Report today in Otago Daily Times (as featured on Fever homepage) about Dunedin's bid for u-20 matches. Seems the new Forsyth-Barr Stadium is in financial strife and there is debate now over whether Dunedin should host matches - but the Council is still pursuing its bid, even still in for hosting the Final. Dunedin Council have voted to pay FIFA the $150,000 dollars per financial year over the next three years, the minimum required to host group games, plus are prepared to pay more to host later rounds and the final.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/209427/u20-world-cup-bid-pursued
Apparently FIFA's team are visiting in June or July to inspect possible NZ venues and a decision on host cities will be made by NZF in August. There are six groups of four teams in pool play- so presumably six cities will be needed. Hamilton are not bidding- see above.
Also see this report from last December on Dunedin's bid which is informative:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/football/6097111/Dunedin-in-bid-for-Fifa-Under-20-final
Dunedin are going the whole hog and bidding for a "Category One" package of group games.
Info from NZ Herald report of last year mentioned in above thread:
A report commissioned by the New Zealand Football Federation showed hosting Fifa's second-largest tournament would offer $2.92 million worth of benefits to a region.
The host centre would also have to provide four training grounds within a 45-minute drive.
CHRISTCHURCH HOSTING U-20 WORLD CUP ?
The Christchurch City Council put a bid in to host matches last November:
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/newsmedia/mediareleases/2011/201111304.aspx
Mayor Bob Parker says Christchurch is up to the task:
“Christchurch still has the capacity and desire to host an event of this scale,” said Mr Parker. “We’ll be well set up by 2015, especially with our new stadium in action.
“With the international visitors and media that the FIFA U-20 Football World Cup attracts, we have another great opportunity to showcase the best of our city to the world.”
Caroline Blanchfield, Business Development Manager with Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism, is expecting a huge boost in visitor numbers. “This is great news for Christchurch's visitor industry and will be aspirational in helping us plan for the future.”
Not sure about how many games my city, Christchurch is bidding for and whether we'd meet FIFA criteria for facilities because of the earthquake situation, but the new Christchurch Stadium in Addington would be an excellent venue. You may have seen it on TV hosting Crusaders rugby matches. Spectators are close to the pitch and it creates an intense atmosphere. From the stadium website:
Capacity 18,000 seats (approx.) with two partially covered stands
Scalable to 25,000-seat capacity for international rugby fixtures
13 corporate hospitality boxes
Much of the infrastructure is being recycled from venues around New Zealand
Equipped to international sport standards
See stadium here:
http://www.vbase.co.nz/venues/ami-stadium
Info here:
http://www.vbase.co.nz/about-ami-stadium