After months of turmoil and indecision the Copa America Centenario appears to finally be taking form. On Thursday CONCACAF and CONMEBOL announced the ten sites that will host the 100th anniversary of the Copa America which will take place next year between June the 3rd and June the 26th.
Boston (Gillette Stadium), Chicago (Soldier Field), Houston (NRG Stadium), Los Angeles (Rose Bowl), New York (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Phoenix (University of Phoenix Stadium), San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium) and Seattle (CenturyLink Field) were named as the ten hosts. Each city will host multiple matches of the sixteen team tournament.
Dallas, Denver, Detroit, and Washington D.C. were among the fourteen cities not chosen to serve as hosts for the event.
The Copa America Centenario will put the teams of the CONMEBOL (South America) Confederation against the top squads of CONCACAF (North and Central America. The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica have already qualified for the tournament. Panama will face Cuba and Haiti will play Trinidad and Tobago to determine the final two participants in the tournament.
Announcing the sites of the tournament is a major moment in the soap opera that has been the Copa America Centenario. The tournament has had multiple stops and starts due to its ties to the investigation that is currently ongoing with the United States Department of Justice. On October 23rd, 2015 CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, and the United States Soccer Federation announced that the tournament would continue as scheduled.
Politics aside, the locations that were picked should provide for some interesting crowds and give the tournament a unique feel. Cities like Orlando and Seattle are very rarely used for these types of tournaments while the choice of Phoenix shows how big the game is getting in the Southwest. While it is disappointing that mainstays like Dallas and Washington D.C. are out of the running perhaps it is time for other regions to host major international games.
