United States bid chiefs believe their selection of 18 host cities will give it the boost required to land the FIFA World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.
The USA Bid Committee has announced the list of cities that will be included in its official bid book to be presented to world governing body FIFA on May 14.
Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington DC all made the final list.
Among the 11 cities eliminated from the final round of the selection process were four that hosted games during the last World Cup on American soil in 1994 - Chicago, Detroit, Orlando and San Francisco.
"Today our hopes of becoming a host nation are strengthened many fold by the announcement of the 18 cities we will submit to FIFA on May 14," said US bid chairman and president of US Soccer Sunil Gulati.
"These 18 cities share outstanding leadership with a vision and understanding of what a FIFA World Cup would mean to the United States, along with how well we can play the role of host to visitors from throughout the world.
"The United States is equipped and ready to offer FIFA the opportunity to host a passionate and successful World Cup where fans, teams, partners and media can experience the beautiful game at its highest level while allowing the world soccer family to focus on the utmost mission of the game that benefits the world as a whole."
FIFA is expected to announce its final decision on the hosts for both 2018 and 2022 at the end of this year on December 2, after technical delegations have made site visits to all the cities of every hopeful host nation, including England's 2018 bid, this September.
The USA bid's executive director David Downs said the exclusion of prominent cities like Chicago, which hosted the opening game at USA '94, was a sign of the game's development in America over the last 16 years.
"We consider it a meaningful indicator of the significant growth of soccer in this country that we can put forth such a technically sound bid without four cities that served as hosts for the first FIFA World Cup in the United States in 1994," said Downs.
"The emergence of passionate followings for the sport and state-of-the-art venues throughout the country has strengthened our ability to put together a truly national bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022."
Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington DC all made the final list.
Among the 11 cities eliminated from the final round of the selection process were four that hosted games during the last World Cup on American soil in 1994 - Chicago, Detroit, Orlando and San Francisco.
"Today our hopes of becoming a host nation are strengthened many fold by the announcement of the 18 cities we will submit to FIFA on May 14," said US bid chairman and president of US Soccer Sunil Gulati.
"These 18 cities share outstanding leadership with a vision and understanding of what a FIFA World Cup would mean to the United States, along with how well we can play the role of host to visitors from throughout the world.
"The United States is equipped and ready to offer FIFA the opportunity to host a passionate and successful World Cup where fans, teams, partners and media can experience the beautiful game at its highest level while allowing the world soccer family to focus on the utmost mission of the game that benefits the world as a whole."
FIFA is expected to announce its final decision on the hosts for both 2018 and 2022 at the end of this year on December 2, after technical delegations have made site visits to all the cities of every hopeful host nation, including England's 2018 bid, this September.
The USA bid's executive director David Downs said the exclusion of prominent cities like Chicago, which hosted the opening game at USA '94, was a sign of the game's development in America over the last 16 years.
"We consider it a meaningful indicator of the significant growth of soccer in this country that we can put forth such a technically sound bid without four cities that served as hosts for the first FIFA World Cup in the United States in 1994," said Downs.
"The emergence of passionate followings for the sport and state-of-the-art venues throughout the country has strengthened our ability to put together a truly national bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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