The Copa America Centenario is officially bound for the U.S., and now the cities in which it will be played have been revealed.
CONCACAF announced Thursday that 10 cities across the U.S. will host the upcoming tournament, which is set to be played from June 3-26. Each venue is set to host on multiple days throughout the tournament, while most will host up to three matches.
Chosen from a group of 24 cities, the 10 that will host are Boston (Gillette Stadium), Chicago (Soldier Field), Houston (NRG Stadium), Los Angeles (Rose Bowl), New York (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Phoenix (University of Phoenix Stadium), San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium) and Seattle (CenturyLink Field).
Stadiums were required to have a minimum seating capacity of 60,000 and “other world-class infrastructure requirements”.
“These 10 cities and venues will provide a fantastic setting for fans across the world to attend Copa America Centenario and allow them to see the amazing passion for soccer in the United States,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “The participating teams and fans will be treated to a first-class environment in each city and stadium, adding to the world-class talent that will be competing on the field.
“We are looking forward to working closely with all of the cities and venues in hosting this prestigious event and creating an extraordinary experience for fans.”
Next summer’s tournament will feature the entire 10-team field from CONMEBOL, the U.S. Men’s National Team, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica and two further qualifiers. Trinidad & Tobago will face Haiti and Panama takes on Cuba in two-legged playoffs with the winners qualifying for the Copa America Centenario.
What do you think of the city selections? Expecting to attend any games? Which locations were the biggest snubs?
Share your thoughts below.
All stadiums are required to laydown grass. The Orlando games will be played in the Citrus Bowl, which just finished a 200 million Dollar renovation, and looks fantastic.
I’m sure each stadium can lay real grass in time for tournament, just like Seattle did for USMNT. My biggest concern is NRG Stadium, and whether they’ll let those pallets of grass grow and fill in the gaps. This will be during NFL offseason so I don’t see why they wouldn’t bend over backwards for tournament that will sellout their stadium.
They chose solely based upon the markets and ignoring the quality of the playing field. smh
Baltimore and DC both left out. That is unexpected. ( and disappointing )
Biggest surprise is the Jerry Dome not being selected, but thank god! terrible soccer stadium.
So rugs out in NJ, Foxboro, Orlando and Seattle and really narrow field in San Jose — all of these are top markets for $$$ ticket buyers, tv and soccer fans of pretty much all 16 teams, so they had to happen. Denver, Nashville or DC would have been good but I can see why they picked these cities.
Glad to hear there won’t be any Gold Cup style doubleheaders, even the best natural fields can’t provide a quality surface after 180 mins.
USA games in Philly, Chicago and Seattle!.. maybe Phoenix
I thought New York, Seattle snd Orlando were cities, not markets.
I live 3 hours from Orlando, so I’m psyched, but I wish so much they were playing at Raymond James in Tampa with real grass.
Also, it’s kind of odd that the middle of the country is pretty much ignored. I mean, you have Chicago and Houston, but that’s still a lot of the country that is not near any of these sites. Maybe Nashville or Denver?
I’m so ready for this tournament, NRG Stadium, get ready!!
Oh yeah, the Goal.com article only lists nine stadiums. They left out Houston, just in case someone with influence sees this…
Orlando and Seattle, where they have fake turf…so, are they putting layers of real grass over fake turf, making the field unplayable?
Shocking choice as to both those.
The Citrus Bowl is in terrible shape as well.
Shouldn’t the new stadium be up by that time in O-town?
From what I hear, yes it should be open by that time. It’s supposed to be in use for the home opener next MLS season, which should be March
You know that Gillete and Metlife are also turf right.
Hopefully they are able to plant grass in Seattle as soon as humanly possible.
Levi’s stadium is in Santa Clara, not San Francisco.
and Gillette is in Foxborough, no where near Boston (near by New England standards anyway)
I don’t care whos playing but I’ll be buying tix for this!!!
Waiting for the Dynamo to send me the email with the early bird code