Is a World Cup final headed for suburban Dallas?

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Since Jerry Jones’ impregnable Death Star, aka his spectacular new $1 billion edifice in suburban Arlington, is an official talkie these days, it seemed like a grand time to rattle soccer fans’ cages with this little tidbit:

A World Cup final really could be headed to Dallas, of all places.

So says Sunil Gulati, who would know. Gulati is U.S. Soccer president, and also chairs the U.S. bid committee, which is putting together its pitch for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.

Cowboys Stadium in Arlington is one of 27 venues still under consideration. And Gulati insists that its in the running for the mother of all global sporting events, the World Cup final.

Yes, areas such as New York and Los Angeles (site of the 1994 final) are far sexier and would easily rank above Dallas if all things were equal, Gulati told me. But thanks to Jones’ ambitious, XXL stadium, all things are hardly equal. The potential opportunity to shoehorn 100,000 paying customers into a stadium for a World Cup final is simply too intoxicating to ignore, according to Gulati.

It’s really all about simple math.

Let’s say New York is the winner in the World Cup finals sweepstakes. That’s logical, right? It’s the Big Apple, after all! It’s the largest U.S. city and one of the largest on our little planet, a densely populated urban mass of pizzazz and more than a few shades ahead of North Texas in general cool factor.

The official bid will list capacity at the new stadium in the Meadowlands at 82,000, which is quite a few folks, no doubt.

But it’s not 100,000.

Now consider that the average ticket price for the 2006 final in Berlin was about $500. It will likely be more in South Africa next summer, and it’s no big stretch to assume that in another 10 years or so down the road, that figure will have risen to $1,000. For arguments sake, we’ll use the figure of $800.

If they can get 18,000 more bodies into the big steel-and-glass pleasure palace in Arlington, at an average of $800, that’s an extra $14.4 million for the afternoon. As they say down in Texas, "Pretty soon, you’re talking about real money."

And that’s before you start talking about multipliers attached to merchandise, concessions, etc.

Heck, for that money, they could hold all big-playa parties in New York, and then charter a few flights for a morning dash into Dallas for the most important suits.

So, yes, it absolutely could happen. Arlington doesn’t have the savoir faire of a New York, L.A., or even D.C. or Chicago. But it’s got a lot more "ka-ching!" … if you know what I’m sayin’

What about those concerns about a field at Cowboys Stadium that can accommodate just 71 yards of width? Gulati said it would be a problem if it weren’t so easily resolved. (While FIFA has established a minimum width of 70 yards for international matches in general, the boys in Zurich have mandated that World Cup pitches be standardized at 74 yards wide.)

Cowboys Stadium is pushing it just to get 71 yards of width. It’s not the only U.S. venue with size issues, although Gulati doesn’t see a problem. He said none of the width issues are deal-killers for any venue.

"We’ve found that in those places, the issues are solvable and relatively inexpensive," Gulati said. And that includes Dallas, where they’d have to get a bit creative. But Gulati said he’s been assured it can happen at a reasonable price.

"It’s not like we’re talking about playing these games next week," he said. "There’s time to work this stuff out.".

One final little issue to tackle: I asked Gulati about FIFA’s "all-seater" policy. That is, FIFA frowns generally on so-called terrace seating (which isn’t really seating at all, but standing areas) and outright prohibits the practice at World Cups.

So could that dent plans to use the Cowboys Stadium, where the crowds are being super-sized with those suddenly controversial "party passes?"  Gulati said the stadium’s bid documents say the 70,000 or so seats in the bowl areas (not including suites) will be augmented by extra seating squeezed into suites and other areas, so he doesn’t see the FIFA all-seater policy as a deterrent to Arlington’s shot at hosting big matches – maybe even the biggest of all matches.