Yes, The New York Times is aware that MetLife Stadium is in East Rutherford, NJ, not New York. Yes, we’ve been to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. And yes we even know some people spell that last place Foxboro.
Prepare yourself for some geographical quirks in Thursday’s announcements of the 2026 World Cup host cities, because FIFA has already done a lot of them in the process. The Washington-Baltimore joint bid, for example, would bring the games to Baltimore, but not to Washington. This map alone Apparently he cut Dallas and Denver completely free from their moorings.
But fair warning: Our live coverage will likely follow this line, for simplicity’s sake, with notations to select as needed.
Each of the competition’s 22 finalists (and 23 stadiums) were tied to a major metropolitan area, even if the stadium associated with each nomination was not technically located in said city.
Here’s the full list (with each stadium and its actual location):
United State
Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Boston (Gillette Stadium, Foxboro)
Cincinnati (Paul Brown Stadium)
Dallas (AT&T Stadium, Arlington)
Denver (Empower Field at Mile High)
Houston (NRG Stadium)
Kansas City, Missouri (Arrowhead Stadium)
Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, and Rose Bowl, Pasadena)
Miami (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens)
Nashville (Nissan Stadium)
New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ)
Orlando, Florida (Camping World Stadium)
Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)
San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California)
Seattle (cavitation field)
Washington DC/Baltimore (M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore)
Canada
Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium)
Toronto (BMO field)
Vancouver (BC Place)
Mexico
Guadalajara (Akron Stadium, Zapopan)
Mexico City (Azteca Stadium)
Monterrey (BBVA Stadium, Guadalupe).
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