U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis was named Tuesday as one of 49 sites in 44 cities to be considered as locations for the 2026 World Cup games.

Sports Minneapolis will respond on behalf of the city and U.S. Bank Stadium to a request for information to be a potential host for the pinnacle international men’s soccer competition, which is expected to be hosted across the U.S., Canada and Mexico in nine years.

The United Bid Committee has requested information from each of the cities and stadiums to declare their basic interests to take part in the bid process by Sept. 5. After cities declare interest, the United Bid Committee will review submissions and issue a short list of contenders in late September. Final bids are due in January 2018.

In March, the committee will then include 20 to 25 venues in its final submission to FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, to determine the chance of hosting matches or other possible opportunities. The joint North American bid would then go up against Morocco before the FIFA Congress to see which bid will host the cup.

Melvin Tennant, the executive director of Sports Minneapolis, an offshoot of the Meet Minneapolis convention and visitor’s association, cited the upcoming Super Bowl, this summer’s X Games and NCAA men’s Final Four in 2019 as examples of the city’s budding reputation. “Being included in this process demonstrates our readiness to welcome the world to our destination,” Tennant said. “We are very excited to begin this process.”

One potential roadblock for U.S. Bank Stadium could be the real grass that would need to be laid in the indoor stadium, a standard playing surface across top-level soccer. A sellout crowd of 64,101 came to U.S. Bank Stadium in August 2016 for an International Champions Cup match played on temporary grass between Italy’s AC Milan and England’s Chelsea.

“We were incredibly successful with the firm we brought in (Bush Turf), so that wouldn’t be an issue,” said Jenn Hathaway, spokeswoman for Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which oversees U.S. Bank Stadium.

The U.S. has 34 cities and 39 stadiums on the list of potential candidates; the rest are split between Mexico and Canada. At least 10 indoor stadiums in the U.S. and Canada would need real temporary grass to host games for the first tournament that will have an expanded 48-team format. Each venue included in the request has to have at least 40,000 seats for the group-stage matches, and U.S. Bank Stadium has 63,000.

“U.S. Bank Stadium is a world-class facility and we are excited to be among the venues chosen to bid on the World Cup in 2026,” MSFC chair Michael Vekich said in a statement. “We have experience hosting large events and the Super Bowl in 2018 and the NCAA Men’s Final Four in 2019 will demonstrate that we are successful at hosting some of the most popular sporting events.”