The first two weeks of Fox Sports' Copa America Centenario coverage next month is “very well sold,” with the net holding back inventory in the tournament’s later rounds in case of a run by the U.S. men’s national team, network ad sales execs said. “Last summer [during the FIFA Women’s World Cup], we set up the tournament with the assumption the U.S. Women’s National Team was going to the final,” said Fox Sports Senior VP/Sales Mike Petruzzi. “We’re waiting to see what happens in the early rounds next month." Fox has signed four “pillar” sponsors for the duration of the tournament, including Sprint (pregame), VW (halftime), Budweiser (postgame) and Coke/Powerade (in-game enhancements). Sources say those sponsorships carry a seven-figure price tag. Fox’ pitch to advertisers is that it is the net for big soccer events, including last year’s Women’s World Cup, next month’s Copa America, the Confederations Cup next year and the upcoming '18 men's and '19 women's World Cup. “Soccer is the most active property for us outside of the NFL,” Petruzzi said. “We would take any soccer content we can get. It’s the hot thing right now.” The net is planning to produce more than 100 hours of live game and studio programming across Fox, FS1 and FX. The USMNT opens the tournament on FS1 with a game against Colombia on June 3 at 9:30pm ET. This year is the first time the tournament has been held outside of South America. It will involve 16 countries and 32 matches and will be the biggest U.S.-based soccer tournament since the '94 men’s World Cup, Fox says.
