U.S. Soccer has invited South America’s 10 soccer federations to bring their national teams to the U.S. in '20 for a "new intercontinental championship that would run concurrently with that summer’s European Championship," according to Andrew Das of the N.Y. TIMES. The offer includes almost $200M in "guarantees to the invited teams and their governing bodies." For the past year, soccer officials across the Americas have "held discussions about creating a quadrennial tournament involving national teams from both continents, but with no agreement in sight, U.S. Soccer, eager to fill a gap in the global soccer calendar and bearing an enticing nine-figure offer, is now proposing to establish its own." USSF President Carlos Cordeiro said that they are "offering to underwrite the new event and guarantee each nation -- and both confederations -- millions of dollars in appearance fees, subsidized travel and bonuses for each point earned." Cordeiro has invited the South Americans to a meeting to "discuss the proposal next week in Miami." The proposed 16-team tournament "would resemble" the '16 Copa América Centenario. Cordeiro emphasized that the new event would be a "singular tournament, and not meant to replace existing events like the Copa América or the Gold Cup, which would continue separately" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/27).
JUMP START: ESPN.com's Jeff Carlisle noted Concacaf and CONMEBOL have been "engaged in talks for over a year on holding another combined Copa América, but have been unable to come to an agreement." The intention is to "turn the combined tournament into a quadrennial, joint continental event." Due to fallout from the FIFA corruption scandal that ensnared execs of both Concacaf and CONMEBOL, the USSF had "less than a year to organize" the Copa América. By getting its proposal on the table now, the USSF is "hoping to kickstart organizing efforts, regardless of which entities will agree to participate" (ESPN.com, 2/26).
