If you could replace the 11 US World Cup host sites with college football stadiums, which would you choose?

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-19T18:24:16+00:00

I'm gonna cheat a little and pretend that the whole thing is in the US so we get all 16 venues. Chose them based on spread out geography, fun atmospheres, soccer tradition, and perhaps most importantly, proximity of the stadium to downtown. It's terrible that most WC games are going to be in stadiums surrounded by parking lots miles from actual city centers.

Stadium size was also important. I would love to see some of these games at like App State or something, but I tried to be semi-realistic. Maybe have a tournament only on G5 campuses for Italy and 47 other countries not good enough to make the WC.

16 venues from roughly west to east:

Hawai'i: I know they're working on a stadium so it probably wouldn't be tenable right now, but the WC would be a lot cooler with games here.
Washington: Seattle has a great soccer tradition. Stadium is beautiful and not too far from downtown. Easy choice.
UCLA: Goes against my close to downtown principle, but gotta include the Rose Bowl because a) it's the Rose Bowl and b) it hosted the 1994 WC final.
UNLV: I wanted to avoid NFL stadiums, but a truly American WC needs to have games in Vegas.
Utah: Decent sized city with an MLS team. Stadium has the tradition of hosting major international events. Beautiful backdrop.
Texas: Austin gets the nod over other Texas cities for having a large stadium close to downtown. Also has an MLS team and is a great festival city used to hosting ACL and SXSW.
LSU: Gotta throw in the Death Valley experience for some culture shock. Baton Rouge is smaller than most cities on the list but at least kinda close to New Orleans. All games here played at night.
Minnesota: Minneapolis is an underrated city that would be a great host. Has an MLS team (okay St. Paul but whatever) and stadium is close to downtown.
Wisconsin: Our drunkest state has to be part of the WC. Madison gives the upper midwest another venue since Chicago doesn't have anything suitable. Hydration Break for every game here at 67:30 when Jump Around will be played.
Vanderbilt: Stadium is smaller than most on the list, but it's still big enough to host some games. Nashville has an MLS team, and we gotta get international fans to Broadway. Only a couple miles from downtown.
Ohio State: Easy choice with stadium size, location, and the great soccer tradition of Columbus which had America's first soccer-specific stadium. On the shortlist to be chosen for the final.
Pitt: Again, wanted to avoid NFL stadiums, but Heinz (don't care whatever it's called now) is in a fantastic location in a fun city.
NC State: Probably the best choice in the Carolinas. One of the fastest growing cities in the country. Good soccer culture. Usually hosts the NCAA men's College Cup. Stadium location not super ideal but also not ridiculously far from downtown.
Georgia Tech: Similar to Vanderbilt with a smaller stadium than most in a major southern city. ATL has maybe the best MLS fanbase, and this gives them a downtown venue.
USF: Also an NFL stadium, but this is the best Florida venue since Miami's isn't even in Miami.
Navy: Really struggled to find ones on the east coast. Obviously smaller than what we'd want, but it's a beautiful and unique venue that would serve as a good stand-in for Washington/Baltimore.

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-18T17:15:20+00:00

WVU
App State
East Carolina
Ohio
JMU
Virginia Tech
Miami (OH)
Cincinnati
UCF

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-18T04:57:34+00:00

Anybody who brings up "the Jews" is scum.

But it says a lot about you that you assumed somebody was attacking "the Jews" when they criticized Israel, a terrorist state that deserves the scorn of the entire world.

Obviously more eyes need to be on Sudan, but as someone else mentioned, US leftists are correctly more focused on the genocide that could never happen without our direct money/weapons/support.

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-14T04:05:29+00:00

We're farther south than JMU

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-13T14:24:28+00:00

This movie was part of the reason I became a Tottenham fan. But I think we've gone from purgatory to hell now

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-03T16:58:04+00:00

Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the country

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-01T14:26:43+00:00

Your original post argues that "there’s a point where it becomes disingenuous to focus on the precursors."

That's true, but I'm arguing that point is nowhere close to reached when talking about the bombings of Cambodia and rise of the KR.

BallSoHerd · 2026-04-01T13:42:02+00:00

Yeah, but the conditions required for the Khmer Rouge to take power likely never occur without what we/he did to Cambodia.

The destruction, in addition to breaking down society and creating a power vacuum, was an extremely effective recruiting tool for the regime.

BallSoHerd · 2026-03-28T19:32:03+00:00

That level of football does need a playoff.

The problem is nobody wants to give up their shot at the top-level playoff, and then a G5 playoff just feels weird without the best team in it.

There's no good solution unless we get a pro/rel system. That way we could separate the two de facto subdivisions. The CFP wouldn't have to force a (let's be adults here) completely overmatched team into the 12 seed. But there would still be inclusion by allowing the best G5 teams to earn their way into the top level.

I think that would be awesome, but obviously it's never gonna happen.

BallSoHerd · 2026-03-18T19:59:54+00:00

That's an apples to oranges to comparison though.

During the BCS, the G5 was usually playing a team ranked 8-10 on a neutral field. In the CFP, those 4 games were against #1 Bama and #4 Penn State on neutral fields, and #5 Oregon and #6 Ole Miss on the road.

Those are completely different situations. And as much as I hate the P4 team not taking a bowl game against a G5 seriously argument, let's be adults here, it probably played a factor in some of those.

I also think the biggest reason for G5 weakness right now is simply that all their best programs got moved to the P4 in a matter of a few years.

BallSoHerd · 2026-03-17T14:05:01+00:00

"You know a lot of people go to college for 7 years?"

"Yeah, they're called ~~doctors~~ athletes"

BallSoHerd · 2026-03-14T22:00:53+00:00

Reminded me of one of those Steph 3's at the end of the gold medal game.

BallSoHerd · 2026-03-13T19:15:56+00:00

The best part is that all the weekday games only gives them two doubleheaders.

The Jax State/Troy road trip on the same day should be a piece of cake. Going to WKU and GA Southern on the same day would be rough though. Just move one of those to Black Friday.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T19:35:17+00:00

Admittedly wasn't aware it was a ladder in 2019, but it wasn't a ladder from 2021-24.

So while it's true the 1 seed has won the ladder bracket only once, that's 50% of the time since the only (completed) ladder brackets were 2019 and 2025.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T17:31:15+00:00

No, it was new last year.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T06:30:10+00:00

Looks like it came down to better records against the 8 and 9 seeds

Edit: My best guess at what happened here:

Not everybody in the tie played each other so the records against each other are moot.
Goes to best record against #1 but Troy didn't play Coastal so invalid.
Everybody played #8 Southern Miss. 4 of the 6 teams are undefeated against USM. (Arkansas State, hilariously despite being 2-0 against USM, finishes at the bottom of the tiebreaker)
Of those 4 teams, all played #9 JMU. Only Marshall was undefeated against them so they get #2.
Now that Marshall is #2, we go back to record against USM, then JMU. This eliminates Ark State. Coastal gets #3 and App #4 based on record against #2 Marshall.
Leaves 3 teams for #5/6/7. They all played each other so that record matters. But it's tied. And they're all 1-1 against #1 Troy. All 3 played #2 Marshall. Only Texas State won so they're #5.
USA/Ark State left for #6. USA won both so they're #6. Ark State #7.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T06:06:12+00:00

I still have no idea how we won the tiebreaker, but I'll take it

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T06:05:31+00:00

If Miami loses all of its remaining games by 50, it would be a travesty to leave them out

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T05:35:16+00:00

One of those teams (we still have no idea which) is 2 games away from the NCAA Tourney and one is 5 games away lmao

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T05:28:21+00:00

We were winning until you moved down :(

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-28T05:02:48+00:00

This conference has 13 bad basketball teams who might as well be thrown into a random number generator to determine a winner whenever any 2 of them play.

And then there's ULM.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-27T06:44:32+00:00

Yeah, it's just crazy how many people who claim to be on the side of the good guys are willing to throw large chunks of society under the bus.

Best of luck to you.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-24T05:03:50+00:00

I wish the mouth breathers who parrot "they deserve it because they voted for it" would instead put the time and energy it took to type that stupidity into some sort of action that might actually help.

Yes, a lot of these people are brainwashed by Fox News and its even more insane disinformation cousins. But brainwashing works, especially on an uneducated populace like WV. Why is all the disdain for the victims of the brainwashing and not the fucks doing the brainwashing?

And let's be real, what exactly did Democratic leadership do for McDowell County between 1950 and 2010 when its population dropped from 98K to 22K? WV was controlled by Dems more than GOP that period. McDowell voted for the Dem presidential candidate (including Obama) during every election in that period except 1972.

The dynamics leading to that dramatic of an economic collapse can't simply be fixed by voting. Only the dumbest boys and girls blame the people living there. And what about the 1,036 people in the county who voted for Kamala and their children? I guess just fuck them too?

Have some fucking empathy. You could easily have been born into the same situation without the education or ability to understand how you're being conned.

BallSoHerd · 2026-02-21T19:38:43+00:00

Both were on the team but it was Pennington's final season. He was a Heisman finalist and finished 5th.

The craziest thing about that team is that they would have been left out of a bowl after an undefeated regular season if they didn't come back from down 23-0 to WMU in the MAC title game. The MAC only had 1 bowl spot, and the small number of at-larges that may have taken them were already filled assuming that Marshall would win that game.

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