KC Arrowhead field is currently too narrow for soccer, and will need $50M to remove lower seats in order to host the FIFA games in a few years.  (They plan to seek funding from the state of Missouri.)  And SoFi in LA has the same width limitation.  Atlanta, however, built the Mercedes-Benz stadium with soccer in mind and can retract lower level seats to accommodate a full 225' soccer pitch width.   Atlanta is planning to install real grass turf for the one month of FIFA games there, as real turf is a FIFA requirement.  Currently Atlanta uses artificial turf because grass doesn't get enough sun to survive even with the roof open.



I was wondering if the Dome at America's Center could accommodate full soccer field width of 225' (75 yards) if they pushed back the retractable lower seats.  The dome web site shows the area for convention space within the dome at 145,000 square feet.  The ratio in the cartoon in convention configuration is about 12 to 9.  So I compute the max length and width would be about 440 feet long by 320 feet wide.  Not sure if they used retraction for any of the soccer games held in the dome in the past, but they should easily fit without dome modification.  

The recent volleyball event appeared to use the dome floor with retractable seats all the way back.

^ how cool would it be if we stole the World Cup from Kroenke. The media coverage would be a beautiful sight. STL should be all over this. Dome would need some upgrades before 2026 though


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0% chance they are playing a World Cup game at the Dome. Could try for Busch Stadium though.


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Jerry done in Dallas is building a field on a wider platform a few feet above the football field. This will subtract seats but they will still have 80K. Or they could move to the Coliseum or Rose Bowl. Or most likely Kroenke will find some place to stuff 10K more seats.


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Debaliviere91 wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

0% chance they are playing a World Cup game at the Dome. Could try for Busch Stadium though.


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0% chance at Busch, also. IIRC, the WCQ game in '15 had the lines nearly up to the walls. No way FIFA is having that for a WC.

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote:

Debaliviere91 wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

0% chance they are playing a World Cup game at the Dome. Could try for Busch Stadium though.


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0% chance at Busch, also. IIRC, the WCQ game in '15 had the lines nearly up to the walls. No way FIFA is having that for a WC.

That’s true. We simply don’t have the facility to host a WC game in STL.


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Debaliviere91 wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote:

Debaliviere91 wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

0% chance they are playing a World Cup game at the Dome. Could try for Busch Stadium though.


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0% chance at Busch, also. IIRC, the WCQ game in '15 had the lines nearly up to the walls. No way FIFA is having that for a WC.

That’s true. We simply don’t have the facility to host a WC game in STL.


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Game is out of the question - but we do have one of the best new training facilities in the United States - centrally located with easy access to the rest of the country - lots of nearby hotels for players and press - We could end with a big international team in residence here for a month 

What exactly is the FIFA capacity requirement for a typical (not final) World Cup game, just out of curiosity? I understand the grass requirement, and it would be absurdly expensive, but I suspect you could temporarily install sod if you had to. (And the ticket sales just might cover that kind of cost.)  The field surface seems like the easy problem to solve. The complicated ones are the seating capacity and the field dimensions. The Dome might just cover the latter, but would it cover the former? (Which is another way of saying we can't steal the thing from Kroenke, sadly. But hey, if he hands it off to Atlanta that's fine by me. But we just might be able to steal it from Kansas City. I'm certainly not in favor of giving them tax money to keep it.)

Let's not forget that FIFA requires a limited tax exemption, and at least one city - Chicago - backed out because of it. So there's more financial risk in hosting a FIFA World Cup game than say hosting a NCAA Tournament or even a Super Bowl. 

Either way, even if Kansas City couldn't pull it off, which they will, St. Louis is not going to steal any games from any of the announced hosts. Like beer city mentioned, St. Louis should be in a good position to host a team for training for a few months though.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

What exactly is the FIFA capacity requirement for a typical (not final) World Cup game, just out of curiosity? 

I think it's only like 40 or 45k.  Toronto's MLS stadium is getting seats added, and I think several in Qatar were very close to the minimum seating capacity.

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote:

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

What exactly is the FIFA capacity requirement for a typical (not final) World Cup game, just out of curiosity? 

I think it's only like 35 or 40k.  Toronto's MLS stadium is getting seats added, and I think several in Qatar were very close to the minimum seating capacity.

40,000 is the minimum. 80,000 for signature games. 60,000 for semi-finals.

St. Louis did not make it in the initial 2018 US long list. Dome is not competitive.

STLEnginerd wrote:I thought the host cities were already set...  If not, I think getting a WC game would be unlikely BUT it isn't that far fetched.  They should be able to bring in sod like they did for the Real Madrid/InterMilan game.  My understanding was it was a little tight but honestly is Arrowhead or Soldier field any less tight.  NY and Philly also seem pretty narrow.  Seattle, Boston, Miami, Tampa Bay and Charlotte seem to have NFL stadiums well suited to Soccer.

It may come down to feet and inches and also money, namely Chicago NY SF LA and Philly will get games because they are Chicago NY SF LA and Philly.  Everyone else better have a stadium well suited to soccer.

The host cities are set. The distribution of games is TBD. First match and final match require 80,000 seats. LA might be out of the running for those games which is what this thread started with. NFL stadiums are all a right fit but I think removing those seats is a lot easier at the average stadium then LAs which has suites on the field

Exactly. And if LA is out for the Final, it already appears to be down to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ as the replacement.

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

I thought the host cities were already set...  If not, I think getting a WC game would be unlikely BUT it isn't that far fetched.  They should be able to bring in sod like they did for the Real Madrid/InterMilan game.  My understanding was it was a little tight but honestly is Arrowhead or Soldier field any less tight.  NY and Philly also seem pretty narrow.  Seattle, Boston, Miami, Tampa Bay and Charlotte seem to have NFL stadiums well suited to Soccer.

It may come down to feet and inches and also money, namely Chicago NY SF LA and Philly will get games because they are Chicago NY SF LA and Philly.  Everyone else better have a stadium well suited to soccer.

The sod surface when they have done it in the dome has been pretty bad, playable for a meaningless exhibition game, but definitely not good enough for competition on the game's biggest stage especially given that each venue will host multiple games, not just one.

Twellman was on 101 espn today saying he would be stunned by what he is hearing if STL isn’t at the forefront of cities countries want to make their home base during the World Cup.


He thinks the US should make it theirs just based on central location, depending on where they play but that was more opinion on the USA part of it.

CG91 wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

^ how cool would it be if we stole the World Cup from Kroenke. The media coverage would be a beautiful sight. STL should be all over this. Dome would need some upgrades before 2026 though


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this has to be the most unrealistic bullsh*t i have ever read on this city. Los Angeles will have one of the Semi Final matches, if not both, since NYC is fa sho getting the Championship, Saint Louis is third world compared to either of these cities and no one on earth would do something that stupid unless they were Saint Louis natives, of which 2/3rds of you guys know better. good try tho.

Quite frankly, you don't know what you're talking about, and you're badly showing it.

I'm glad you mentioned Wichita. Lawrence, KS believes it has a good chance at being a host city.

https://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/town_t ... halk-park/

da_GOAT wrote: ↑

Jun 30, 2023

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2023

I thought the host cities were already set...  If not, I think getting a WC game would be unlikely BUT it isn't that far fetched.  They should be able to bring in sod like they did for the Real Madrid/InterMilan game.  My understanding was it was a little tight but honestly is Arrowhead or Soldier field any less tight.  NY and Philly also seem pretty narrow.  Seattle, Boston, Miami, Tampa Bay and Charlotte seem to have NFL stadiums well suited to Soccer.

It may come down to feet and inches and also money, namely Chicago NY SF LA and Philly will get games because they are Chicago NY SF LA and Philly.  Everyone else better have a stadium well suited to soccer.

Chicago lost out lol Kansas City beat them and Denver out.

Chicago didn’t pursue a bid. They didn’t want to play ball with FIFA’s financial demands.

Kansas City is more world renowned than Chicago -- not sure if you've heard.

They don't have any European flights, even like St. Louis, but it's okay because they're thinking about BRT these days. No renderings, no actionable plan, nothing. But they're thinking about it.

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Jun 27, 2023

Twellman was on 101 espn today saying he would be stunned by what he is hearing if STL isn’t at the forefront of cities countries want to make their home base during the World Cup.

Sorry but I've reread that sentence a number of times and still can't understand.

• Lots of countries want to use St. Louis as a training/travel base?
or
• Nobody wants to use St. Louis as a training/travel base?