They went with cities that support soccer like Seattle or Atlanta which average 50,000 attendance per game
I think they got it right
seattle's #1 team, by far and away, is the seahawks (nlf). but second place is a definite toss-up between the mariners (mlb) and the sounders (mls). i get the impression that there are more baseball fans in numbers, but soccer fans are way more passionate. in my little slice of exurbia there are at least two "sounders bars" but i can't think of a single "mariners bar."
one the one hand, giving the WC games to established markets like seattle or LA is a reward for loyalty, cementing the market, etc. but on the other hand, those games are going to sell out - why not expand to new markets like baltimore?
anyhoo, looks like seattle is only getting round-robin games, no knockouts. i'll be attending as many games as i can get tickets to. maybe england will play here and i can attract a certain san fransiscan up this way...