Nick Piccone
2026 could be a huge year for the city of Philadelphia. It’s going to be the year of celebrating the 250th birthday of America, and Philadelphia seems to be in the middle of a lot of talk involving events to celebrate that.
A few months ago, former Philly mayor and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell said on WIP that the city is prepping for a big 2026 campaign:
“I wanted to tell you that the city is going to put in a bid for 2026, which is the 250th anniversary of our country. We’re trying to get the baseball All-Star game, the Super Bowl, we’re trying to be designated by Congress as the official city to host the celebration. And I think we have a real good chance of getting it that year, because it’s historic obviously.”
And now, philly.com’s Jonathan Tannenwald is reporting that Philly officially threw its hat in the ring to host the 2026 World Cup today.
Philadelphia has formally expressed interest in being part of the North American bid to host the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup, bid organizers and local officials announced Tuesday. It’s the first official step toward bringing the planet’s most famous sporting event here for the first time ever.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are bidding jointly to bring the 2026 tournament to the continent. Their only competition is Morocco, which announced its intention to bid last week.
Official bid documents are due to FIFA by March of 2018. The winner will be picked at the FIFA Congress in June of 2018, which will be held in Moscow ahead of Russia’s hosting of the World Cup.
Just because Philly’s name is now in that hat doesn’t mean it’s the only North American city. Other cities will bid on being the host, including cities in Canada and Mexico. But with Philly seemingly hell bent on being the official host city of almost everything in 2026, one can surmise they’ll be really pushing to host the World Cup that year.
Tannenwald lays out the many reasons North America is a favorite to win the bid over Morocco, which include the available venues and infrastructure to handle the transportation to these venues.
More here.
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