With this year’s tournament having games played in Central America and the Caribbean for the first time, there’s been a lot of discussion (more than usual) about the fact that the United States has essentially hosted every iteration of the Gold Cup. Everyone agrees that these group matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica are a step in the right direction, but it also must be said that they aren’t enough. No other confederation allows one country to continually host, and sure, the United States is a unique specimen in that it has a hundred Gold Cup quality stadiums and massive immigrant populations from every other nation in CONCACAF, but being an ideal host does not mean you should get a monopoly.
There are obstacles to hosting the tournament in other places, some spots more than others, but I would like to take a look at several mock-up Gold Cup plans for future tournaments and explain their viability as alternatives to letting the US continue to host every edition.
So before we get into those plans, we must discuss the two major obstacles: finances and stadiums. Money is the most important thing when it comes to this tournament. It is a major source of income for the confederation and playing it in the US at the largest possible stadiums maximizes profits. It’s worth noting that Gold Cup matches are typically played as double headers at a site where at least one of the four teams will pack the house with fans. This is very easy in the states for the US and Mexico in particular, though Central American enclaves take over stadiums in certain areas. This issue will be addressed in my example bids.
The issue of stadiums is that while the US has literally hundreds of huge and nice NFL, NCAA, and MLS stadiums, other potential hosts do not have as many. Prospective hosts Jamaica have only two stadiums with a capacity of 20,000+, for example. This too will be accounted for below.
Hosting a tournament in different places around the confederation is not just healthy for the sport, it’s about fairness as well. If you look at World Cup Qualifying, when teams like Panama, Honduras, and Costa Rica get a chance to play at home, they perform way better than they do during the Gold Cup. If the Gold Cup had rotating hosts like the other continental tournaments, I have no doubts that several Central American teams would have won a title by now, and perhaps a Caribbean side as well. We’ve seen USA and Mexico get overmatched in Central America many times before, even to lowly teams like Guatemala. The same can be said for the Caribbean, albeit to a lesser extent. Think about the performances of South Korea 2002, Russia 2018, or Chile 2015 at the Copa America, and you’ll get a quick idea of how much that home soil matters.
There’s nothing fair about the Gold Cup, and that extends beyond the home field advantage and into the format of the tournament, which is always designed to ensure the US and Mexico never have to face off until the finals, even if they finish 2nd in the group. This impossibility makes it much harder for other nations to overcome the already steep odds of playing the two biggest teams in the region at home (and Mexico is very much at home in the US). Although this format is not directly tied to hosting, I just wanted to add that it needs to be changed to create a more fair tournament and in the hypothetical bids below you should assume that the United States and Mexico can meet prior to the final. Onto the bids!
Mexico
This one really doesn’t need much of an explanation of how it would function. There are more than enough large Liga MX stadiums ready to host and there are over a hundred million fans around the country. Every Mexico game (and their paired group stage, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches) would be packed out, and locals would surely fill the seats at many of the other games. I’m confident the people of Monterrey would turn up to watch an underdog Barbados side attempt to deal with a Central American rival. Mexico are the most storied side in CONCACAF history and have hosted two World Cups by themselves before; it's a no brainer that they should host the Gold Cup soon.
Canada
Like Mexico, not much to explain here. Canada just successfully hosted a Women’s World Cup in 2015 (26,000 average attendance) and they have numerous CFL and MLS venues to choose from. Canada games would be well supported, and US and Mexican fans would travel in droves. That’s potentially three groups covered right there. Though not as much as the US, Canada has immigrant populations from most CONCACAF nations and everyone would still get some support from locals. Fan support and stadiums would not be an issue. Canada’s massive size might be, but that can easily be circumvented by scheduling little to no cross country flights until the final. Keep two groups more west and two groups more east, play the quarters and semis more towards the middle of the country in places like Winnipeg and Regina, and you’re good to go..jpg)
Costa Rica and Panama
Now we get into the more complicated stuff. Neither country on their own is perhaps quite ready to host solo, but the two neighbors combined check all the boxes. Both are in the upper echelon of teams in the region. Both possess a handful of high quality stadiums. Compared to the US, these two countries are so tiny that it’s very easy for traveling fans to go to all three of their team’s group matches. Groups A and B could be played in Costa Rica, while Groups C and D could be in Panama. With all the matches being played so close to each other, I don't think it would be a surprise if thousands of football fanatics stayed in San José or Panama City for the full two weeks of the group stage and attended nearly every match.The hosts’ groups would fill up their match-days no problem, and the other two groups, headlined by the US and Mexico, would draw in sizable crowds as well. Quarterfinal and semifinal doubleheaders, which the hosts would very likely be in, would sell too. It doesn’t really matter which country gets the final, it would perform well either way. This system is the ideal Central American bid: it’s simple, only involves two countries, will be well attended, and gives two contenders who have more than earned some home matches a chance play in front of their own fans for once.
In Panama City there are three capable stadiums. The Estadio Rommel Fernandez hosted the Copa Centroamericana (all 15 matches) in 2017 and held up well enough. The Estadio Rod Carew is a baseball venue but can easily be converted to support soccer. The Maracaná is tiny but very modern and high quality, and would be a perfect place to host some matches between smaller teams.
Central America
This is another idea to get the tournament fully onto Central American soil. Much like how Euro 2020 will be hosted across 12 countries who may or not make the final tournament, this format would split the games between Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Each country would need to prepare only one top condition stadium, which would be easy enough to do. The big issue with this formula is that constant travel across borders would be difficult for fans and attendances might be lower compared to having the whole tournament in a relatively small area.With six hosts and only four groups they would likely need to be treated as regular teams and put into pots, potentially leaving one group with three hosts or another group with zero. It would take some tricky maneuvering to pull it off, but this would be a way to give games to all of Central America (besides Belize). Group matches would be played all over the six nations; Guatemala and El Salvador get two quarterfinals each, Honduras and Panama each get a semifinal, and Costa Rica gets the final. Switch those countries around if you'd like, but the spread would need to be something along those lines.
Jamaica/Trinidad & Tobago/Haiti
Caribbean nations make up the vast majority of CONCACAF's members, and the sub-region deserves a chance to host a major tournament. With so many of the islands being so small, however, it can be tough to find places suitable to host. Along with Cuba, who won't be hosting for the foreseeable future for obvious reasons, these three are the largest Caribbean powers at the moment and the most deserving of the honor. Jamaica hosted two group matches at this 2019 edition quite successfully, and has got enough facilities to host a lot more. In addition to the National Stadium, the island has two sizable cricket venues in Trelawny Stadium and Sabina Park, both of which can be configured for football.Trinidad and Tobago have two capable stadiums, both in the major population center of Port of Spain. The Halsey Crawford Stadium is the traditional national team home ground, and Queen's Park Oval is a picturesque site for international soccer, which it has hosted in the past. Like Jamaica (and the rest of the Caribbean) the islands are an attractive destination and it wouldn't be hard to draw in traveling fans from around the region to fill the stadiums. With proper ticket pricing and when paired in double headers with the host team, locals would provide great atmosphere all by themselves.
Haiti are really optional in this bid; the other two are capable of making it work by themselves. They only have one venue available for use, the Stade Sylvio Cator, and in this plan they just host one group matchday. This is as a courtesy to the Haitians who really do deserve a home game, and also a chance to give some of the other grounds a chance to rest and stay in good shape.
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