Insider Exclusive: USA Plans for FIFA Inspectors

(WFI/ATR) USA World Cup bid CEO David Downs tells INSIDER about the "very ambitious schedule" his team have in store for FIFA’s six-man inspection team when they arrive in New York for their four-day visit starting next Monday.

"It balances our desire to show them the best venues we can possibly show them in America with their very specific requests for certain types of venues and their use and their very specific timelines," Downs said.

Arriving in New York late next Monday, the inspection visit will begin in earnest the following day with formal presentations in the city, followed by a tour of three facilities there – a potential site for one of the draws, a potential training site, and the new Meadowlands Stadium.

The delegation will then head to Washington DC to tour a training site and will remain overnight in the capital on Tuesday. The following morning they will visit a potential fan fest site in DC and FedEx Field. The FIFA team will then head south to Miami to see a potential site for one of the draws and the city’s Sun Light Stadium before finishing the day in Dallas.

On Sept. 9, FIFA inspectors will view a potential site for the FIFA Congress as well as the new Cowboys Stadium before flying to Houston to check out a possible IBC site.

Preparations for the FIFA visit have been underway since March when an initial timeline was drawn up.

Given the USA’s outstanding sporting infrastructure, Downs considers the inspection visit a significant milestone in the bid process.

"I think in our case because we’re so proud of our facilities, we’re really proud to show them off and so we’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time," he told INSIDER.

"I have no idea, ultimately, what the repercussions will be [with the FIFA executive committee], but it’s something we’re enthusiastically looking forward to."

Asked if the USA bid would be emphasising a particular theme – as England did last week to good effect with the legacy part of their bid – Downs said: "First and foremost this is an inspection tour of our World Cup match facilities and related facilities," he said.

"We have a very ambitious schedule to cover in quite a few cities. Everything else will be worked organically into our inspections of the sites.

"While we’re certainly proud of a number of aspects of our bid and those will be discussed, the mandate from FIFA and our intention is to make this the venues."

Although the schedule seems both intense and technically-focussed, INSIDER understands that the inspection team will – as they have on previous visits – meet significant figures from across the country’s sporting, cultural and political life. The USA bid team will be using the FIFA visit to increase the profile of the bid both domestically and internationally.

Barely three months from FIFA’s Dec. 2 vote on the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, Downs is happy with the inroads made by the bid both in the public perception and among the all-important FIFA Ex-co members.

"We don’t put press releases out each time we meet with people," he said of the discrete lobbying operation his bid team is carrying out.

"We’re comfortable that things are going fine in that regard, but we’re certainly not resting on our laurels and we’ll keep campaigning to the final moment."

Asked if there had been any formal or informal pressure to drop out of the race to host the 2018 finals, Downs replied: "We’re comfortable where we are and FIFA is comfortable with us being there."

Privately, the USA bid is amused by suggestions that it drops out of the running for 2018 to leave that race exclusively for Europe, when all four European bidders remain in the running for 2022.

"The position remains the same," said Downs. "Unless there’s some compelling reason for us to drop out – which we will always consider, I guess. But at this point there hasn’t been."

By INSIDER’s James Corbett

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