Despite being passionate soccer city, Chicago not hosting any 2026 World Cup games
As the world's biggest sport takes center stage during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Chicagoans will have to watch from the sidelines.
Despite being one of the country's most passionate soccer cities, Chicago is not hosting a single World Cup match.
In an interview with the Athletic, former Mayor Rahm Emmanuel expressed his frustration with FIFA's demand to have a dome over Soldier Field. It led him to say no to hosting the World Cup in 2018.
"You expect me to treat the Chicago taxpayers as the dumb money at the table. You got to be kidding me," Emanuel said. "You can't have something in there that leaves the city and the taxpayers exposed, and you get to decide it, and I have no vote in it"
He says the demand would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars for the city.
