http://www.concacaf.com/page/GoldCup/NewsDetail/0,,12813~3050948,00.html HOST CITY - VENUE (Venue Location) • 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)
My predictions for sites: USA Group Matches: Hartford, Salt Lake and Portland Mexico Group Matches: Denver, Chicago and Dallas Other Group: Miami, Houston and New York Quarterfinals: Baltimore & Seattle (Seattle will be on the US's half of the bracket) Semifinals: Atlanta Final: Rose Bowl
I don't think think Atlanta is a worthy semi-final venue + I don't think the Rose Bowl will host the final twice in a row. It will either be a group stage venue (for Mexico's group) or it will host the semi-finals IMO. Either way, it will be filled with Mexicans.
Why isn't the Georgia Dome worthy? It's a huge 71,000 seat stadium that's hosted 2 Super Bowls, I don't see why it couldn't handle a Gold Cup match. The LA Coliseum hosted the final 3 times in a row from 1996 to 2000, it's happened before.
There's isn't any other reason to include Rose or Dallas without your intentions on having them as host for the finals or semifinals... the largest capacities = money....
Looks pretty good. The only thing I would change is maybe Seattle hosting the Semis and Atlanta being in the Quarters. I think I read somewhere Baltimore wants to host a USA match.
My guess exactly. The final will be in Dallas. Not Rose Bowl because they had it last time. Rose Bowl will host the semi-final this time I would guess. +There won't be two Texas host cities in the group stage. It's not a question of physical infostructure, otherwise, yes you would be correct. The city and stadium are fine venues. It's just that although northern Georgia has a significant hispanic population, it is still smaller than the hispanic population in both Dallas and SoCal. The city has also never hosted. They will NOT give a semi-final to an untested host city.
Im pretty sure the final will be held at the Rose Bowl. They had 93,000+ in last years edition and we all know that monetary gain is the most important part of this tournament for CONCACAF. They want seconds on that, trust me.
Maybe. But they can get a lot of people in the Rose Bowl in any stage as long as Mexico is there. Does not have to be the Final per say.
Why do you say that? You need 3 venues for each group, so 9 in the group stage. You need 2 in the quarters, 1 in the semis and 1 in the final. 9+2+1+1=13
They have used 13 venues before 2013. How long will it take to make the groups and determine who plays in what city?
I'd say within the next couple weeks we should hear something. Maybe after the Hex games in February.
I know teams will be plane hopping all over. Just hope they keep the cross country and time zone flights to a minimum.
So the Gold Cup requires more venues than the World Cup?That makes a lot of sense...Same old CONCACAF...
Well it's a little different since most countries don't have 13 stadiums capable of doing so. What's wrong with spreading it around, might as well bring the tourney more places
In a big country like yours,the problem is that the further a team will get in the tournament,the more they will have to travel back and forth East coast West coast.And since you talked about bringing the thourney more places,why not trying taking it/holding it outside of the US for a change...
I agree with you that CONCACAF should try to keep each group in a certain part of the country but the reality is it's about selling tickets and they're going to put teams where they'll sell the most, even if it means a ton of traveling. I would have no problem with putting the tourney in another country but CONCACAF is run by greedy island nations trying to score a buck as easily as possible, which is actually the only reason we even have the pointless off year Gold Cup in the first place. The sad reality is that no other country hosting would bring in as much as the US would.
Why does Canada has an "automatic qualification" to the Gold Cups? when better National Teams like Honduras and Costa Rica have to play a qualification tournament.
The reason given is that Canada once won a Gold Cup, but in reality it may be because it would be strange for Canada to compete with the UNCAF countries (Copa Centroamericana) or the CFU countries (Caribbean Cup) in qualifying. Costa Rica and Honduras can compete in the Copa Centroamericana for Central American bragging rights and both of them should have an easy time qualifying for the Gold Cup.
I think Canada would benefit from such competition, and it will not be completely strange, we've seen Mexico competing in the South American tournament for the last 20 years, and recently Australia competing in the Asian tournament. Besides, Canada belongs to Concacaf, and so does the UNCAF tournament, I won't see it strange. What I see strange and unfair, it's the fact that Canada gets a direct spot to the Gold Cup, despite their poor level, and failure to qualify to recent World Cups and even to the last Hexagonal, contrasting to the "regional success" from other UNCAF teams.