The FIFA World Cup is quickly approaching, and countries around the world are gearing up to watch their teams compete. Although football (soccer) is not as popular in the U.S. as it is worldwide, attention on the sport is growing.
This year, American fans are getting ready to cheer on their team, especially with recent news that they may have something even bigger to look forward to in 2018 or 2022 – the hope of hosting the tournament for the second time.
Germany, France, Italy and Mexico are the only countries to have ever hosted twice in the tournament’s almost 80 year history. This time around, Bill Clinton’s chief advisor, Doug Band, is giving the U.S. a serious chance at becoming fifth on this list.
Band is the latest addition to the Board of Directors for the U.S. Bid Committee.
While the magnitude of the World Cup enticed a lot of high profile individuals to join the Board of Directors (such as, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, etc), having the relatively lower profiled Doug Band as the face of the committee may just give the U.S. their biggest bargaining chip yet.
Band has helped implement philanthropic initiatives in over 170 countries. Having him represent the U.S. bid will help promote America as a great location to host the World Cup.
Winning the World Cup bid could also help extinguish any negative sentiments that may still be lingering as a result of the unsuccessful attempt by Chicago to land the Olympics a few months ago.
There are a total of nine other countries bidding for 2018 and 2022, including the likes of Indonesia, Russia, and Australia. The decision for both years will be made when FIFA’s executive committee meets in December 2010, after visiting all locations to be considered.
Until then, Americans will remain hopeful about the opportunity to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 while cheering on this year’s team.
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