CHICAGO (July 19, 2017) – Legendary sports executive and National Football League and Major League Soccer owner Robert Kraft has been named the Honorary Chairman of the Board for the United Bid Committee of Canada, Mexico and the United States that will oversee the bidding process to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ to North America.
Kraft has been an important figure in American soccer dating back to the early 1990s when he secured Foxboro Stadium as one of the nine host venues for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The massive success of the 1994 FIFA World Cup paved the way for the inception of Major League Soccer and on June 6, 1995, the Kraft family became the founding Investor/Operator of the New England Revolution, one of the league’s 10 charter clubs for its inaugural season in 1996.