FIFA to announce 2026 World Cup US sites, paring from 17

As FIFA prepares to announce the 2026 World Cup sites on Thursday - and make high-profile cuts - Alan Rothenberg thought back to when stadiums were picked for the 1994 tournament he headed in the United States.

"They gave the rights to the host country, and the host country basically ran the whole thing," he said. "Here, everything is done in-house by FIFA. So it's been a really long and arduous process. The terms have been incredibly difficult for cities to grope with."

Seventeen stadiums in 16 areas remained in contention to be among 10-12 selected from the U.S. for the tournament, which will be co-hosted with Mexico and Canada. The U.S. will host 60 of the 80 games under FIFA's plan, including all from the quarterfinals on, and there was little doubt over the venues for 10 games each in the other nations.

Last time, the nine U.S. stadiums were announced during a Waldorf-Astoria news conference 816 days before the opener. This time, the decisions will be revealed by FIFA in a Fox television studio 1,456 days before the likely start.

In handicapping the bidders, there appeared to be several tiers:

- Locks: AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, along with SoFi Stadium in Inglewood or the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

- In the hunt: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts; NRG Stadium in Houston; Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri; Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida; Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee; Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California; and Lumen Field in Seattle.

- Least likely: Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati; Empower Field at Mile High in Denver; and Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

- In the other countries: Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, which hosted the 1970 and '86 finals and will become the first stadium in three World Cups; Guadalajara's Estadio Akron; Monterrey's Estadio BBVA; Toronto's BMO Field and Vancouver, British Columbia's B.C. Place. Edmonton, Alberta's Commonwealth Stadium was likely to be dropped.

"This country has even more than 17 cities capable of hosting the World Cup, and it will be a pity for those that miss out," said Telemundo's Andr