Football
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondent 7y

Gold Cup considering venues outside of United States - Montagliani

MILLBRAE, Calif. -- CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani has confirmed the confederation is looking into having future editions of the Gold Cup include host cities from outside of North America.

Montagliani stressed that the majority of games would continue to be held in the U.S., which has been at least a co-host for every edition of the tournament since it was first held in 1991. Only twice has the final not been held in the U.S., with Mexico City hosting the 1993 and 2003 finals. The 2015 edition saw Toronto host a doubleheader during the group stage.

But in terms of the 2019 tournament, Montagliani saw no reason why games couldn't be held elsewhere, so long as needed investments in infrastructure took place.

"It's okay to look at the development side of it, but you've got to be cognizant of the revenue piece as well," he told ESPN FC in an exclusive interview. "But there's no reason why you can't have games in other jurisdictions, whether it be Central America, Mexico, or even the Caribbean.

"However, the one thing that has to happen is that it's the Gold Cup, it has to be treated like the Gold Cup, so although you say it's a developmental piece, it's a developmental piece from a market standpoint. That doesn't mean we're going to put a Gold Cup game in a 10,000-seat stadium with no lights. That ain't happening."

Montagliani added that countries that invest in stadiums could see further benefits down the road in terms of hosting other CONCACAF events.

"Now it's not just about the Gold Cup, their national team is going to play World Cup qualifiers in there, they can start hosting youth World Cups or youth qualifiers there, and so it's an investment for that country to put it in," he said. "So there's an opportunity there to serve two purposes, the developmental side and developing the markets, but also use the Gold Cup as a tool to inject some infrastructure development into some of our countries."

No Canadian cities will host games in the 2017 Gold Cup later this summer. Montagliani said that was due in part to two Canadian candidate cities having scheduling conflicts, though he expects Canadian cities to apply to host games for 2019.

Montagliani also reiterated his proposal to have the Gold Cup expanded to 16 teams from its current 12.

"I think the quality of football is there in this region to expand the Gold Cup," he said. "You're starting to see what I call the non-traditional Caribbean countries improve. You've got Jamaica, Trinidad, who have always been there, but now you've got Curacao, Martinique.

"I know French Guiana has got a good side and they're in the 2017 Gold Cup. You're starting to see Central American countries like El Salvador. We haven't finalized it yet, but my intention is to go to 16 teams. I think we have the opportunity to grow it."

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