By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – The Gold Cup, Concacaf’s most prestigious national team tournament, has embarked on a major expansion programme with 13 venues selected – eight of them new – for this year’s event which will take place from July 7-28.
CONCACAF’s image has been steadily rebuilt after a slew of corruption allegations and the Gold Cup, which drew 600,000 fans last year including nine sellouts, is its blue riband event.
“We would like to thank all cities and venues in the United States for their interest in our Confederation’s Gold Cup and congratulate the ones that have been selected to host its 2013 edition,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb (pictured) who has been largely responsible for putting the confederation back on track.
“CONCACAF is looking forward to a successful tournament, working in close partnership with both stadium and local authorities, while expanding the reach of our competition to a larger number of fans in more locations throughout the United States.”
So far, 11 of the 12 participating national teams have qualified for this year’s tournament: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States. The final spot will be decided on Friday.
The eight new venues being used are Georgia Dome in Atlanta, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, JELD-WEN Field in Portland, and Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City.
The event will also return to five venues from its previous editions: Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Soldier Field in Chicago, Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, and CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
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