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Jeff Carlisle, US football correspondent
On Thursday, the United States will officially begin hosting the Copa America for the second time, having already hosted the 2016 Copa America Centenario. Just like eight years ago, a Copa America on American soil is among the most exciting football spectacles. most important – and most lucrative – on the calendar.
Reigning Copa and World Cup champions Argentina – with a certain Lionel Messi at their side – will be competing, as will five-time World Cup champions Brazil. The United States men’s national team will also participate, which should raise the team’s profile ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which the United States co-hosts with Canada and Mexico.
But unlike the 2016 edition, which funded the activities of the American Soccer Federation for the following years, the Copa America will this time offer a much smaller financial benefit to the host country.
In 2016, US Soccer provided approximately $75 million for the Centenario organization, based on the federation’s financial information, as well as recollections from several federation sources, past and present. Additionally, Soccer United Marketing, or SUM, the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, won the bid to sell sponsorships for the tournament and helped US Soccer with ticket sales, injecting even more revenue. money in the American football ecosystem.
US Soccer’s cash flow increased from $65.4 million at the end of fiscal 2016 – which ended March 31, 2016 – to $104.6 million at the end of fiscal 2017. This cash injection from the Centenario meant that American soccer could operate at a deficit, spending more than it brought in for years.
This time around, however, US Soccer can’t expect the same influx. According to federation sources, as well as the federation’s 2024 report book, US Soccer will receive $10 million, plus a 5% “sanctioning fee” on ticket sales (after sales taxes and registration fees). facility). Sources expect that percentage to be between $10 million and $15 million, bringing the federation’s total for hosting the Copa America to between $20 million and $25 million.
So why a much smaller windfall? This is largely due to the evolution of international football policy at the confederation level.
Hosting rights for the 2016 Centenario were first awarded to the United States in May 2014, and a year later the respective leaders of Concacaf and CONMEBOL were eliminated by the investigation of the US Department of Justice. Justice on FIFA corruption.
Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – then current and former presidents of Concacaf – were among those charged with racketeering and corruption. Chuck Blazer, the general secretary of Concacaf, had already pleaded guilty. Nicolas Leoz and Eugenio Figueredo, both former presidents of CONMEBOL, were also charged. Additional indictments were issued against Webb’s successor, Alfredo Hawit, and CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout.
The company that owned the tournament’s media rights was also embroiled in the legal scandal, after doling out what the U.S. Department of Justice described as “tens of millions of dollars” in bribes. This gave US Soccer’s longtime partner, SUM, the opportunity to step in and take back some of those rights.
The indictments put the tournament in jeopardy, but at the urging of then-president Sunil Gulati and then-chief business officer Jay Berhalter, US Soccer was willing to step in and assume all the risks financial by covering general organizational costs. This allowed Gulati and Berhalter to secure favorable contract terms that allowed US Soccer to generate more revenue for the tournament – notably through ticket sales – through a local organizing committee (LOC) which essentially managed tournament. All profits made by the COL were directly returned to the coffers of the federation.
None of this was an easy sell to the US Soccer board of directors, which had to approve the plan to host the event. Concerns were raised about reputational damage resulting from business dealings with Concacaf and CONMEBOL so soon after the indictments. There was also the short lead time before the tournament, as well as the financial risk of putting money up front to pay for overheads. In fact, the US Soccer Board of Directors voted against hosting the tournament until the fall of 2015, eventually becoming convinced that hosting would benefit US Soccer.
“Ultimately, we made it clear to the board the importance of the event for Concacaf and CONMEBOL as part of their (financial stability) going forward,” Gulati told ESPN.
The tournament turned out to be a huge success. Attendance reached nearly 1.5 million and averaged 46,370 spectators per match. And in this case, a good portion of the loot went to the host.
Several sources told ESPN that this reality then remained in the bowels of CONMEBOL. In the aftermath of the tournament, it became apparent that COMNEBOL had left a lot of money on the table, which subsequently created tensions between US Soccer and the South American confederation. But the alternative was to no longer hold the tournament at all, an unpopular idea given the precarious financial situation of each party.
By January 2023, the governance of Concacaf and CONMEBOL had stabilized and the two confederations signed a collaboration agreement when the 2024 hosting rights were awarded to the United States. More concretely, CONMEBOL – and to a lesser extent Concacaf – were not about to fail financially again.
The 2024 Copa is a joint venture between CONMEBOL and Concacaf, with the two confederations sharing most of the profits, and US Soccer is expected to receive the aforementioned $10 million, plus 5% of ticket sales. US Soccer will have no role in the actual running of the tournament. There is also a sense, at least in theory, that member associations – not just the United States – should benefit from tournament revenues, which are expected to eclipse those of 2016.
“The (2016) tournament was extremely popular. I mean, we sold a lot of tickets very quickly,” said then-SUM president Kathy Carter. “Now with their momentum, I expect it to be equal to, if not greater than, what we experienced eight years ago.”
Some members of the federation believe the United States could have negotiated a better deal. Other sources counter that US Soccer has done pretty well considering they don’t do the heavy lifting when it comes to organizing the tournament.
When asked if the federation could have made more money from the tournament, US Soccer CEO JT Batson said: “We are incredibly excited about participating in the Copa, and we think that it will be great for our team and for the country by 2026.”
Granted, the financial benefits to the United States of hosting the 2024 Copa are more modest, but there is something to be said for the tournament preparing the market ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The U.S. men’s team will also benefit from a string of competitive matches it wouldn’t otherwise see in this cycle since there is no World Cup qualifying to keep the team in shape.
US Soccer will receive $2 million just for having the USMNT participate in the Copa America, plus additional prize money if the team advances to the round of 16. But under the most recent collective bargaining agreement with the USMNT, 70 percent of all prize money will go to the players, while another 9 percent will go to the pool of money split between the men’s and women’s national teams. US Soccer will receive the remaining 21%, which will amount to $840,000 if the USMNT exits the tournament in the quarterfinals.
Suffice it to say that US Soccer’s coffers will not receive the huge influx of money it received in 2016. And it is clear that US Soccer’s influence at the level of Concacaf and FIFA is at an all-time low, partly due to high staff turnover within the federation. leadership too.
Previously, figures like Alan Rothenberg, Gulati and former President Carlos Cordeiro spent decades cultivating relationships within these organizations. That’s something that current U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone, who has been on the job for four years, and Batson, hired 20 months ago, can’t yet match. This could change over time, and Cone has been appointed to the Concacaf Council in 2023. Yet frosty relations between Cordeiro and some elements of the current American soccer leadership mean that his position as senior advisor to the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, is not something that can change. be exploited to the maximum.
For now, however, US Soccer will have to settle for the done deal and hope that the Copa America eventually primes the pump for the 2026 World Cup.