"The biggest difference between ’94 and today is that there isn’t anybody who’s gonna be surprised when the people are here, and the restaurants are full, and people are chanting in the streets."
South Florida seemed destined to help host FIFA World Cup matches this year, given the region’s growing soccer fandom.
The face of soccer has changed dramatically across the region, which nowadays boasts Inter Miami as a local team and is home to soccer stadiums, in addition to serving as a thriving international hub.
That stands in sharp contrast to 1994, when South Florida missed out on hosting games, to soccer fans’ disappointment. The U.S. was hosting the World Cup for the first time, and officials had eyed Miami early on as a near-lock to be a host site.
Soccer experts and past news articles tell the story of how the region went on to face a challenging — and ultimately failed — hosting bid for FIFA World Cup matches decades ago. In hindsight, “we were more aspirational than realistic,” recalls Rick Horrow, a sports business expert who served as the head of the Florida World Cup Committee and helped present Miami’s bid as a 1994 host city.
Read more at the South Florida Sun Sentinel