Every year since 1993 the Sporting News puts out its list of ‘Best Sports City’ and every year our city rates near the top of the list. In fact, Boston has been crowned ‘Best Sports City in America’ four times since 2002 alone. Those four first-place finishes are more than any other city in the 17-year history of the ranking. Yet, when you think of great American sports cities, would you place Boston behind Baltimore, Indianapolis or Kansas City? How about Houston, Tampa Bay or Seattle? What about Miami, Washington D.C. or Nashville?
Well in one ranking we are. Despite that none of those 9 cities has ever finished atop the Sporting News’ ranking even once, they all appear to be more passionate about the possibility that the 2022 World Cup will be hosted by the United States! You see, we are less than 24 hours away from the announcement by FIFA – soccer’s international governing body – regarding where the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments will be held. This should be of interest to ONEin3-ers because the hosting of a World Cup is an incredible economic opportunity for a city, and also provides the single greatest opportunity outside of the Olympic Games to showcase a country’s culture, infrastructure and pride. Tourists come, hotels fill up, jobs are created and economies are boosted. Yes, I realize it’s not for 12 years but – quite simply – the World Cup is big business!
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In conjunction with the United States having submitted what is considered a leading bid to host the 2022 tournament, the U.S. Bid Committee has set up a competition of sorts between the 18 locations most likely to host some of the games should the tournament be awarded to the United States. Those places are the nine mentioned above, in addition to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York / New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix-Glendale, and Boston. The competition focuses on ranking the interest of residents in these 18 places in hosting World Cup games… and Boston is severely lacking in the rankings. Despite having been named the Most Hospitable Venue of the 1994 World Cup tournament – the last time the United States served as host – Boston currently languishes 16th of the 18 cities in U.S. Bid Committees rankings!
So, in anticipation of tomorrow’s big announcement, let’s create a little positive momentum for Boston! Sign the petition to bring the World Cup to Boston, pass the link along to your friends, and let’s make a statement that we’re ready to defend both our titles – as Most Hospital American host city AND America’s Best Sports City!
