POSTED: Friday December 4th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG JOINS TEAM TO BRING FIFA WORLD CUP TO UNITED STATES IN 2018 OR 2022

The Bid Committee will submit its comprehensive bid to FIFA by May 2010, with FIFA’s 24 member Executive Committee making a decision in December 2010.

NEW YORK (Dec. 3, 2009) – The USA Bid Committee announced today that
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has
joined its Board of Directors in its effort to bring the FIFA World
Cup™ to the United States in 2018 or 2022. Mayor Bloomberg taped a
short video segment promoting the bid on behalf of New York City. To
view it, visit: www.youtube.com/mayorbloomberg
.

As mayor of New York City, the nation’s most populous and diverse city
and the home of Major League Soccer, Bloomberg will play an integral
role as a member of the Board of Directors as the USA Bid Committee
prepares its application and continues its campaign to bring the
world’s largest sporting event to the United States.

“New York is the most diverse city on Earth, with football fans from
every country, and all of us are firmly behind America’s proposal to
host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The
United States – and New York City in particular – is an ideal place to
host an extraordinary international event that welcomes the world, and
to showcase the planet’s most popular sport.  The United States put on
a fantastic tournament in 1994, and we in New York City are ready to
host an even more memorable World Cup in 2018 or 2022.”

The New York Metropolitan area has a storied tradition with
international soccer, highlighted by several matches from the 1994 FIFA
World Cup™ being played across the river from New York City at Giants
Stadium in New Jersey.  With the anticipated Fall 2009 completion of
the New Meadowlands Stadium next to the historic venue it’s replacing,
New York City and Mayor Bloomberg have applied for the venue to be
included in the bid the USA will submit to FIFA so the city can once
again host the world’s soccer fans for the world’s biggest sporting
event.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s accomplishments as a businessman, philanthropist and
administrator are well respected in this country and worldwide, ” said
Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of
U.S. Soccer. “His vast experience will play an instrumental role at
many levels of our bid, including the continued development of the
legacy and sustainability components of our bid.”

Earlier this year, Mayor Bloomberg put his support behind the inaugural
CopaNYC, an amateur soccer tournament created as a partnership between
the City, the United Nations and the diverse communities that make up
New York City. This unique social experience consisted of teams made up
of the diverse cultural heritages found throughout the New York area,
competing on urban soccer fields in a World Cup format tournament. The
goals of the event were to provide a forum for international dialogue,
educate people on global and local issues, mobilize communities, raise
cultural awareness and celebrate diversity. Albania defeated Ireland to
earn the inaugural Mayor’s Cup in August 2009. Mayor Bloomberg later
recognized the event’s mission of making camaraderie through soccer an
annual occurrence in New York City by welcoming both teams to the steps
of City Hall for a celebratory photo op.

New York City and the tri-state area will be important to the U.S. bid,
just as it was when the FIFA World Cup™ was played in the United States
in 1994. Giants Stadium was one of nine venues used in 1994, which then
featured a 24-team and 52-match format compared to today’s field of 32
nations competing in 64 matches.  Despite the smaller field and
schedule of matches in 1994, the United States set an overall
attendance mark of 3,587,538, a record that broke the previous
tournament mark by more than one million fans and still stands today.

The United States, Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan and Russia have
formally declared their desire to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or
2022.  Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted joint
bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while Qatar and South Korea
have applied as candidates to play host only to the tournament in 2022.

All candidates must have their bid applications to FIFA by May 14,
2010.  FIFA’s 24 member Executive Committee will study the bids,
conduct site visits and name the two hosts for the 2018 and 2022
tournaments in December 2010, completing a 21-month bid and review
process.

Mayor Bloomberg joins the Board of Directors of the USA Bid Committee
that recently welcomed ESPN Executive Vice President for Content John
Skipper, Washington Post CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth, Walt
Disney Company President and CEO Robert Iger, comedian and Seattle
Sounders FC part-owner Drew Carey, MLS founding investor Philip
Anschutz, Univision CEO Joe Uva, New England Revolution and New England
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, U.S. Soccer Foundation President Ed
Foster-Simeon, University of Miami President Donna Shalala, California
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. National Team icons Landon Donovan and
Mia Hamm, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. In the
months ahead, the USA Bid Committee will add additional national
leaders from the sectors of sports, entertainment, government and
business.

The USA Bid Committee’s efforts has earned the full support of
President Barack Obama, who back in April reached out to FIFA – the
world’s governing body of soccer – to endorse the efforts to bring the
world’s largest sporting event back to the United States.  In that
letter to FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter and U.S. Soccer
President Sunil Gulati, President Obama noted the role soccer played in
his life as a youth, and its ability to unite people, communities and
nations from every continent.

On Monday, July 27, Obama and Blatter met at the White House to discuss
the U.S. bid and other soccer-related topics. The meeting was marked by
Blatter confirming his invitation for President Obama to be his guest
at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. President Obama has expressed
his interest in attending the event pending availability on his
schedule.

The United States Men’s National team recently secured its place among
the field of 32 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa by
capturing the top spot in the final round standings in CONCACAF. The
Americans will be competing in their sixth consecutive FIFA World Cup™,
making them one of just seven nations that have participated in all six
World Cups since 1990, including secured berths to South Africa in
2010. The U.S. Men’s National Team will have its group and match orders
revealed at the FIFA World Cup Draw on December 4 in Cape Town, South
Africa.

The USA Bid Committee recently released a study conducted by an
independent consulting firm that estimates a conservative domestic
economic impact of five billion dollars if the United States is chosen
to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022. The findings of the study
indicate that the total economic impact projected for any one host city
ranges from approximately $400 million to $600 million at today’s
dollar value. The analysis also estimates that between 65,000 and
100,000 total new jobs would be created in the various host cities
during the preparation and operation of the tournament in the year of
the event. The study was undertaken by the Economics practice at AECOM,
formerly Economics Research Associates (ERA), the world’s leading
international sports and entertainment attraction consulting firm.   

ABOUT U.S. SOCCER:

Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer has helped chart the course for soccer in
the USA for more than 95 years as the governing body of the sport. In
this time, the Federation’s mission statement has been simple and
clear: to make soccer, in all its forms, a pre-eminent sport in the
United States and to continue the development of soccer at all
recreational and competitive levels. To that end, the sport’s growth in
the past two decades has been nothing short of remarkable as U.S.
Soccer’s National Teams have continually succeeded on the world stage
while also growing the game here in the United States with the support
of its members. For more information, visit ussoccer.com.

ABOUT THE USA BID COMMITTEE INC.:

The USA Bid Committee is a non-profit organization created to prepare a
successful application to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022 on
behalf of the United States Soccer Federation.  The Bid Committee will
submit its comprehensive bid to FIFA by May 2010, with FIFA’s 24 member
Executive Committee making a decision in December 2010. Members of the
USA Bid Committee in alphabetical order include Houston Dynamo and Los
Angeles Galaxy owner Philip Anschutz, New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, comedian and Seattle Sounders FC part-owner Drew Carey,
former Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman (Asia) Carlos Cordeiro, U.S. Men’s
National Team player Landon Donovan, Executive Director David Downs,
U.S. Soccer CEO and General Secretary Dan Flynn, U.S. Soccer Foundation
President Ed Foster-Simeon, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don
Garber, U.S. Soccer President and USA Bid Committee Chairman Sunil
Gulati, U.S. Women’s National Team former player Mia Hamm, Walt Disney
Company President and CEO Robert Iger, former U.S. Secretary of State
Dr. Henry Kissinger, New England Revolution and New England Patriots
owner Robert Kraft, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, University
of Miami President Donna Shalala, ESPN Executive Vice President for
Content John Skipper, Univision CEO Joe Uva and Washington Post CEO and
Publisher Katharine Weymouth. For more information, visit goUSAbid.com.

# # #

Keywords · FIFA World Cupâ„¢ · USA 2018 or 2022 · Michael R. Bloomberg

Name: Jim Moorhouse
Organization: US Soccer Federation
Email:
Phone: 312 808 1300
URL: http://www.usssoccer.org

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