The unstoppable team of Michael Nutter and Ed Rendell are pushing hard for Philadelphia to be one of the host cities if the U.S. gets a World Cup bid in either 2018 or 2022. Despite the fact that futbol isn’t tops on our list of favourite sports, it’s hard to imagine a sporting event more exciting than the Copa Mondial. This is the big one, the most popular sporting event in the world and to have Philly in the rotation would certainly be a feather in our town’s cap. The great soccer. The international intrigue. The potential catastrophic riots. The Argentine women. All of this adds up to something that would be spectacular, we believe.

“Philadelphia’s World Cup Soccer bid is a fantastic opportunity for the city and the region to work together to showcase our world-class style, ” said Governor Rendell. I’m not sure “world-class style” would be the first attribute I’d invoke to sell Philly’s suitability to host the Cup. I do know this: I was at the first sporting event at the Linc a few years back which was a soccer game between Barcelona and Manchester United in ’03 and that is an awesome venue for soccer. The added value of the stadium’s location in the middle of a giant parking lot could be a selling point too since it provides a natural spillover for rioting England fans. To boot, we’ve got the new soccer stadium opening in Chester soon so teams could practice just a few miles down the interstate, provided they don’t get killed on the way there.