June 15 – Concacaf is opening the North American commercial door to FIFA in an agreement to co-operate on the joint sales of the 2026 World Cup and Concacaf’s major national team events, that will include two Gold Cups.
Concacaf said the agreement will take the “cooperation to the next level by promoting and marketing all major upcoming official Concacaf national team competitions together with the FIFA World Cup 2026.”
The selling point of the co-operation is that global and regional brands will have greater opportunities to impact the whole region. For FIFA it gives them more leverage than just their quadrennial competition, for Concacaf it opens doors to brands to get involved meaningfully across a longer period, broadening their partnership base and making their competitions more commercially impactful.
FIFA has at time struggled to sell its major sponsorships with many, particularly local and regional sponsorships, often coming together at the last minute. The opportunity to take brands on a journey across the whole sport in the region both pan-regionally and locally makes sense.
It is not without its potential dangers and FIFA’s track record in Africa has been disastrous as it picked apart an already fragile broadcast and sponsorship infrastructure only to leave the Africans in a worse position with no money and no competition.
Concacaf is a different proposition and has developed its own commercial functions which they will fiercely protect – and quite rightly considering the top to bottom rebuild that has taken place since the FBI raids in 2015.
“This ground-breaking initiative will provide brands and prospective partners with a unique opportunity to truly impact the global game at a hugely important moment in its growth in North America, and the entire Concacaf region, over the next three years with compelling national team football tournaments,” said Concacaf.
Concacaf Chief Commercial Officer, Heidi Pellerano said: “Over the next three years Concacaf will deliver a compelling range of men’s and women’s international competitions, and an entirely new club ecosystem, that showcases the very best of football from across our wonderful region… and this presents a tremendous opportunity for brands and potential sponsors to be part of a series of major football events in the region ahead of the biggest World Cup ever in 2026.
FIFA will be throwing its expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup into the mix. Concacaf will be bringing a lot more in terms of commercial inventory including: Concacaf W Gold Cup (February 2024), Concacaf Nations League Finals (2023/24 and 2024/25 editions), Concacaf Gold Cup (2023 & 2025).
No detail as to how the new revenues will be split have been released. It will be interesting to see who is the ‘Big Dog’ in this arrangement. FIFA will want to be that but Concacaf is a very different beast and the US, where the bulk of the revenue and 2026 matches will be played, will certainly not be as complaint as Qatar.
FIFA’s Partnerships & Media division and Concacaf’s commercial department began work on a strategy to market unique joint commercial opportunities for Concacaf national competitions and the FIFA World Cup 2026 in 2022. Underpinning the thinking is that brands will have a presence and integration at hundreds of elite national team matches involving the very best teams in the region and from across the world.
The W Gold Cup, for example, has the best women’s teams from Conmebol playing. In 2024 the Copa America will be played in the US and expanded to include six Concacaf teams. The 2025 Gold Cup could be an opportunity for more invitation teams ahead the big show in 2026.
FIFA Chief Business Officer, Romy Gai, in a press statement focussed on FIFA, saying: “The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be unique in terms of the impact it will have not only on the host countries, but on the entire Concacaf region and the whole world. Three countries, 16 cities, 48 teams and 104 matches will provide the biggest sports platform yet, of a scale never been seen before. This collaboration between FIFA and Concacaf will enrich the thrilling journey for the North American fans, local communities and for football even further – as we build towards the FIFA World Cup 2026, the greatest show on earth.”
What he didn’t mention is that it will probably do more FIFA than it will for Concacaf, not that it won’t be of immense benefit for Concacaf.
The first roadshow showcasing to brands the opportunities of the partnership – titled ‘FIFA and Concacaf Upfront’ – takes place in Las Vegas, today before the semi-finals of Concacaf Nations League Finals.
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