By SBI SOCCER
The ongoing soap opera known as the Copa America Centenario negotiations continued on Thursday, with CONCACAF and CONMEBOL officials meeting to discuss the future of the 2016 tournament, and where it would be played.
Officials from U.S. Soccer skipped the meeting entirely, but that didn’t stop CONCACAF from issuing the following statement, which suggests organizers are still very much determined to host the tournament in the United States.
“Today in Mexico City, CONCACAF had a very productive meeting with CONMEBOL and our broadcast partners, Univision and Televisa, regarding the Copa America Centenario. While all parties recognize that there are still issues that must be resolved, we are all in alignment regarding the next steps to be taken as well as the aggressive timeline towards realizing our common goal of staging the Copa America Centenario in the United States. We remain committed to working with all parties to resolve outstanding issues and operational components of the tournament.”
–CONCACAF
U.S. Soccer has yet to issue any formal statements on the matter, but recent reports suggest U.S. Soccer is ready to withdraw from hosting the tournament if certain conditions surrounding the running of the event aren’t met.
The clock is ticking on a final decision, with time to organize the event shrinking by the day.
What do you think of the latest update? Tired of holding out hope? Secretly praying it still happens in the U.S.?
Share your thoughts below.
According to a report from El Universo in Ecuador, CONMEBOL has hired a Boston law firm to try to get them out of their contract with Datisa. As someone mentioned before this might be complicated because they’ve sold some of their rights to third parties as well. Not only that, but there apparently are some CONMEBOL members that are against breaking the contract with Datisa and the third parties, in particular the head of Ecuador’s soccer federation. They don’t specify who the other members are, but in my opinion, if they are any of the big countries, (Argentina, Brazil), then CONMEBOL might be concerned that these teams might pull out of the tournament in protest, which would make the whole thing pointless.
http://www.eluniverso.com/deportes/2015/09/18/nota/5131085/abogados-recomiendan-conmebol-romper-contratos
So, it looks like CONMEBOL and CONCACAF worked on getting Datisa out if the picture, so USSF buys the US TV rights, and sends in their pending paperwork on the stadiums. Better to keep a clean nose right now in the US for soccer.
Roger that!
I bet that the more “productive talks” were in part contingent upon Valke’s suspension and the extradition orrder for the other CONMEBOL/FIFA official.
Real reform is a sticking point, I believe.
Reports say it has to do with the USSF not liking Datisa’s involvement with the tournament.
“Datisa is a an Argentina-based marketing company that owns the commercial rights to the Copa America Centenario, and was implicated in the FIFA scandal to the extent that its accounts have been frozen by U.S. investigators. Datisa was formed as a joint venture that included Traffic Sports, Full Play and another Argentine company, Torneos y Competencias.”
The USSF wants them out, but that is complicated.
“If CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, Televisa and Univision can somehow obtain those rights from Datisa, then the odds of the tournament being held in the U.S. go up considerably. A complicating factor however is that Datisa had already sold some of the commercial rights to third parties, a group that includes Televisa.”
Thank you for clarifying the matter.
Good post Bruin. I can’t blame Sunil and USSF one bit for avoiding these discussions while Ms. Lynch and the USAG is at full attention.
Makes sense – the tournament is far more lucrative if it’s held here.