Gold Cup Will Stay in USA, says Blazer

The Gold Cup, which is the international soccer tournament for the Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) regions, is set to stay in the United States until another country demonstrates the ability to generate the same financial benefits through hosting the tournament, according to the organisation’s general secretary Chuck Blazer.

The USA has so far hosted all 11 editions of the biannual tournament, including this year’s tournament, which finished on Saturday with the host country losing 4-2 to Mexico. However, Blazer insisted that the event’s revenues are maximised by the competition taking place in the USA.

He said: “We have in the past solicited other countries. We have in the past looked to see what the revenue generation would be and it has been the collective will of the members of the confederation to continue the event here (in the United States) because this is how we support all the other tournaments.”

Blazer said that this has been the best Gold Cup to date, but stopped short of revealing any financial figures. Total attendances in the 25-game tournament have topped 600,000, which is an increase of more than 20% from the 2009 tournament.

Blazer added: “We have given a Gold Cup that in most respects has been better than any that we’ve done in the past. The attendance, the administration and the fan following has been extraordinary. We’ve had games that have been extremely competitive.”