I think the odds are long, but the Edward Jones Dome is one of 32 stadiums in 27 cities still being considered as venues by the bid committe for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Their latest round of editing knocked 11 cities out of the running: Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Fayetteville, Ark.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New Orleans, La.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Salt Lake City, Utah and San Antonio, Tex.

With Fayetteville dropping out, pretty much all the places you would think of as college football only venues are out. (I suppose Birmingham fits that too, but I was thinking of places like Fayetteville, Morgantown, Champaign or Columbia that were on the original list. Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor is still in the running, but that’s not too far from Detroit.) It seems to me as I look at the list that if St. Louis makes the final cut, it’s because they want St. Louis and not because of the Dome. There are far better indoor facilities on the list, and by in nine or 13 years, the Dome probably won’t make anyone’s list of great American stadiums. (Sorry CVC.) As far as indoor stadiums go, Ford Field in Detroit, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy and University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix are all pretty state of the art compared to the Dome.

But St. Louis does have a rich soccer heritage, is centrally located if you want to pair a city up with Chicago or Dallas and gets behind big events. You know the drill. While there are 32 stadiums under consideration, I think the relevant number is 27, the number of cities still under consideration, because I think it’s unlikely they’ll go with two venues in the same city. They have done that in other World Cups — France ‘98 used two stadiums in the greater Paris area, and South Africa has some stadiums bunched together — but in a country as big as America, you have to spread the wealth. The bid committee hasn’t said how many venues will be in the bid book it sends to FIFA next year. It just has to at least 12 and as many as 18.  Can St. Louis make that cut? If they choose FedEx Field in D.C., Baltimore is probably out. Do they want to deal with making teams play at elevation in Denver? Oakland and San Francisco are both in the mix. There are four venues in Florida — Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa — do more than two make the final cut? Potentially that’s five out right there. From there, it’s a competition against other Midwest cities: Indy, Nashville, Cleveland, Kansas City. So getting to 18 is do-able. Taking that next step and being a finalist is another leap altogether. New York, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, D.C., Seattle, a Florida venue, Dallas, Phoenix, Boston. That’s 10 cities right there it’s hard to imagine not being in a U.S. World Cup.

Anyway, here’s the list of finalists.

Proposed stadiums, cities and metropolitan markets for further
consideration
Metro Market/City Stadium Capacity
Atlanta Georgia Dome 71,250
Baltimore M & T Bank Stadium 71,008
Boston Gillette Stadium 71,693
Charlotte Bank of America Stadium 73,778
Chicago Soldier Field 61,000
Cleveland Cleveland Browns Stadium 72,000
Dallas Cotton Bowl 89,000
Dallas Cowboys Stadium 100,000
Denver INVESCO Field 76,125
Detroit Ford Field 67,188
Detroit Michigan Stadium 108,000
Houston Reliant Stadium 71,500
Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium 64,200
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium 82,000
Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 77,000
Los Angeles Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 93,607
Los Angeles Rose Bowl 92,000+
Miami Land Shark Stadium 75,540
Nashville LP Field 69,143
New York/N.J. New Meadowlands Stadium 82,000
Oakland Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 63,026
Orlando Florida Citrus Bowl 65,616
Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field 67,594
Phoenix/Glendale University of Phoenix Stadium 71,000
San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 70,500
San Francisco Stanford Stadium 50,500
Seattle Qwest Field 67,000
Seattle Husky Stadium 72,500
St. Louis Edward Jones Dome 67,268
Tampa Raymond James Stadium 65,856
Washington, D.C. RFK Stadium 45,600
Washington, D.C. FedExField 91,704