Finishing touches put to Sunderland World Cup bid
Nov 10 2009 by Adam Jupp, The Journal
FINISHING touches are being made to Sunderland's bid to be a World Cup host location.
The city wants to be included in England’s application to stage either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.
Having hosted two delegations of Football Association (FA) officials, bid leaders have been working to finalise their written submission.
That will be taken to Wembley stadium on November 26, along with a similar dossier for Newcastle Gateshead.
A decision on which cities will be included in the final FA application to FIFA will then be made on December 16.
Sunderland Chairman Niall Quinn said: “The amount of work that has gone into our bid is truly staggering and the dedication and hard work shown by the bid team has been amazing – everyone feels so passionate about this.
“We’ve had tremendous public support so far, not just in Sunderland but from Middlesbrough, Darlington, Hartlepool, Carlisle, Durham and across the North East.
“As we approach the final stages I’d urge anyone who hasn’t given their support as yet to back the bid and help our region play a major part in the greatest sporting event in the world.”
It is estimated hosting the World Cup would provide a £25m cash boost to the regional economy and would see images of the North East beamed to an estimated worldwide TV audience of 2.4bn in 240 countries.
To be a host city, locations must have at least a 40,000 capacity stadium, strong transport links and prove there is widespread public support for their efforts.
Each bid document has to outline the hotels that would be used for teams and officials, as well as proposed sites for fan fests – which proved a hit at the 2006 Germany World Cup.
Sunderland City Council leader Paul Watson said: “I can remember the last time Sunderland hosted World Cup matches back in 1966, even though I was only 12 at the time, I still recall the excitement and buzz it generated in the city.
“The bid team is working tremendously hard to become a Host City and this is the last call for everyone who has not yet backed the bid to show their support and let’s welcome the world to our wonderful city and fantastic region.” Sunderland’s bid aims to showcase facilities across the North East, including the Stadium of Light and Academy of Light, Middlesbrough FC’s Rockliffe Park training ground and Rockliffe Hall hotel, Darlington Arena, Hartlepool’s Victoria Park, Carlisle’s Brunton Park and Durham County Cricket Club’s Riverside.
:: To register support for the bid, people can log on to www.sunderland2018bid.com
:: Back the bid at www.england2018bid.com
