto Stadium and Zions Bank Academy properties, per Real Salt Lake communications, which can be used as training facilities.
“The entire Real Salt Lake organization — including Real Monarchs, the Zions Bank Academy and Rio Tinto Stadium — are fully supportive of the 2026 Salt Lake City bid,” RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen said in a statement. ”We are proud to support the Utah Sports Commission in our great state‘s collective efforts to once again utilize sports to focus the eyes of the world on Utah and our community’s unparalleled offerings.”
The United Bid Committee is scheduled to review the 41 host city bids — 32 in the U.S., six in Canada and three in Mexico — and release a short list this fall. Between 20 and 25 cities will be included in the final bid, which FIFA requires by March 16, 2018.
BID CITIES<br>City • Stadium • Capacity <br>United States <br>Atlanta • Mercedes-Benz Stadium • 75,000<br>Baltimore • M&T Bank Stadium • 71,008<br>Birmingham, Ala. • Legion Field • 71,594<br>Boston (Foxborough, Mass.) • Gillette Stadium • 65,892<br>Charlotte, N.C. • Bank of America Stadium • 75,400<br>Chicago • Soldier Field • 61,500<br>Cincinnati • Paul Brown Stadium • 65,515<br>Cleveland •FirstEnergy Stadium • 68,710<br>Dallas • Cotton Bowl • 92,100 <br>Dallas (Arlington, Texas) • AT&T Stadium • 105,000 <br>Denver • Sports Authority Field at Mile High • 76,125 <br>Detroit • Ford Field • 65,000<br>Houston • NRG Stadium • 71,500 <br>Indianapolis • Lucas Oil Stadium • 65,700 <br>Jacksonville, Fla. • EverBank Field • 64,000 <br>Kansas City, Mo. • Arrowhead Stadium • 76,416 <br>Las Vegas • Raiders Stadium • 72,000 <br>Los Angeles • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 78,500 <br>Los Angeles (Inglewood, Calif.) • LA Stadium at Hollywood Park • TBD <br>Los Angeles (Pasadena, Calif.) • Rose Bowl • 87,627 <br>Miami • Hard Rock Stadium • 65,767 <br>Minneapolis • U.S. Bank Stadium • 63,000 <br>Nashville, Tenn. • Nissan Stadium • 69,143 <br>New Orleans • Mercedes-Benz Superdome • 72,000 <br>New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, N.J.) • MetLife Stadium • 82,500 <br>Orlando, Fla. • Camping World Stadium • 65,000 <br>Philadelphia • Lincoln Financial Field • 69,328 <br>Phoenix (Glendale, Ariz.) • University of Phoenix Stadium • 73,000 <br>Pittsburgh • Heinz Field • 68,400 <br>Salt Lake City • Rice-Eccles Stadium • 45,807 <br>San Antonio • Alamodome • 72,000 <br>San Francisco/San Jose (Santa Clara, Calif.) • Levi’s Stadium • 72,000 <br>Seattle • CenturyLink Field • 69,000 <br>Tampa, Fla. • Raymond James Stadium • 73,309<br>Washington, DC (Landover, Md.) • FedEx Field • 82,000 <br>;Canada <br>Edmonton, Alberta • Commonwealth Stadium • 56,335 <br>Montreal • Stade Olympique • 61,004 <br>Ottawa, Ontario • TD Place Stadium • 24,341 <br>Regina, Saskatchewan • Mosaic Stadium • 30,048 <br>Toronto • BMO Field • 28,026 <br>Vancouver, British Columbia • BC Place • 55,165 <br>Mexico <br>Guadalajara, Jalisco • Estadio Chivas • 45,364 <br>Mexico City • Estadio Azteca • 87,000 <br>Monterrey, Nuevo Leon • Estadio Rayados • 52,237