That list of shows does not quite match the info I was given tho some of the cities folks are questioning are absolutely on the list
I fully believe the information you are sharing. This list was posted by Matt McGee on atu2.com and he stated that it was one of a handful of possible schedules and that the source that provided it is extremely reputable. From conversations I've had with U2 crew I know there is a desire from the top to keep U2 on this current tour.
I was there outside of Jimmy Kimmel Live when Bono fully alluded to South American dates coming and heard him specifically say that Peru, which had been rumored for October 24th, was not happening as there wasn't a sufficient venue.
These 9 North American cities make sense when you consider that none of them had have U2 since 2011 or earlier. San Diego hasn't had them since 2005 and as the only show listed in the Western US, will be a quick sell out. Buffalo is the only show in the Northeast, so it will pull fans from NYC, Boston and all over.
I'm not at all surprised by Las Vegas being skipped, as that stadium only holds 35,000-40,000. Granted they felt that was big enough for 360, but they were selling the entire venue. This time, a lot of seats wouldn't be sold, so capacity would probably drop to around 30-35,000 maximum. Plus I know with 100% certainty that the T-Mobile Arena was planned for fall 2016 for the E+I tour, so I assume they will play it next year instead. I would think Glendale, Arizona could have worked, but maybe they were unsure of how well it would sell since it was played in 2015. I assume Denver is being skipped as the 2 I+E shows were not fast sellouts.
South America being played for TJT makes sense, as there aren't enough good arenas to do the E+I tour there, so this is a compromise.
If SOE is released on December 1st, or anytime by March, I suspect the tour will start in Australia in arenas. There was that report around February/March last year of a fan talking to Guy Oseary at a Madonna arena show in Australia and asking him when U2 would be there. The impression I got was that Guy indicated they would be playing arenas there.
I assume Europe would be next, as it's not being oversaturated with TJT shows, then it would make sense to hit North America for fall 2018. They only played 10 cities in North America in 2015 and the impression I had was that the 2016 tour would have been mainly new cities and probably more than 10. I believe now that LA, NYC, Chicago and Toronto will all get return shows. Between those 4 they could get to around 15 shows. Montreal could also get a return, as TJT appears to be skipping there. Add in Las Vegas and that could account for around 20 shows. The other 10 or so could be made up of Portland/Seattle, Austin and a few others. The demand will be there in whatever city they play, whether played in 2017 or not.