CONCACAF has chosen Soccer United Marketing (SUM) to serve as its commercial representative for the upcoming playoff match between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Mexico.
According to Sports Business Daily, CONCACAF decided on SUM because it wanted to choose a company that has ties to both the U.S. Soccer Federation and Mexican federation. SUM has represented both national teams for more than a decade, and is currently the marketing arm of Major League Soccer.
CONCACAF recently ended its corporate relationship with Traffic Sports USA due to the the company pleading guilty to charges of bribery, but CONCACAF has yet to chose a long-term commercial partner. SUM is only serving as the representative for the single game.
“Based on the lead time to this event, their track record of transparency and success in the market, SUM was the ideal partner for managing this process,” CONCACAF acting general secretary Ted Howard said.
The USMNT will play Mexico on Oct. 10 at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, and according to SBD, the contest will also be called the CONCACAF Cup.
What do you think about this development? Think CONCACAF made a good decision? Do you like the name CONCACAF Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
Doesn’t change anything about road qualifiers. CONCACAF has no say in those games it’s still up to the individual federations. So if BeIn gets the rights to the Jamaican national team home games they will air those games
This would be good news for road US World Cup Qualifiers going forward, if it becomes permanent. No more pay per view streams or BeIn sports haha
Uhmm, just kind of curious who this “they” is that you’re referring to.
Chucky B?!?! Traffic USA?!?! IOC? Just to name a few sports related…
You lost me on that “they”…
Of course US Soccer being a non-profit and MLS being a for-profit entity with both being commercially represented by SUM creates zero conflict of interest. And the fact that MLS owners also sit on board of US Soccer is clearly an indication of separation of duties. And they say corruption only occurs abroad … yea right!
NO!
It creates tons of potential conflicts of interest! Especially with owners sitting on the USSF board!
I really hope that the highlights on the website don’t change. I mean the canned fan noise is by far the best way to really represent the atmosphere of the game. If do do get rid of that, I would accept replays of the “planking.”
Not surprised by this at all, my guess is that it’s only a matter of time before SUM takes over CONCACAF’s marketing.
Thanks, Captain Obvious. 🙂
But yes, I have to agree with you. It seems like this is just a small step in that direction.