SB Nation Indiana

Indianapolis a leading city for the 2022 World Cup

On December 2nd soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, will announce the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. The united States has pulled its bid for the 2018 Cup, but it remains very much alive for the 2022 event.

Even though the first games are a little less than 12 years away, Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium have been selected as one of 18 potential hosting venues for the event. Surprisingly, the event may end up coming to Indianapolis ahead of larger cities.

In an active poll at the official site for the bid Indianapolis trails only Philadelphia in fan voting for cities. This is a major surprise, considering cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and new York are much larger and hosted games during the 1994 World Cup.

If chosen, it is likely that only 10-12 cities will host the 64 games. South Africa had 10 venues for this year’s World Cup, while Germany in 2006 and Brazil in 2014 have 12 each. What makes the United States’ bid unique is that all venues under consideration have already been built.

Qatar, Japan, Australia, and South Korea are also bidding for the 2022 event. None of those nations have served as sole hosts, while Japan and South Korea were joint hosts in 2002. The United States is expected to be a favorite since the CONCACAF region will have gone 28 years since last hosting the event by 2022.

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by Travis Miller • Nov 5, 2010 11:53 AM EDT

Chris Kramer, Keaton Grant playing professionally

Purdue’s senior class of last season did not see their basketball careers end with the NCAA Tournament loss to Duke in march. Keaton Grant was recently drafted by the D-League’s Sux Falls Skyforce, while Chris Kramer has signed witht he Ft. Wayne Mad Ants after his training camp with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The pair will begin their professional careers against each other when Sioux Falls opens the season at Ft. Wayne on November 21st.

Grant also recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Hammer & Rails about the relwease of his upcoming book.

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by Travis Miller • Nov 4, 2010 4:01 PM EDT

Clint Session is One Tough Cookie

Colts linebacker Clint Session is one of the hardest hitters in the game, and his frenetic, physical style on the football field has endeared him to Colts fans during his career.

Now, Session has added the latest lore: the linebacker played the second half of Monday night’s 30-17 win over Houston after dislocating his right elbow and fracturing his right forearm in the second quarter.

Session was injured diving to tackle the Texans Andre Johnson was down for some time before walking off; he returned on the next possession, finishing the game with 8 tackles and 1 sack.

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by Bill Potter • Nov 4, 2010 3:57 PM EDT

IndyCar Series Loses Edmonton Race

After three years of staging IZOD IndyCar Series events, the open-wheel series will not be returning to capital of Alberta in 2011.

The race, scheduled for July 24, was canceled after the promoter asked for more money to reconfigure the track due to the shutdown of a runway at City Centre Airport.

Octane Management, the promoter of the race, is continuing with talks with the IndyCar Series to host a race in Canada next year; Calgary and Vancouver are considered front-runners to land any possible race in Western Canada, while Octane has a history of promoting races in Quebec.

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard told the Indianapolis Star that the series has already discussed two different sites in Quebec with Octane.

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by Bill Potter • Nov 3, 2010 10:21 PM EDT