2026 World Cup bid committee unveils shortlist of 44 potential host cities

Franco Panizo

The road to become a potential host city at the 2026 World Cup is about to open, and there are plenty of MLS markets in the running.

The United Bid Committee of the United States, Mexico, and Canada announced on Tuesday that it has officially begun an outreach for cities to declare their interest in serving as host sites for the 2026 World Cup. The group declared its intention to bid jointly on the tournament this past April.

A total of 49 stadiums in or around 44 candidate cities will be considered for inclusion in the official bid, which will then be handed over to FIFA by March 2018. The list includes 19 current MLS markets and 10 potential MLS expansion markets. The Bid Committee intends to select 20 to 25 venues from this bigger list for its final bid.

Here is the full list of proposed stadiums and metropolitan markets:

UNITED STATES (34 cities, 37 stadiums)


Atlanta, GA	Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Baltimore, MD	M&T Bank Stadium
Birmingham, AL	Legion Field
Boston, MA (Foxborough, MA)	Gillette Stadium
Charlotte, NC	Bank of America Stadium
Chicago, IL	Soldier Field
Cincinnati, OH	Paul Brown Stadium
Cleveland, OH	FirstEnergy Stadium
Dallas, TX	Cotton Bowl
Dallas, TX (Arlington, TX)	AT&T Stadium
Denver, CO	Sports Authority Field at Mile High
Detroit, MI	Ford Field
Green Bay, WI	Lambeau Field
Houston, TX	NRG Stadium
Indianapolis, IN	Lucas Oil Stadium
Jacksonville, FL	EverBank Field
Kansas City, MO	Arrowhead Stadium
Las Vegas, NV	Raiders Stadium
Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood, CA)	LA Stadium at Hollywood Park
Los Angeles, CA (Pasadena, CA)	LA Stadium at Hollywood Park
Miami, FL	Hard Rock Stadium
Minneapolis, MN	US Bank Stadium
Nashville, TN	Nissan Stadium
New Orleans, LA	Mercedes-Benz Superdome
New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford, NJ)	MetLife Stadium
Orlando, FL	Camping World Stadium
Philadelphia, PA	Lincoln Financial Field
Phoenix, AZ (Glendale, AZ)	University of Phoenix Stadium
Pittsburgh, PA	Heinz Field
Salt Lake City, UT	Rice-Eccles Stadium
San Antonio, TX	Alamodome
San Diego, CA	Qualcomm Stadium
San Francisco/San Jose, CA (Santa Clara, CA)	Levi’s Stadium
Seattle, WA	CenturyLink Field
Tampa, FL	Raymond James Stadium
Washington, DC (Landover, MD)	FedEx Field

CANADA (7 cities, 9 markets)


Calgary, Alberta	McMahon Stadium
Edmonton, Alberta	Commonwealth Stadium
Montreal, Quebec	Stade Olympique
Montreal, Quebec	Stade Saputo
Ottawa, Ontario	TD Place Stadium
Regina, Saskatchewan	Mosaic Stadium
Toronto, Ontario	Rogers Centre
Toronto, Ontario	BMO Field
Vancouver, British Columbia	BC Place