Despite hosting matches, including the opening contest, in the 1994 World Cup, the city of Chicago was not one of the 11 cities selected by FIFA earlier this year, and there were a few different reasons why.

For starters, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel withdrew the city's bid for the tournament when the United States was selected as a host country in 2018, saying that FIFA wanted a “blank check” for costs associated with the event.

“The guys from international soccer wanted us to underwrite their sporting event,” he said. “I am not going to write a company a blank check that can fleece the taxpayers.”

There had been some concerns that Soldier Field, which can hold just over 61,000 fans, would be too small to host the World Cup. The stadium was the smallest of the more than two dozen venues that had originally been in the running to host matches.

NBC