From www.GoUSABid.com | Bring the FIFA WORLD CUP™ to the United States in 2022
THE GAME IS IN US
UPDATE FROM THE USA BID COMMITTEE
November 30, 2010
MORGAN FREEMAN TO JOIN U.S. PRESENTATION TEAM
• Morgan Freeman to Lead Off Presentation | Click to download news release | Click to download photo |
Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman will join U.S. President Bill Clinton, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati and U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Landon Donovan on the presentation team. Freeman, who joined the bid's Board of Directors this past June, is expected to be the lead-off presenter for the USA bid.
• Morgan Freeman Narrates USA Bid Committee Video | Click to view video |
Morgan Freeman provides the voice for "Bring it to Our Country," the video at gousabid.com that brings to life the U.S. theme of "The Game Is In US."
PRESIDENT CLINTON WRITES COLUMN
• U.S. President Bill Clinton To Travel To Zurich | Click to download column -- English | Click to download column -- Spanish |
U.S. President Bill Clinton, the honorary chairman of the USA Bid Committee, wrote a column last week touching on why the United States would be a deserving and welcoming host of the FIFA World Cup™ in 2022. The column is available to media outlets for publication in excerpts or in its entirety.
NOTES AND QUOTES FROM ZURICH
ARRIVING IN ZURICH
The first members of the USA Bid Committee to arrive in Switzerland landed on Saturday morning. The advance team set up the bid's headquarters in downtown Zurich over the weekend. Rehearsals with different members of the bid committee started as early as Sunday.
Numerous members of the USA Bid Committee board of directors are expected to be in Zurich this week to support the presentation team, including:
- Douglas Band, Counselor to President Bill Clinton
- Carlos Cordeiro, Vice Chairman of the USA Bid Committee
- Dan Flynn, U.S. Soccer Federation CEO/Secretary General
- Don Garber, Major League Soccer Commissioner
- Mia Hamm, Former U.S. Women's National Team Forward and Two-Time FIFA Women's World Cup Champion
- Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of AEG
- Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of Wasserman Media Group
LANDON DONOVAN
Midfielder Landon Donovan landed today in Zurich after having spent some time in Australia with his club team the L.A. Galaxy in a postseason trip. Landon is one of the four presenters for the USA Bid Committee that will take the stage on Wednesday afternoon at FIFA House.
OFFICIAL REHEARSAL DAY AT FIFA
The USA Bid Committee visited the FIFA House today and held their official rehearsal in the auditorium where all the action will take place on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Zurich Time (10 a.m. ET). The team had 45 minutes to check that all technology worked flawlessly, with an additional 45 minutes to run through the actual presentation.
QUOTE FROM SUNIL GULATI ON THURSDAY'S VOTE
"It is an important date in U.S. soccer history. Thursday's announcement will mark the conclusion of many months of effort. Our presentation to the FIFA Executive Committee on Wednesday will reflect the hard work of our government at every level, our 18 candidate host cities, as well as city officials, sports commissions, stadiums, hotels, training sites, the bid's Board of Directors and staff members and above all the fans of the game who made a distinctive difference in our
bid."
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
STREAMING OF PRESENTATIONS
All nine presentations this week in Zurich will be streamed live at FIFA.com.
CONFERENCE CALL WITH REPORTERS ON THURSDAY
The USA Bid Committee will conduct a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Dec. 2, following the announcement of the 2018 and 2022 hosts of the FIFA World Cup (4 p.m. local Zurich time, 10 a.m. ET).
The conference call is tentatively scheduled at approximately 6:30 p.m. Zurich time (12:30 p.m. ET), but the official time for the conference call will be issued shortly after FIFA's announcement.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
The USA Bid Committee has provided an itemized schedule of events that will take place in Zurich, Switzerland, surrounding the announcement of the host nations.
The announcement will be made by FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 10 a.m. (ET) at Messe Zurich and will be broadcast live by Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN SportsCenter, ESPN Deportes, CNN International and Univision.
(*Please note that all times are Eastern Standard Time, tentative and subject to change)
Tuesday, November 30
Morning -- USA private rehearsal in Zurich
Wednesday, December 1
2022 Bidding nations presentations at FIFA House
8 a.m. - Australia
9 a.m. - Korea Republic
10 a.m. - Qatar
11 a.m. - United States
Noon - Japan
Thursday, December 2
2018 Bidding nations presentations at FIFA House
3 a.m. - Belgium/Netherlands
4 a.m. - Spain/Portugal
5 a.m. - England
6 a.m. - Russia
8 a.m. - FIFA Executive Committee voting at FIFA House
10 - 10:30a.m. - FIFA Announcement at Messe Zurich
10:45 a.m. - 2018 Host Nation press conference begins at Messe Zurich*
11:15 a.m. - 2022 Host Nation press conference begins at Messe Zurich
12:30 p.m. - USA Bid media teleconference call
Friday, December 3
USA Bid Committee travels back to United States
FIFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE VOTING PROCESS
The FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, approved the voting process to determine the hosts of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ and 2022 FIFA World Cup™ during its meeting held in Zurich on Oct. 28 and 29.
The voting will take place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich on Thursday, Dec. 2, and the process will be as follows:
• The 2018 vote will take place first, then the 2022 one. The vote will be by secret ballot and all eligible members of the FIFA Executive Committee can vote in both ballots
• To win the right to host the competition, a bidder must obtain an absolute majority (50% + 1) of the votes of the FIFA Executive Committee members present
• In the event of a tie when only two bidders remain, the FIFA President will have the casting vote
• For any voting round in which an absolute majority is not achieved, the bidder with the lowest number of votes will not progress to the next voting round
• If there is a tie for the lowest number of votes in any round, an intermediate voting round will be conducted to determine which of the tied bidders does not progress
• When the final decision on the host has been taken, the result will be put in two envelopes and taken by the notary to the "Messe Zurich", where they will be handed over to the FIFA President for the announcements
ABOUT THE USA BID COMMITTEE
The USA Bid Committee is a non-profit organization created to prepare a successful application to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2022 on behalf of the United States Soccer Federation. President Bill Clinton is the honorary chairman of the USA Bid Committee, US. Soccer President Sunil Gulati is chairman and Carlos Cordeiro the vice-chairman. The USA Bid Committee's high profile Board of Directors include: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, counselor and aide to President Clinton -
Doug Band, comedian Drew Carey, former boxer Oscar De La Hoya, American soccer stars Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm, actors Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, director Spike Lee and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The U.S. Bid is supported by official sponsors American Airlines, AT&T, Cerner, Fox Soccer Channel and Latham & Watkins. The U.S. Bid includes 18 candidate host cities and it
features 18 currently existing stadiums which have been built or renovated in the last 20 years and all of which are in compliance with FIFA requirements. With an average capacity of more than 76,000 spectators, the stadiums in the U.S. Bid offer the availability of a World Cup-record five million tickets. For more information on the U.S. Bid, visit goUSAbid.com.
*Note: The links above will expire after 40 hours. If you have problems accessing the document downloads, please contact Roger Hacker at 314.982.8788.
THE GAME IS IN US | www.gousabid.com
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