Is it defunct? I always really dug it... the A-League, J-League and K-League were really the best pairings for the MLS. As far as contrived inter-confederation tournaments go, it was by far the best.
I have a bad feeling this thing died, the official website is down. I also thought it was a neat thing, but perhaps travel costs killed it.
I was very interested when they first announced the plans of this, as I always was interested in a A-league vs MLS scenario but the organises killed it here holding the tournament in the middle of the A-league final series means we could not send our best team and our media would ignore the tournament. I beleive there was only one game shown on tv here and that was the 3rd/4th play-off game and that was delayed on Fox Sports after the A-league Grand Final. The organises were obviously not looking at making money outside of the US market if it was held even 2 weeks later our media would of jumped on it and supported it
That and the whole tournament was created to give Beckham and LA some international "tournament" to play in during the height of Beckham-mania since they didn't qualify to play in the CCL. When Beckham-mania died down the tournament died. Maybe a new version will be created for Red Bull this off season.
It went from hawaii to LA because of the field conditions in Hawaii were so bad. I read about a study that was done on how much money was brought in because of this tourney it was 2-3million. I will try to find it. Disney started there own tournament the The Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic with just MLS teams.
Too bad this tournament didn't work out; I thought it was a great concept, and playing in Hawaii is a nice off season bonus that's a reasonable mid-point location for all participants. Would be cool if Mexican and Canadian teams were also invited. Mexico, USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia. Two groups of three teams. Four games max for a team. Total of nine or ten games max for the tourney.
Pan Pacific must not die this is a necessary tournament we must match American soccer agaisnt asians and aussies
Involving Mexico would be lame... the coolness comes from all the leagues being new and the countries being new to the sport.
i definitely like the idea of a tournament like this coming again. A-League, J-League, K-League and MLS. all 3 at about the same level of soccer and development would make for an interesting competition. as for having it in Hawaii i think it would probably be better for it to move from nation to nation each year hosted by that nation's representative team. that way you could get a good number of fans. could be something as simple as semis and then final small 3 game tourney. now when you have it and how you chose the 4 teams. that would have to be decided i guess but shouldn't be impossible to work out.
It could probably be revived as an informal preseason tournament if someone really wanted to, but that's about it. It was basically created to promote Beckham to the Far East. I doubt you see any interest from the A-League, since they would be wrapping up their season. Is there really any interest from their champion in traveling for a meaningless tournament 1-2 weeks after clinching a title? The J.League and K-League start about the first weekend of March. Same for the Chinese Super League. MLS preseason tends to begin in early February for a mid-March start. That means you have a pretty narrow window to have basically the La Manga Cup. Does Gamba Osaka or Suwon Samsung Bluewings really want to be traveling across the Pacific right before their season starts?
Well, now Beckham is back, he won't leave for Euope, LA Galaxy won Supporters' Shield so all good reason to restart but well, apart Galaxy teams should be from China, Japan, Corea, Australia with a play-off match between the two weakest clubs to enter in the competition
Logistics aside, this would have been an awesome tournament for Vancouver to play in. 30% of Vancouver residents are of Chinese origin. Japanese and Koreans account for an additional 2% each. I know that ethnic demographics do not exactly translate into football fans in seats. I do however see a city like Vancouver embracing an event like the Pan Pacific Cup much more so than LA would.