Behind the Banner - October 2021

Why Dallas is poised to renew its substantial FIFA World Cup role Recapping the bid to bring World Cup 2026 to North Texas

The FIFA World Cup, already a global sports behemoth, will soon grow in scale and worldwide impact, just in time for it’s latest North American landing.

it did the previous time soccer’s quadrennial world championship landed in our country, at FIFA World Cup 1994.

Which is why it’s so important that Dallas gets involved, stretching its strong soccer legacy further still. Backed

by Dallas sports leaders, North Texas has hit the home stretch of bidding for a part in the momentous 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This time the United States joins Mexico and Canada in co-hosting world soccer’s grandest occasion – the first time three countries have done so. Dallas hosted six matches during that memorable summer of 1994 in addition to proudly serving as home to the International Broadcast Center. Now Dallas seems equally well positioned to renew its substantial role.

If all goes as planned, Dallas-Fort Worth will rise once again as a major player in international soccer, just as

That certainly is a big deal, both regionally and nationally.

According to FIFA, more than 3.5 billion viewers watched some part of the 2018 World Cup. That number could realistically be expected to grow in 2026 with even more nations involved.

The more traditionally sized field of 32 will compete during the 2022 World Cup, hosted by Qatar. By 2026 that field of competing nations will expand to 48 teams, meaning an all-time high 80 matches will fill North American stadiums, while keeping a universe of passionate supporters rapt.

Ideally, AT&T Stadium in Arlington will host as many as six matches in 2026, with other area and regional facilities acting as significant support components.

Dallas’ bid, organized and guided by the Dallas Sports Commission, has been in the works since well before June 13, 2018, the red-letter date in American soccer when it all became official. That day in Moscow, FIFA officials announced that three countries would cohost for the first time, as its World Cup lands in North America for the first time since 1994.

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The combined bid included plans to stage a majority of the matches, including the final and those highly consequential semifinals, within the United States.

Nothing is across the finish line yet, of course, but Dallas has long been considered a favorite to make the cut as FIFA officials carefully check the boxes on their venue criteria list. Following their inspections, which were

delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic but able to begin in September, they will select approximately 16 host venues across the three countries.

Dallas bid organizers aren’t aiming low; FC Dallas president and Dallas 2026 Committee Chairman Dan Hunt says he’s not even ruling out the final.

“This weekend, the North Texas region came together to showcase how genuinely spectacular our community, venues, and region is. I’m proud of how well we represented ourselves, and I know that FIFA left knowing exactly how passionate and prepared we are to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

The North Texas region came together to showcase how genuinely spectacular our community, venues, and region is.

- Monica Paul, Executive Director, Dallas Sports Commission

“My goal is simple: I want to host the World Cup Final here in Dallas. We have this amazing city that is soccercentric with a great legacy, great history,” Hunt told the Striker Texas soccer news site. “I would love for our community to host the World Cup Final. To be able to share that with my fellow citizens here would be an amazing thing because it is a spectacle like no other. I think our community could have that opportunity.”

Dallas is among 17 U.S. candidate cities contending for 10 or potentially 11 slots. Mexico has long been expected to utilize three venues, while Canada’s role will include two or possibly three venues.

So, how is all that going? Where does Dallas stand currently in its bid to put the world’s soccer-watching eyes on Texas, and North Texas in particular?

“It was an honor to host the FIFA delegation in Dallas this weekend for our site visit,” said Dallas Sports Commission Executive Director, Monica Paul.

FIFA’s October site inspection Dallas stakeholders had their opportunity in late October to remind FIFA’s inspection delegation how many ways the North Texas area can make World Cup 2026 bigger, brighter and better.

Dallas officials spent the Oct. 23-24 weekend hosting, toasting and lobbying a FIFA inspection delegation. On a full weekend of observations and queries, FIFA’s team looked at numerous potential training sites. Training site tours showcased the Cotton Bowl, Toyota Stadium & Soccer Center, Greenhill School, Rail Road Park, Andrew Brown Soccer Park, SMU, Dallas Baptist University, the University of Texas-Dallas, MoneyGram Soccer Park and the University of Dallas.

The team also canvassed historic Fair Park, where the International Broadcast Center was housed in 1994 and potentially would be again. Fair Park was also pitched as a prime Fan Fest location. Other areas surveyed as

potential Fan Fest locations included Downtown Fort Worth’s Sundance Square and convention center and Arlington’s burgeoning entertainment district.

A FIFA primary concern is getting the playing surface – the “pitch” in international soccer vernacular – just right.

That’s where local stakeholders had to get innovative.

At AT&T stadium, local leaders demonstrated to FIFA’s delegation how they would raise the field level slightly to accommodate international soccer dimensions. A toplevel soccer field is wider than an American football field.

While matches at state-of-the-art AT&T Stadium are clearly the focal point, it’s that International Broadcast Center that could become Dallas’ cherry on the international soccer cake. Just as it did for World Cup 1994, Dallas would once again join a fabulous list of worldwide cities to have hosted broadcasters from around the world. Paris, Seoul, Munich, London and Moscow are just a few of the headliners on that illustrious list.

Dallas was on the second round of visits to potential host venues. Those first visits, concluded in late September, saw FIFA’s delegation visit Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Washington, D.C., Miami, Nashville, New York-New Jersey, Orlando and Philadelphia.

In addition to the North Texas stop, FIFA’s second round of inspections include Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Seattle.

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The visiting delegation was led by FIFA Vice-President and Concacaf President Victor Montagliani. According to FIFA, his inspection team included officials versed in “venue management, stadium and city infrastructure, team facilities, commercial, bidding and legal.”

Why Dallas is well positioned AT&T Stadium was the heart of the Dallas tour, of course; it’s among the top reasons Dallas seems so well placed in the race.

Conventional wisdom has long assumed Texas would have at least one venue selected.

Veteran soccer writer Charles Boehm put Dallas’ odds in the race ahead of Houston’s thanks mostly to “the size, modernity and cachet of AT&T Stadium, the hulking home of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Indeed, maximizing attendance is generally a FIFA concern. (The United States still holds attendance records for the 1994 World Cup, a crucial data point as the United States and its neighbors beat out Morocco, the only other nation to submit an official bid to host in 2026.)

So AT&T’s capacity of more than 80,000 is certainly a draw. And the Dallas Cowboys’ well adorned facility has plenty of soccer history, having hosted some of the world’s top clubs and most decorated national teams (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and the United States, among others) along with important regional tournaments.

of Fame sits just a few miles north of downtown, in Frisco, affixed to FC Dallas’ Toyota Stadium.

FC Dallas isn’t just playing a role as the local professional club. The club has earned an international reputation for its youth development through the FC Dallas Academy.

It’s been Major League Soccer’s most prolific club in terms of exporting talent into some of the best European leagues. FC Dallas academy exports are currently playing in Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Denmark, in addition to Mexico.

Of course, the Dallas area and its 7.5 million residents are much more than just a stadium. Dallas bid leaders have taken every step to remind deciders that the nation’s 4th largest metropolitan region is culturally rich, ethnically diverse, geographically convenient for its position in the middle of the country and international airport, and better connected thanks to its DART and TRE rail systems.

History is also a player in FIFA’s selection process – and the North Texas community stands out here as well.

Dallas’ historic Cotton Bowl hosted six 1994 World Cup matches, including a sensational quarterfinal between the Netherlands and eventual champion Brazil. Just beyond the Cotton Bowl’s north end, near enough to hear the roaring crowds, sat the International Broadcast Center, as those analysts and studio hosts from around the world made Dallas their home base during June and July of that historic year for soccer in America.

The Cotton Bowl is one of three local stadiums to have hosted matches in Concacaf’s Gold Cup over the last 25 years, along with Frisco’s Toyota Stadium (home of FC Dallas) and AT&T Stadium.

The city’s history of professional soccer stretches to the 1960s, when Lamar Hunt’s Dallas Tornado club helped launch the North American Soccer League. Hunt, who always called Dallas home, was instrumental in launching Major League Soccer in 1996. Suffice to say, the Hunt family’s pioneering role in American professional soccer still carries important weight; his contributions, and his sons’ ongoing involvement, have made Dallas an important place in international soccer for more than 50 years. It’s no coincidence that the National Soccer Hall

What’s next in this process?

Now that the official pitch has come and gone, it’s just a matter of waiting. Although FIFA has not set a hard date for a selection announcement, they say venues will be named in the first or second quarter of 2022.

When it comes to the U.S. co-hosts (Canada and Mexico) the suspense on these visits rates far lower. In Mexico’s case only Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara were included on the original bid documents, and all are expected to host contests in 2026. Canada originally submitted three cities, which has since been reduced to just Toronto and Edmonton. Both are expected to play a part.

But the race for spots remains tight in the United States – and Dallas is doing everything possible to secure its place in this once-in-a-generation opportunity, and to enhance its legacy as a community where big soccer events happen.

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