After walking away from FIFA’s demands for the men’s World Cup in 2026, Chicago has now entered the race to host matches during the Women’s World Cup in 2031.
The United States is the lead partner, along with Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica, in the sole bid to host the World Cup in 2031, which will also see the tournament expand to 48 teams for the first time. The bid book, submitted in November 2025, included 27 proposed U.S. cities for FIFA’s consideration, including venues in the 11 U.S. host cities used during the men’s tournament in 2026. However, two cities not initially mentioned in the bid book — Chicago and Portland — have now submitted paperwork to U.S. Soccer, which is processing the documentation to then forward to FIFA for consideration.
In a statement issued to The Athletic, Kara Bachman, the executive director at the Chicago Sports Commission, confirmed her city had entered the fray. “The FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031 is a great opportunity,” she said. “In Chicago, we have great women’s sports advocates, including the Chicago Stars owner Laura Ricketts. In Chicago, we will always seek to ensure the terms are fair and good value for the people of our city.”
Portland’s organisers did not respond to a request for comment, but their submission was confirmed to The Athletic by two sources familiar with the bid.
Chicago’s venues could include the 61,500 capacity Soldier Field, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, while MLS team Chicago Fire will open a soccer-specific 22,000-seater stadium in 2028, which will be named McDonald’s Park. FIFA officials are weighing whether the tournament should be solely held in NFL-sized stadiums or incorporate a mixture of larger stadiums and small soccer-specific venues.
Chicago’s entry into the process may come as a surprise after the city had previously been forthright in setting out its opposition to the financial burden imposed by FIFA upon U.S. host cities for the men’s World Cup. In 2018, the then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel led his city in walking away from bidding for host city status for the 2026 tournament.
In an interview with The Athletic in June, he said he was not prepared for Chicago taxpayers to be treated “as the dumb money at the table.” He also said that FIFA sought to include contractual obligations which would have given the organization the right to instruct Chicago to build a dome over Soldier Field (an open venue), if FIFA wished for that to happen.
“I said there is not a chance I am going to have you directing me on a $50 million-$100 million expense to the taxpayers,” Emanuel said. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. You can’t have something in there that leaves the city and the taxpayers exposed, where (FIFA) gets to decide it and I have no vote in it.”
However, sources familiar with Chicago’s intentions, who remain anonymous to protect relationships, say that the city feels a responsibility to be in the reckoning for major competitions in the coming years, as mega-sporting events remain important to the city when they can be secured on the right terms. These priorities include the Women’s World Cup for soccer and both the men’s and women’s World Cups for rugby, which will take place in the U.S. in 2031 and 2033, respectively.
Chicago’s executives are among many hoping that U.S. cities across the board will work collectively to secure less onerous terms than cities endured for the 2026 tournament. These led to rows between FIFA and cities over the costs of public transportation to games and fan festivals, among many other matters.
Some of the most explosive disputes came from New Jersey, whose new governor Mikie Sherrill was unhappy with the terms of the deal she inherited. But New York City and New Jersey have once again submitted paperwork jointly to be a combined host city. Washington D.C., which did not host men’s World Cup games, has also submitted its paperwork, with the new Washington Commanders venue, slated to open in 2030, in line to host.
At this stage, cities have not been asked to sign severely binding terms. They were asked to each submit commitments from four proposed training sites, six hotels and one airport authority ahead of the meeting of the FIFA Council on Thursday in Zurich, which was designed to provide FIFA with just enough assurance to go ahead and rubber-stamp the bid in November. However, the thrust of the negotiations will take place afterwards. FIFA has pencilled in the date of Nov. 23 to announce the destination of the 2031 tournament, barring any dramatic changes to FIFA’s leadership before then.
FIFA approval for the U.S.-led 2031 bid had been due to be signed off at the FIFA congress on April 30 earlier this year. FIFA claimed at the time that the FIFA Council had decided it would instead take place as a “stand-alone” event, but multiple sources said FIFA needed to delay the announcement due to multiple unresolved matters.
It was pushed back partly because President Donald Trump’s administration had not provided key government guarantees — including commitments on visas, tax exemptions, safety and security — which are ordinarily necessary for a bid to move forward. The Trump administration also sought to use this leverage to encourage FIFA to follow the lead of the International Olympic Committee by issuing a policy that would bar transgender athletes from competing professionally in women’s soccer.
However, the announcement of the host countries had also been delayed because U.S. host cities had major reservations about FIFA’s desire to essentially copy and paste the hosting obligations which had been inflicted on U.S. cities ahead of the men’s tournament for 2026.
The cities expressed clearly to U.S. Soccer that they wanted meaningful negotiation with FIFA on key aspects. These included requesting flexibility on some of FIFA’s key usual asks of host cities. Some of the matters raised included requesting discussions about FIFA’s insistence on ‘clean stadiums’, which includes wiping the title sponsor physically from the venue’s exterior (which cost some cities almost $500,000 for the 2026 tournament) but also stadium sponsors from every room in the venue and concourse in the venue.
Cities and venues are also seeking a possible revenue share from ticket or food and beverage sales, as well as caps on city-borne obligations when it comes to setting up official FIFA Fan Festivals. The Athletic reported in June that 21 potential U.S. host cities signed a letter, intended to be sent to U.S. Soccer chief executive JT Batson, which warned that cities would not be prepared to sign for the 2031 edition without significant concessions. The letter made clear that “many U.S. Host Cities are currently working through significant operational, financial, and contractual challenges stemming from the terms of the existing FIFA World Cup 26 hosting arrangements.” Ultimately, the letter was not sent due to fears it would provoke public relations challenges, but all the concerns were relayed to U.S. Soccer.
In recent weeks, there have been calls held between several U.S. host city executives as they seek to consolidate around a small number of key requests. FIFA, however, will be hoping that the competition stirs up between possible host cities in the coming months, which would provide FIFA with greater leverage to secure more favorable terms for itself.
All 27 potential host cities listed in the bid book remain in the fray, as well as Chicago and Portland.
The cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland/Columbus (jointly), Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Miami, Nashville, New York/New Jersey (jointly), Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington, D.C.
It is not yet known how the 104 games of the 48-team tournament will be distributed between the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica, but it is expected that the vast majority of games will be in the U.S., with Mexico as the secondary partner.
The bid book claimed that the event would drive “a historic $4 billion of potential revenue” across “ticket revenues, hospitality, ancillary match day (e.g., concessions), fan festivals, broadcast, and marketing/licensing opportunities.” This would be around eight times more than the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, leading the 2031 edition to be the most lucrative Women’s World Cup ever.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Soccer, Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup
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