Sunil Gulati admits that a tournament similar to the Copa America Centenario could be a possibility for the future, but the U.S. Soccer president insists that talks of ongoing discussions are a bit premature.
According to Gulati, there have been no discussions between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL with regards to combining the Copa America and Gold Cup. Gulati’s statement comes just one day after ESPN reported that the two federations were looking to stage a combined tournament in the U.S. every four years. However, Gulati says the reports are “completely inaccurate”.
“There have been no discussions about future events with U.S. Soccer and FIFA, or CONCACAF and CONMEBOL about this,” Gulati said Tuesday. “I made sure that, in order to make the second part of that statement, that I talked to (CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani) yesterday. He’s had no discussions with anybody at CONMEBOL about it.
“There is nothing imminent, no plans, no discussions have taken place,” Gulati added. “Having said all of that, could there be discussions about it? Sure, but nothing has happened to date.”
Gulati says that the ongoing Copa America Centenario has exceeded expectations. Entering Tuesday, average attendance sits at 40,000, compared to an average of 19,000 at last year’s tournament in Chile.
“This is the Centenario for Copa America, but if we were thinking about a combined event in the future it wouldn’t have to be a Copa America,” Gulati said. “It would be some new created event where it might be an equal number of teams for example, where all those things that are specific to Copa America wouldn’t necessarily be in place.
“This is a specific event, 100th anniversary, approved on the FIFA calendar and so on,” Gulati added. “What we might talk about for a future event would for a new event.”
After the ticket vendor added their charges, my wife and I paid about $110 each for the nosebleed seats at Soldier field to see the Costa Rica game. Through the magic of television camera angles, the stadium may have looked more full than it actually was. Inside the stadium, the crowd was sparse, except in the supporters section. I have been to Gold Cup games and WC qualifiers at Soldier Field that were much better attended. The big difference was ticket price. If ticket prices had been more reasonable, the stadium would have been full and the organizers would have ended up making more money on ticket sales.
Wow, attendance at 40K? plus no graft? Once Comnebol sees the checks, I think they will be coming back again… but maybe not every year.
Why did SBi fall for this as well before putting out the initial article/report? Was it just a concern of other outlets putting this info out there before SBI? I admit the topic is interesting enough and that alone could be reasoning. But why not contact Gulati yourselves next time for comment before putting an article out?
I would imagine in order for this tournament to take place it would require the ratification of all voting CONCACAF countries. Replacing the Gold Cup isn’t plausible and Sunil said as much because that would eliminate the chances of smaller island nations that make up the majoritiy of the conference appearing in the tournament. They would also have to approve the creation of a new tournament. That’s a 50/50. If it means more money for the conference and it doesn’t interfere with Gold Cup then I don’t see why they wouldn’t vote for the approval. However, with FIFA in the past these things are usually decided with cash under the table and pats on the back, especially in CONCACAF, so who knows.
That announcement the other day seems a little premature..
Didn’t this buffoon say that the current Copa America was dead about a year ago? I’ll take his word with a grain of salt.
It was dead, it wasn’t until US soccer got assurances from Conmebol and Concacaf that everything was taken care of regarding the corruption charges that the Copa was back in place
Is this Trump’s fault, too, Gulati?
Gulagi lies!!
Slow already told me Copa America will be held in America in a permanent basis.
He is NEVER wrong.
Gulati is failure!