Houston listed as potential host city for 2026 FIFA World Cup bid

Houston was included among 44 cities listed as potential Official Host Cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup by the United Bid Committee of the United States, Mexico and Canada. The committee officially began its outreach to cities by sending Requests for Information (RFI) to declare their interest in to take part in the bid process.

The RFI asks cities to declare their intent by September 5, 2017. After cities declare their interest, the United Bid Committee will review the submissions and intends to issue a shortlist of cities by late September. The Bid Committee will then provide more detailed bid documentation to the cities and conduct meetings to discuss any questions as candidate cities prepare their final bid, due early January 2018. The official bid will be sent to FIFA by March 16, 2018.

The Bid Committee plans to include 20-25 venues in its final bid to FIFA. If selected to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup™, subject to FIFA's determination, it is anticipated that at least 12 locations could ultimately serve as Official Host Cities. If a city is not selected to host matches, there may be other opportunities to be involved in the 2026 FIFA World Cup™. Those cities, as well as other cities not on the initial list, could be selected as the location for the International Broadcast Center, host Team Base Camps or host major events such as the Preliminary or Final Draw.

There are 49 stadiums listed across the 44 cities, including Houston's NRG Stadium. All stadiums are required to have at least 40,000 seats for group stage matches, and a capacity of at least 80,000 to be considered for the Opening Match and the Final.

The 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the U.S. did not feature any events in Houston. Of the 49 venues listed by the Bid Committee, six have previously been used in men's FIFA World Cups: the Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA), the Cotton Bowl (Dallas, TX), Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA), Camping World Stadium (formerly the Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL), Soldier Field (Chicago, IL), and Estadio Azteca (Mexico City). The Rose Bowl, Gillette Stadium, Soldier Field, BC Place (Vancouver, BC), Olympic Stadium (Montreal, QC), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton, AB), and TD Place Stadium (Ottawa, ON) also served as host cities for FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments.