Anonymous New York WC Bid Rejected

Wed, Dec 3, '03

The Florida city of Lauderhill has won the right over New York to represent the United States in an official bid to play host to a World Cup match in 2007, according to a published report.

Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported that Lauderhill had won the designation as the official U.S. bid city despite belated competition from an anonymous New York bidder.

"We knew there might be other competitors out there," said Lauderhill spokeswoman Leslie Tropepe. "I don't know how New York could host a game, considering it might be played in wintertime. There are also time constraints as far as getting players back and forth from the Caribbean."

The news from the ICC's World Cup organizing committee lends credibility to Lauderhill's efforts to lure a World Cup cricket match to the United States for the first time.

The small town near Miami has attracted national attention in its efforts to land a World Cup match, including stories in The New York Times and Time magazine and interviews with city officials by the BBC and National Public Radio.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the New York bid was sent to the ICC from an anonymous source and arrived a day after the deadline for bid submissions. However, it was "easily bested" by the Lauderhill bid, the newspaper said.

It said Lauderhill had also won the backing of U.S Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty. As a matter of fact, it was Dainty's signature on Lauderhill's application that helped seal the deal, ICC's venue selection chief Don Lockerbie said.

"If the U.S. of America Cricket Association believes Lauderhill is their best bet ... then that's good enough for us, and they're in the running," Lockerbie told the paper.

Dainty said he was unaware of the New York bid.

Lauderhill plans to build a cricket complex to host the World Cup games. The city has posted a conceptual rendering of its stadium complex on the Internet.