Two decades after he traded in a baseball for a football, Chris Canetti wants to bring the FIFA World Cup to Houston, Texas.
HOUSTON, December 15, 2021 – The most popular sport in the world is usually on the sidelines in the United States. Baseball is the national pastime, gridiron football is the most-watched game, and then there’s the other football—soccer, as it’s called in the States. But in 2026, North America will be at the center of the international football world as the FIFA World Cup dawns on Canada, Mexico, and the country in between that doesn’t have a single football-specific stadium large enough to satisfy the World Cup criteria. There the two footballs will meet in harmony as NFL stadiums convert to host the pinnacle event in soccer. And Chris Canetti is hoping his hometown Houston Texans’ stadium will be one of them.
Before Canetti was President of the Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee, and before he had even set foot on a professional soccer field, his sports career began in 1994 picking up bats on a minor league baseball diamond in New Haven, Connecticut. He played ball at University and loved the sport. He didn’t think he could make it as a pro, but a job behind the scenes felt like a natural fit. He worked his way up the ranks and three years later, at 26, he became the team’s general manager.
To his surprise, Canetti started attracting the attention of soccer clubs in New York. “I really didn’t know too much about soccer, to be honest,” he told me during a Zoom interview. At the time, America’s Major League Soccer was still in its infancy, and the sport had never piqued Canetti’s interest like baseball had. Even though his childhood friends played soccer, he was never very good at the sport.
But MLS drew him in with a compelling vision and the potential to grow the audience of an exciting sport that had somehow been left behind in the US. In 2000, he joined the New York MetroStars’ marketing team, kicking off his soccer career which would eventually lead him to Texas in 2006, where he was recruited to build the fledgling Houston Dynamo and later the women’s team, the Houston Dash.
When I asked Canetti if he was hesitant to leave a sport that’s at the center of American culture for a sport that had yet to establish much of a reputation in the States, he pitched it as an opportunity: “From the American pastime to America’s fastest-growing sport.” He saw it as a chance to get into a growing market early and establish himself in New York sports, maybe landing in Major League Baseball with the Yankees or the Mets down the road. But as he took to his new role in soccer, he fell for the game and soon left any thoughts of moving on to a different league in the past.
While soccer is growing in popularity, it may fall short of being the fastest-growing sport in the US—a title that, according to The Economist, belongs to pickleball. Still, the numbers are promising. Major League Soccer saw a 27% increase in interest between 2012 and 2018.
After 13 seasons with the Dynamo, Canetti found a new opportunity to be a part of the sport on a global scale. In 2018, he took over Houston’s efforts to host the 2026 World Cup, culminating in a date with FIFA officials in Houston at the end of October. “It was probably the most significant and important moment we’ve had so far in this bid process,” said Canetti.
The courtship included a stay at the luxury Post Oak Hotel with a wine and dine overlooking the city, a private train ride downtown with Dynamo stars to showcase Houston’s public transportation, and a visit to the NRG Stadium, where the World Cup would be held, as well as training grounds and potential fanfest sites. It was all topped off with tickets to see the Houston Astros play game one of the baseball World Series.
It’s hard to gauge FIFA’s impressions. Their representatives’ reactions are kept low-key like they’re playing hard to get. Canetti has a good feeling about their tour, though. “We worked so long and hard on this bid, you want to make sure that day goes perfectly,” he said. And everything went as planned. “We were pretty sky-high after the visit, feeling like we did a good job.”
A mark of approval from FIFA could be big for Houston. “This is the most popular and prestigious sporting event in the world, and Houston is a rising city on the global scale and wants to be recognized as a global city,” Canetti said. “Having events like this in our city is important for that.” Part of it is building an international image and legacy for Houston, as well as the economic potential for the community.
Seventeen US cities are contending for 11 spots. One major question is whether Dallas, another candidate city in Texas, poses competition to Houston in FIFA’s decision-making process. Canetti, however, thinks both cities will be top picks and there’s no reason FIFA wouldn’t pick two cities in Texas that are geographically farther apart than New York and Boston. But others have noted that if the final decision comes down to the two cities, Dallas has an advantage with the newer and grander Cowboys’ stadium.
Canetti thinks Houston’s track record will be a big draw as FIFA narrows the field. “Houston has hosted more major sporting events than any other candidate city since 2004. So we have a great team of people organized and committed to making sure that the event goes off flawlessly.”
FIFA is expected to finalize the selection process in early 2022.
Source: AIPS