Five U.S. Venues Bidding for New CCI4* + What You Need to Know

By on Dec 2, 2016 4:30 pm -

Photo by Lorraine Jackson

Which venue will join the Kentucky Horse Park as the second in the U.S. to host a CCI4*? Photo by Lorraine Jackson.

EN has confirmed that five total U.S. venues are bidding to host a new fall CCI4* in the U.S. If the FEI approves the new CCI4*, it will join Rolex Kentucky as the second four-star in the U.S. and become the seventh in the world, along with Badminton and Burghley in England, Luhmühlen in Germany, Pau in France and Adelaide in Australia.

The U.S. venues bidding for the fall CCI4* are (in alphabetical order):

In order to protect the privacy of the five venues that submitted bids, the USEF will not be officially announcing the venues or any details of the bids. USEF Managing Director of Eventing Joanie Morris kindly clarified details about the bid process to EN, so read on about how the decision is being made.

  • The CCI4* bid process began earlier this year “to meet an identified need and opportunity to have a second four-star in the U.S. and an additional four-star outside Europe.”
  • The USEF approached organizers at venues that have hosted three-star competitions — or were scheduled to host a three-star — to submit bids to express an interest to run a CCI4*.
  • A USEF Task Force has been formed to consider the bids in line with the USEF’s Major Events Strategy.
  • Task Force members have visited all five of the venues that submitted bids, and the Task Force will meet before Christmas in to discuss which venue to choose. The Task Force’s recommendation must then be approved by the USEF Board of Directors before going on to the FEI for final approval.
  • A decision on where the new four-star will be held is expected to come in January 2017.
  • The inaugural running of the new CCI4* will be in the fall of 2018 or 2019. “With the change of the date and location of the World Equestrian Games, the pressure on the fall calendar in the U.S. in 2018 may mean that the best option for a new CCI4* will be to make its debut in 2019,” Joanie said. “This is one of the things the Task Force will consider while reviewing all of the bids.”

Wherever the new CCI4* is ultimately held, this will be a very exciting development for U.S. eventing and the sport as a whole. Which venue would you like to see host the new CCI4*, EN? Cast your vote in the poll below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Go Eventing.