By RYAN TOLMICH
The 2016 Copa America Centenario is set to be held on U.S. soil and the picture is starting to becoming a little bit clearer on where exactly the games will be played.
CONMEBOL are reportedly eying 23 cities in the U.S. as potential hosts, while two, Miami and Atlanta, have been disqualified, despite their Latin populations, due to incomplete stadiums ahead of the 2016 tournament.
A map detailing the potential stadium sites shows 11 cities (Seattle, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Nashville, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.) listed in one color, with 12 more (San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Charlotte and Jacksonville) in another.
The list of potential destinations reportedly came up during a recent CONMEBOL Exective Committee meeting and is expected to reduced as the tournament approaches.
The 2016 tournament, which will represent the competition’s 100-year anniversary, is set to feature the ten members of CONMEBOL (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela), as well as the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and two other CONCACAF participants.
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What do you think of the potential cities? Which cities would you like to see CONMEBOL choose? Plan to attend any of the games?
Share your thoughts below.
Frustrating. Atlanta has hosted with the Georgia Dome before. Not having two of the busiest Latin American connections for flights doesn’t make much sense.
Minnesota has an amazingly diverse population and continuoisly growing soccer fanbase. With the new Vikings stadium coming up, and the reliable public transportation, Minneapolis would be a perfect host city.
Nashville has great stadium for soccer. Can go 80 wide. But we red neck soccer fans won’t get any love
How does Portland not make the list? It’s Soccer City USA!!!!!
I wonder if Red Bull Arena would be selected to host a few games
No. It would Metlife stadium. As RB fan, I don’t have a problem with that. I have a problem with people who never lived in the area that troll because a team doesn’t play in New York shouldn’t be be part of New York.
Technically, that map should say East Rutherford or New Jersey.
Excited about games in Tampa, RayJay Stadium. It’s a fantastic venue for football, and the grass on the field is always immaculate.
Please tell me they will force Seattle to put real grass over that abomination of a plastic turf…otherwise, no games must be played there.
I imagine that’s what’ll happen. No way they make Neymar or Falcao play in turf
Chicago, on the map, is a darker dot, yet you list it with the lighter colored cities.
Jacksonville!!! We have the largest USMNT crowds in the SE, host international club teams, and have our own NASL team, Armada FC, starting next year!!!
Indy would be great, they get 12,000+(sell out every game) for their NASL team alone and had the 2nd most attended match of the 2013 International Champions Cup, with the final being the only one ahead of them.
Am I color blind or did the author put Chicago in the wrong group
Dallas will be a contender for the final, 80k+ at Cowboys’ Stadium is attractive to organizers.
It’s why I love and hate Jerry.
If i still lived in Arlington, I’d be cursing his name on a regular basis…traffic was always horrendous anywhere near the stadium (I lived on the same street, a couple of miles north) and the city became a parking lot if the Rangers and the Cowboys should happen to play on the same day.
Arlington is the largest city in the country without any form of public transport…that might work against them for the final venue voting…
Indy and Detroit both only have Domes that can fit enough people; and Seattle is outdoor but artificial turf.
Detroit may also mean Ann Arbor. The Big House hosted 100,000+ for the Man Utd and Real Madrid friendly this past summer.
Who wants a dome in MI in the summer? Seriously
Indy has a retractable roof and can easily lay down a real grass field. I would imagine that has to be a very intriguing option for the organizers.
Any clue what the different colors mean? Preference (ie primary locations vs secondary? Stadium size minimums? Also, I believe SF/San Jose/Santa Clara is in the other grouping with LA, Seattle, Nashville, etc.
probably their first a second choice stadiums. my guess is that 10-13 stadiums will be used.
If that’s the case then I’d imagine the grouping with NYC, LA, etc would be the primary group if so.
Jacksonville baby! Take a look at the world’s largest video boards! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JaKbrlFelUs
CONMEBOL looking? Oh man.
Let Americans be the organizing committee… Those SA old farts are gonna ruin this thing
Yeah, they should totally organize a CONMEBOL tournament while telling CONMEBOL to fck off, that would totally work.
conmebol had no say in USA’s WC 1994… USA did alright, and it still stands as the most attended WC ever… and we have learned even more about demographics since then…
Yea, but this is a CONMEBOL tournament, World Cup is a FIFA tournament. I know I’m excited to see it, but its like having the Euro’s here. It really doesn’t make much sense, and clearly they’re still going to want to run the program.
Despite not being very up to date, Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is a great place for soccer. And who doesn’t want to come to San Diego?
Tampa and Jacksonville?
Brazil vs Colombia pulls in 73k+ (2/3 were Colombian) which broke all Florida soccer viewing records and they are not even looking at it?
Should have read the article – lol. I hate it when commenters do what I just did….
No Miami? LOL.
just ditch the non MLS cities already >:(
they mention that Atlanta and Miami are out because their nfl stadiums will be under construction/renovations during the cup.
Miami opposed MLS and Beckham on the new stadium unless it was built near Fort Lauderdale.
anti-soccer cities like Miami should not get any revenues arising from soccer.
Guessing none of the sites will be in a soccer stadium. Each of these cities has an NFL stadium (plus Rose Bowl).
I wonder if by San Francisco, they mean Santa Clara.
49ers new stadium. All games will be in NFL stadiums I am sure. Cash rules everything around me, dollar dollar bill y’all.
With the new Vikings Stadium set to open in July of 2016 right before the Vikings season kicks off, and all the discussions of landing an MLS team, I thought that we would have an upper hand in getting one of these games up in Minnesota. I guess not 🙁
Maybe it won’t be ready in time for this tournament? I thought the timing would be perfect.
Games like this will be sick in Boston, wondering if its going to be at Alumni Stadium or Harvard Stadium, or maybe by Boston they mean Foxboro
Any stadium that seats at least 50K…so yeah, foxboro.
Yeah, Alumni and Harvard Stadiums, forgetting size, are not even close to international in width. Size-wise, these games will sell-out Foxboro very quickly. At 42,000 or so seats, and a downgrade to Harvard (going down from 30k to 22k), these are non-starters.