By Paul Nicholson
September 14 – While the South Americans seem convinced that the 2016 Centennial edition of the CopaAmerica will be played for the first time outside of the region in the US, in partnership with CONCACAF, the idea this is now a done deal does not seem certain.
CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout said last week on Paraguayan radio that the tournament “would definitely be held in the US”. “We have once again ratified the unanimous decision taken at a meeting in August to hold the Centenary Cup in its original format in the United States,” Napout said.
While CONMEBOL may have ratified the decision to play in the US, the US is clearly uncomfortable in committing to host the world’s oldest national team competition in light of the corruption scandals surrounding both confederations and this tournament in particular.
The award if the marketing rights around the CopaAmerica Cententario are an important component of the US Department of Justice indictments into bribery, money laundering and racketeering that resulted in the arrest in Zurich of Jeffrey Webb, president of CONCACAF, and Eugenio Figueredo, who was president of CONMEBOL until March 2015.
CONCACAF issued a statement at the weekend saying that it was working with CONMEBOL and the US Soccer Federation to resolve a number of issues and that a meeting this Thursday in Mexico City had been convened with the CopaCentenario as the only item on the agenda.
“CONCACAF is committed to continue working with all parties to address the operational, format and financial issues relating to the tournament in order to ensure greater transparency to this event,” said the statement.
Not least in the issues are the financial requirements to stage the tournament. With the marketing agencies contracted to sell the tournament under investigation by the US authorities, the confidence amongst sponsors could hardly be at a lower position, potentially leaving the tournament to survive on ticket income alone.
CONCACAF has just completed its own Gold Cup with remarkable success and with all of its sponsors intact, a tribute to its ability and determination to ride the storm and continue on growing its own commercial properties. But the CopaCentenario could be a step too far and be considered too hot a property to get involved with at this stage of football’s rehabilitation in both confederations.
The CopaCentenario was one of Webb’s first initiatives as president of CONCACAF and seen as the most effective way to introduce much needed higher level competition for the leading national teams in his region. For the South Americans it was attractive because of the commercial opportunity in the US (and not just for the corruption opportunity).
Five teams from the CONCACAF region are scheduled to play against the 11 CONMEBOL teams from June 3-26. Mexico and Jamaica played in the CopaAmerica this year in Chile.
The move of the 2016 competition to the US with the addition of the CONCACAF nations had been ratified by FIFA even though it would overlap with UEFA’s own European Championships in France in 2016, creating competition in the commercial marketplace between the tournaments, particularly in international broadcast markets.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1735343566labto1735343566ofdlr1735343566owedi1735343566sni@n1735343566osloh1735343566cin.l1735343566uap1735343566