By VINCE MADURI
CONCACAF announced the Gold Cup host venues Wednesday and fans in the Pacific Northwest will be happy with the news. Seattle’s CenturyLink Field and Portland’s JELD-WEN field will both host matches in the biannual tournament.
The Gold Cup is expanding its US footprint by going to several cities that have never hosted one of its matches, including Portland. The other new hosts are Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Hartford and Salt Lake City.
The tournament returns to Seattle after hosting in 2009 and this will be the third time overall the city has hosted a Gold Cup match. Houston and Miami return as hosts, their 5th and 9th consecutive times respectively.
Here is the list of Gold Cup venues:
LIST OF VENUES
- Atlanta – Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA)
- Baltimore – M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, MD)
- Chicago – Soldier Field (Chicago, IL)
- Dallas – Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX)
- Denver – Sports Authority Field at Mile High (Denver, CO)
- Hartford – Rentschler Field (East Hartford, CT)
- Houston – BBVA Compass Stadium (Houston, TX)
- Los Angeles – Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)
- Miami – Sun Life Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)
- New York- Red Bull Arena (Harrison, NJ)
- Portland – JELD-WEN Field (Portland, OR)
- Salt Lake City – Rio Tinto Stadium (Sandy, UT)
- Seattle – CenturyLink Field (Seattle, WA)
The Gold Cup will take place from July 7-28. Eleven of the twelve participants have already qualified: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States. The final spot will be decided between Guatemala and Panama on Friday in the fifth-place match of the 2013 UNCAF Copa Centroamericana.
What do you think of the venue selections? Which market are you most happy to see make the list? Which market do you feel should have been included?
Share your thoughts below.