FIFA president Sepp Blatter may be trying to curry favor for his fifth presidential campaign, but even so he’s pushing all the right buttons with the American audience.
Speaking at a convention in England, Blatter was asked about future tournaments.
[ MORE: FIFA to test video replay ]
[ MORE: Blatter confirms fifth campaign ]
From MLSSoccer.com:“And as we have been in South America, I think North America has a better chance than South America — if I’m looking on the, let’s say, the logic of the turnaround of the World Cup,” Blatter said.
“Perhaps there’s a big commercial opportunity arising now in the United States because of the tremendous television audiences that are booming and that the World Cup has also encouraged in its domestic game as well. We did well with football when it first went to the United States but the opportunities are bigger now. Could you just have a look at those possibilities as to where the World Cup might travel from Qatar?”
The United States hosted the World Cup in 1994, while Canada has never hosted the World Cup. Mexico hosted the tournament in 1970 and 1986.
Click the link for Sunil Gulati’s take, as he says the 2020s would be a good time for the tournament to return to the United States. The World Cup’s return to North America is absolutely certain, it’s just a matter of when.