By Paul Nicholson
October 27 – CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have moved swiftly to source new marketing partners for the Copa América Centenario 2016 following the announcement that agreement had been reached last week with the US federation to host in the US.
The confederations have issued a joint Request for Proposals (RFP) for worldwide commercial rights including sponsorship (rights and services), broadcast rights, broadcast services and limited digital rights. The RFP marks a significant step, for CONCACAF in particular, to bringing a more transparent and rigorously governed commercial environment to confederation events.
Both confederations severed all commercial agreements with previous rights holder Datisa, one of the marketing agencies that is central in the US Department of justice indictments alleging bribery to secure marketing rights (including rights to this tournament) and money laundering.
The Copa America, the oldest international football tournament in the world, will host its centennial edition for the first time outside of the South American continent in the US. The 11 CONMEBOL nations will compete with five qualifying nations from the CONCACAF region.
The tournament will overlap with UEFA’s marquee European Championships in France in 2016 setting up a commercial rights battle, particularly in the lucrative international broadcast markets of Asia, between demand for the world’s giant footballing nations: South America’s Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile, against Europe’s Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
For CONCACAF in particular, getting to the point of staging the tournament has been a major achievement, according to one confederation insider. The confederation remained committed to bringing the tournament to the US, but had to first put in place stronger governance structures.
All agencies pitching for the business will have to show “full compliance with CONCACAF’s recently implemented Partner Code of Conduct.”
RFP’s will be evaluated by the Copa América Centenario Organising committee made up up of two members each from CONMEBOL and CONCACAF and one member from the the Local US Organising Committee. The Local Organising Committee, will be a separate entity created by the U.S. Soccer Federation, and will host and execute the tournament in the US.
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