https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/6/13/17460610/chicago-world-cup-north-america-bid

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36277233)

The LA stadium was not selected as a bidding venue stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Canada–Mexico–United States 2026 FIFA World Cup bid organizing committee left the stadium out of the bid book as unbuilt stadiums in the bidding process are deduction's in the bid evaluations. [46] The United Bid committee stated they would re-evaluate the stadium selection process and re-visit LA Stadium as there main option stadium in the Los Angeles Metro area in June 2020.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36277326)

boston/ny (and chicago for that matter) are much closer to any of the likely canadian sites than is minneapolis anyways

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36278389)

that said, Kaliningrad is 1250 miles from Moscow and Yekaterinburg is 1800. Brazil venues were worse. There's enough padding to make travel work.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36278578)

edmonton is a long-shot anyways. most likely outcome is probably 2 mex, 2 cad, 6 US cities. top 2 canadian options are toronto and mtl. if there's a fifth non-US city it will be in mexico.

minneapolis also isn't materially closer to edmonton than is SF

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36278580)

anyways again SF is just as close to edmonton as is minneapolis

and this is all moot because minneapolis isn't even a candidate

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36279368)

The leading candidate to host the 2026 World Cup has been a joint U.S./Canada/Mexico bid that would see the tournament take place across a long list of cities. And I put that in the present perfect progressive tense because what seemed a shoo-in looks a bit shakier now that Chicago, Minneapolis, and Vancouver have all removed themselves from the bid, on the grounds that FIFA’s demands for tax breaks and other concessions were just too much:

theBreaker has obtained a copy of FIFA’s requirements for governments bidding for 2026. The Swiss-based organization, still reeling from the FBI’s 2015 crackdown on FIFA’s massive bribery and kickbacks, requires host governments agree to grant it huge tax breaks for an entire decade and allow it to import and export unlimited amounts of foreign currency. FIFA also requires host taxpayers pick up the full bill for safety and security and assume liability should there be any security incident of any size…

For its workforce, FIFA wants a visa-free environment where work permits are issued “unconditionally and without any restriction or discrimination of any kind.”

“It is also requested to grant exemptions from labour law and other legislation for companies and personnel directly involved with the competition, provided that these exemptions do not undermine or compromise the government’s commitment to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights.”

That is a lot! And it was apparently a take-it-or-leave-it deal: British Columbia tourism minister Lisa Beare explained that her government withdrew from the bid because “there was no interest by FIFA to negotiate or address our concerns, and that the costs still remain unknown”; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that “FIFA could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk”; and the Minneapolis bid committee issued a statement that “the inability to negotiate the terms of the various bid agreements did not provide our partners and our community with sufficient protections from future liability and unforeseen changes in commitments.”

The North American bid is still moving ahead with 23 locations — Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto in Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey in Mexico; and Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle. and Washington in the U.S. — all of which apparently agreed to FIFA’s terms. But it’s still an unexpected hiccup in FIFA’s plans, and shows that at least some governments are willing to turn down a major sporting event if it requires handing over tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues and untold security costs along the way.

(https://autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4006288&forum_id=2#36279369)