Less than three months after failing in a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, civic leaders took Chicago out of the competition to host World Cup soccer games in 2018 or 2022.
Chicago did not make the list of 18 potential host cities, announced on Tuesday, because the city balked at making financial guarantees that could have cost taxpayers about $10 million, said David Downs, the U.S.A. bid committee executive director.
Chicago was on the list of 27 finalists in the United States announced in August. But Mr. Downs said Chicago Park District officials told the United States bid committee in late December they did not want Soldier Field, below, to be part of their effort.
Timothy Mitchell, the Park District general superintendent and a longtime political operative for Mayor Richard M. Daley, decided to remove Chicago from contention, said Jessica Maxey-Faulkner, spokeswoman for the Park District.
“This is a tough economy,” Ms. Maxey-Faulkner said, citing the district’s budget deficit. “We didn’t think it was appropriate at this time.”
When critics of Mr. Daley’s campaign for the Olympics pointed to the city’s financial problems, he responded that the economy would most likely rebound before 2016. Polls, however, showed that local support for the Olympic bid was tepid, with most Chicagoans opposed to spending any public money on the Games.
The opening game of the 1994 World Cup — the only time the men’s tournament was held in the United States — was at Soldier Field.
The stadium, owned by the Park District, was widely considered a shoo-in to host more games should the tournament return to the United States.