Border & Immigration

San Diego Considers Hosting Soccer World Cup

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published November 17, 2009 at 3:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego city council will decide today whether to offer to be a host city, IF the United States wins a bid to host the World Soccer Cup in 2018 or 2022.

San Diego City Council will decide today whether to offer to be a host city, if the United States wins a bid to host the World Soccer Cup in 2018 or 2022.

The economic analysis before the council suggests San Diego could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, if the city agrees to host an international soccer match. The cost is estimated at around $15 million.

Al Kidd, President of the San Diego Sports Council said the U.S. Bid Committee has already narrowed down its choices of potential host cities to 27, and San Diego is one of them.

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He said they like the weather, and San Diego’s track record of hosting large sporting events like the Super Bowl and the U.S. Open.

"The third thing that’s very intriguing about San Diego is its proximity to Mexico. They’re very enthusiastic about us being a gateway city, and being able to draw the Mexican fans and the Central American fans,” Kidd said.

Kidd said the commitment would include a month-long "fan festival" that might bring 35,000 people a day to San Diego.

He said a public private partnership between the city and members of the tourist industry could help cover the costs of hosting the events.

Kidd said if the Council likes the idea, the city would find out by December whether the U.S. Bid Committee had selected it. But the United State won't know until December 2010 if FIFA, the International Soccer Federation, has chosen the U.S. to host the games.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.