Copa Oro: It's Not Pretty, But It's Ours

[degenerasian]

What's your definition of a quality stadium? we are all spoiled by NFL and college football stadium but in reality 30,000 for soccer is enough, like the one in Kansas City. Equatorial Guinea hosted two African Nations Cups in four small stadiums.

Kingston, Jamaica's stadium holds 35,000, that would just need a revamp. The one in T&T is 25,000. Maybe a couple of crickets grounds can be converted too. T&T has hosted two U-17 world cups (one men and one women)

Again, if you give 8 years, the Chinese could build everything.

But you're right. CONCACAF is only interested in money and the US delivers every time.

What are the attendances for U-17 World Cups. I tend to remember those games being played in front of maybe 1,000 fans, pretty much the parents of the players and a few locals. The Gold Cup games tend to fill up stadiums. Some of the games are back-to-back and you have fans for both games at the stadium, but still, people do travel to the US for the Gold Cup, and I don't think T&T has the hotels and infrastructure to host that many fans. If you play a youth tournament without fans, you don't need as many stadiums, and you can play in a field with a few hundred seats. If you have sizable crowds from 16 teams, you need hotels, and you can't host that many fans in one location, you need to spread them over several stadiums. Sure, the Chinese can build 10 stadiums in a week, but they have a centralized government run economy and a billion people. Give T&T a decade, and they can't do it, and why would they for a fucking Gold Cup? Once the tournament ends, what are they going to do with all the stadiums and infrastructure? All to host a lame-ass tournament nobody cares about?

That said, it is crazy to me that they don't ever allow Mexico or Canada to host. Is it because you have substantial populations of immigrants from every CONCACAF nation in the US? Last time Costa Rica played in NJ, I was shocked to see the number of Costa Rican flags that went up in my town. I had no idea there were so many Costa Ricans in my town.

ETA: Went and checked attendance at T&T World Cup. Two T&T and Brazil games drew 20,000-25,000 as did the final, other T&T and Brazil games only drew 10k. Group B (including USA) drew 7-8k a game, Group C was drawing 7,000 a game, with one game drawing 10,000 fans and Group D was drawing 7,000. They only had 3 venues, capacities of 27,000, 10,000 and 7,500.

I think those attendance figures are fine for a first Gold Cup hosting. Then additional ones will be better. Also playing double headers will increase some of that attendance. Again, we're talking once every 8 or 10 years. Want to develop something? It won't be perfect the first time. Is CONCACAF willing to try?

[The Sybian]

What's your definition of a quality stadium? we are all spoiled by NFL and college football stadium but in reality 30,000 for soccer is enough, like the one in Kansas City. Equatorial Guinea hosted two African Nations Cups in four small stadiums.

Kingston, Jamaica's stadium holds 35,000, that would just need a revamp. The one in T&T is 25,000. Maybe a couple of crickets grounds can be converted too. T&T has hosted two U-17 world cups (one men and one women)

Again, if you give 8 years, the Chinese could build everything.

But you're right. CONCACAF is only interested in money and the US delivers every time.

What are the attendances for U-17 World Cups. I tend to remember those games being played in front of maybe 1,000 fans, pretty much the parents of the players and a few locals. The Gold Cup games tend to fill up stadiums. Some of the games are back-to-back and you have fans for both games at the stadium, but still, people do travel to the US for the Gold Cup, and I don't think T&T has the hotels and infrastructure to host that many fans. If you play a youth tournament without fans, you don't need as many stadiums, and you can play in a field with a few hundred seats. If you have sizable crowds from 16 teams, you need hotels, and you can't host that many fans in one location, you need to spread them over several stadiums. Sure, the Chinese can build 10 stadiums in a week, but they have a centralized government run economy and a billion people. Give T&T a decade, and they can't do it, and why would they for a fucking Gold Cup? Once the tournament ends, what are they going to do with all the stadiums and infrastructure? All to host a lame-ass tournament nobody cares about?

That said, it is crazy to me that they don't ever allow Mexico or Canada to host. Is it because you have substantial populations of immigrants from every CONCACAF nation in the US? Last time Costa Rica played in NJ, I was shocked to see the number of Costa Rican flags that went up in my town. I had no idea there were so many Costa Ricans in my town.

ETA: Went and checked attendance at T&T World Cup. Two T&T and Brazil games drew 20,000-25,000 as did the final, other T&T and Brazil games only drew 10k. Group B (including USA) drew 7-8k a game, Group C was drawing 7,000 a game, with one game drawing 10,000 fans and Group D was drawing 7,000. They only had 3 venues, capacities of 27,000, 10,000 and 7,500.

I think those attendance figures are fine for a first Gold Cup hosting. Then additional ones will be better. Also playing double headers will increase some of that attendance. Again, we're talking once every 8 or 10 years. Want to develop something? It won't be perfect the first time. Is CONCACAF willing to try?

Most of those games were at or near capacity for the stadiums. Dwight Yorke Stadium holds 7,500, the other holds 10,000 and the biggest holds 24,000. The Gold Cup is already a 4th rate shitbox of a tournament as it is, why put it in a tiny, borderline third world island nation? I can't imagine T&T or others are going to be convenient for TV broadcasts of however many games. I think for WCQ, they usually use local broadcasts, do they have enough cameramen to operate an entire tournament? Does Fox or ESPN want to send down several crews to T&T for a month? And for what, so T&T can wrack up a bunch of debt to pay off a stadium or 5 they no longer need and a bunch of hotels that will now sit empty until they crumble? Hosting Olympics are financial nightmares for large wealthy countries, hosting a Gold Cup would be the same for T&T. I just can't fathom why you think this is good or necessary. Is it a sense of fairness? The Gold Cup is just a money grab for CONCACAF, and they make more hosting in the US.

[Nonlinear FC]

The money grab is the Nation's League. The Gold Cup may be lame when you put it up against Copa America and the Euros, but it's our federation's championship. It's not just a money grab.

[The Sybian]

The money grab is the Nation's League. The Gold Cup may be lame when you put it up against Copa America and the Euros, but it's our federation's championship. It's not just a money grab.

It meant something when Confederations Cup was at stake, now it's meaningless. And the only reason it's lame is that the majority of countries in the Federation aren't good. The US needs more experience playing good teams in a competitive environment. Friendlies don't cut it.

[degenerasian]

The money grab is the Nation's League. The Gold Cup may be lame when you put it up against Copa America and the Euros, but it's our federation's championship. It's not just a money grab.

It meant something when Confederations Cup was at stake, now it's meaningless. And the only reason it's lame is that the majority of countries in the Federation aren't good. The US needs more experience playing good teams in a competitive environment. Friendlies don't cut it.

US should be playing in the Copa America every time. Instead they choose to stay home and play money friendlies or tied up with MLS. Costa Rica has played in more Copa Americas than the US. They often go replacing the US who refused.