The best of the soccer world’s rest might come to the United States next summer.
The U.S. Soccer Federation, Soccer United Marketing and FOX Sports are in preliminary discussions over hosting a series of games involving teams that failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, FOX Sports, Goal.com’s Ives Galarcep and ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle reported Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the conversations.
Potential stakeholders haven’t determined whether the games would be one-off or organized into a tournament, but they hope to capitalize on the heightened interest in soccer among U.S.-based sports fans that accompanies the World Cup.
As the host nation, the U.S. men’s soccer team undoubtedly would participate, and organizers might reach out to Italy, Netherlands, Chile, Ireland, Ghana and Wales to gauge their interest in participating in the aftermath of their respective failures to reach next summer’s tournament in Russia.
So as the rest of the planet prepares to look toward Russia, host nation of World Cup 2018 next summer, stateside soccer fans might have the opportunity to pay top dollar to attend something akin to soccer’s NIT tournament.
