1. 2026 WORLD CUP IS CONSIDERING 49 VENUES ACROSS U.S., CANADA, AND MEXICO: FIFA has asked 44 cities across the United States, Mexico, and Canada to submit bids by next year to host the 2026 World Cup. ESPN: “The organizers will reach out to each of the cities on the list and those hoping to be selected will have until Sept. 5 to declare their interest. Those cities will then have until early January 2018 to prepare their bid to become a World Cup host, if they make the initial shortlist, which is set to be announced in late September. Between 20-25 venues are set to be included in the final bid to FIFA, with the committee anticipating that 12 or more locations will be official host cities, if the North American bid is successful. The bid lists a total of 49 stadiums across 44 cities, with three venues in the Los Angeles area and two in Dallas, Montreal and Toronto. Stadiums of all 32 NFL teams are on the list except for the Buffalo Bills' New Era Field. The official bid for the 2026 World Cup by the United States, Mexico and Canada will be delivered to FIFA by the March 16, 2018, deadline and will face competition from Morocco, which announced a last-minute bid last week. If successful, the U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid would return the World Cup to the United States for the first time since 1994, and would also make Mexico the first three-time host.” http://es.pn/2wN5B29
2. ORGANIZER OF CANCELED WHITE SUPREMACIST EVENT THREATENS TO SUE TEXAS: The organizer of a “White Lives Matter” rally that was slated to take place September 11 at Texas A&M is threatening to sue Texas after the university canceled the event. The Texas Tribune: “Reached by phone while shopping at Walmart on Monday afternoon, rally organizer Preston Wiginton said he had not heard the news. He said he had signed up to protest at a ‘free speech area’ on campus on Sept. 11, but had not heard from anyone at the school since he announced. His response: ‘I guess my lawyers will now be suing the state of Texas.’ The school cited the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend in guiding its decision. At a Unite the Right rally near the University of Virginia, multiple fights broke out and one woman was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. Wiginton, a local white nationalist, announced his plans for the A&M rally on Saturday amid that violence. The headline for his press release read, ‘TODAY CHARLOTTESVILLE TOMORROW TEXAS A&M.’ A&M officials cited that headline in their decision. ‘We were disturbed about the title of Mr. Wiginton's release,’ said Amy Smith, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at the university. The decision to cancel the event came in an afternoon meeting involving university President Michael Young, A&M System Chancellor John Sharp, other university leaders and law enforcement officials." http://bit.ly/2vyv3Ks
3. WHY A U.K. MUSIC FESTIVAL BANNED PINEAPPLES: The Readings and Leeds Festival in the U.K. prevents festivalgoers from bringing typically banned items such as weapons, fireworks, and drones. But the festival also has explicitly banned pineapples—simply because of concerns too many people would bring them because of a band that has attracted pineapple enthusiasts. Food & Wine: "It’s not that the organizers are opposed to people growing a pineapple to find internet fame, or that they don’t want festival attendees to make healthy eating choices. Instead, they have banned the tropical fruit out of fear of the festival being overrun with pineapple enthusiasts. 'Organizers were a little concerned about hundreds of pineapples turning up on site so decided to ask fans not to bring them along,' a spokesman for Reading and Leeds Festivals told the BBC. While the spokesman added that, 'The tongue may be slightly in cheek on this one,' the Reading Festival website now explicitly states that festival-goers may not bring pineapples to the grounds. Pineapples became the new must-have festival fashion accessory thanks to the U.K. band Glass Animals. Their song 'Pork Soda' includes the lyrics 'pineapples are in my head,' which stemmed from lead singer Dave Bayley overhearing a conversation where someone may have said the mysterious phrase. The band’s fans glommed on to the line and started showing up at gigs toting pineapples, and wearing pineapple hats and shirts and even pineapple costumes, much to the amusement of the band. While the festival organizers may feel like they’ve gotten ahead of this thing, banning the fruit before the festival kicks off on August 25, the band is certain that the ban will backfire." http://bit.ly/2v10cCQ
* LOCAL NEWS *
ATLANTA: Chef Hugh Acheson will open his eighth restaurant, Achie’s, at the Omni Hotel at the Battery Atlanta in early 2018. The restaurant will serve Southern-inspired fare.
LAS VEGAS: The Spa at Red Rock Resort by Well & Being and the Spa at Green Valley Ranch Resort have launched Spa’rties: social spa experiences for groups celebrating events including baby showers, birthdays, anniversaries, and girls’ getaways. The packages, which are designed for groups of five or more, offer 50-minute massages, body, or facial treatments, along with access to amenities including a jacuzzi, steam room, and cold plunge pool.
LOS ANGELES: Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel Hotel, a 288-room property scheduled to open this fall, has named Sunny Saha assistant general manager and Carmen Choy-Surdam director of catering and conference services. The hotel will have an 11,300-square-foot grand ballroom that will hold 800 people for banquets.
Photo17, a photo auction to benefit Stories: The AIDS Monument 100 Photos, will take place October 5 at Milk Studios Los Angeles.
For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles
NEW YORK: Starting September 5, vegetable-focused restaurant Dirt Candy will no longer offer its standard dinner menu. Instead, the restaurant will offer guests two options: The Vegetable Patch, which includes five courses of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, and the Vegetable Garden, which will serve vegetable dishes that change on a regular basis. The reinvented menu is a collaboration between chef Amanda Cohen and sommelier Lauren Friel.
L.G.B.T.Q. theater company the Other Side of Silence will host a benefit celebrating its 2017-2018 season on September 14 at the Norwood Club.
Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit focused on restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in public schools, will host its annual benefit October 18 at PlayStation Theater. The event will honor musicians Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt, and City Winery C.E.O. and founder Michael Dorf.
The Southampton Hospital hosted its 59th annual Summer Party on August 5. Produced by Lawrence Scott Events, the benefit raised more than $1.5 million for the Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Department and the upcoming Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Laboratory in the Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center.
For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork
ORLANDO/CENTRAL FLORIDA: TownePlace Suites by Marriott Orlando at SeaWorld is now open. The hotel has 188 rooms with full kitchens and two meetings rooms.
SAN FRANCISCO: Event venue the Bently Reserve has appointed Kelly Roberts events sales manager.
TORONTO: Reset Fashion will take place September 5-6 at the Great Hall. Produced in partnership with production agency the Collections, the event will showcase the collections of 26 participating Canadian designers.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Tap Sports Bar at MGM National Harbor will host its inaugural beer festival on August 19 on Potomac Plaza. The event will have live music and samples from six local and nationally recognized breweries.
YOUR NEWS: What are you doing? Tell us: [email protected].
JOB BOARD: Post a job or find a job: http://jobs.bizbash.com
With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, Rayna Katz, and Ian Zelaya in New York.
BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.
Feed the Sheet: [email protected]
Subscribe: www.bizbash.com/bizbashdaily
Advertise with BizBash: [email protected]
August 16, 2017: 2026 World Cup Is Considering 49 Venues Across U.S., Canada, and Mexico; Organizer of Canceled White Supremacist Event Threatens to Sue Texas; Why a U.K. Music Festival Banned Pineapples
Latest in Global