Puerto Rico votes for Statehood - Future CONCACAF CL implications?

[Raven]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20238272

Will the PR Islanders still be allowed to enter the Champions League through Caribbean Qualifications, or will they have to qualify through US Open Cup? CONCACAF allows other islands to play in Gold Cup, but is there a set "rules" that are followed for CCL?

[Lord Bob]

The closest comparison if Puerto Rico became a state would be to Guadeloupe and Martinique. They both have "national teams" which aren't allowed in FIFA competitions like World Cup qualifying but which play in the CONCACAF competitions such as the Gold Cup. Guadeloupe teams have played in the CONCACAF Champions League (well, Champions Cup then) but none since 1998. I couldn't find whether they're barred or are just no longer participating.

[tyler453]

Highly doubt even with the referendum that PR will become an American state. This will need approval of the house (which will likely happen as soon as 2015), and with PR being overwhelmingly democrat, I highly doubt you'll see approval as more of the house is Republican.

[Redcoatsforever]

Highly doubt even with the referendum that PR will become an American state. This will need approval of the house (which will likely happen as soon as 2015), and with PR being overwhelmingly democrat, I highly doubt you'll see approval as more of the house is Republican.

The official policy of both parties is to give them statehood though, and Obama is for it, so I don't see a presidential veto in the cards.

[tyler453]

The official policy of both parties is to give them statehood though, and Obama is for it, so I don't see a presidential veto in the cards.

Still must go through the house though. Congress like I said has more republicans, but Puerto Ricans seem to side heavily on democrats side. To what I've heard so far, the Republican congress is not in for voting in a State that supports the democratic party more.

[ray]

Interesting to see how this will play out. It wasn't a large majority and one article I read stated the new PR governor was pro-status quo. Is Obama and/or Congress going to touch this one with such a lukewarm response? Probably not.

Also would be interesting to see how the international sporting federations treat Puerto Rico as an American state. While PR are never going to be a threat to make the World Cup in soccer, they often punch above their weight in baseball, basketball and volleyball. Is having national teams an important part of the PR identity? If so, maybe statehood is not right for them.

I don't know how FIFA and the other federations would treat an American state of Puerto Rico. Some might take away their membership. However, I think baseball, which needs every federation they can get, would "grandfather" them in.

[alberta white]

Interesting to see how this will play out. It wasn't a large majority and one article I read stated the new PR governor was pro status quo. Is Obama and or Congress going to touch this one with such a lukewarm response? Probably not.

Also would be interesting to see how the international sporting federations treat Puerto Rico as an American state. While PR are never going to be a threat to make the World Cup in soccer, they often punch above their weight in baseball, basketball and volleyball. Is having national teams an important part of the PR identity. If so, maybe statehood is not right for them.

I don't know how FIFA and the other federations would treat an American state of Puerto Rico. Some might take away their membership. However, I think baseball, which needs every federation they can get, would "grandfather" them in.

Many of the "Home Nations" detractors in the FIFA Family apparently come from Concacaf and South America. Having an Indepentant PR National side whilst been a American STATE would work against the Insistance that the UK should be a single nation team.

Regardless of the above, as it stands the Scots are dog a nice Job orf extricating themselves from the Union

[Cyrus]

FIFA has had lots of practice in the last 20 years with federations splitting up and the resulting fragments becoming full members (USSR, Yugoslavia, Czecheslovakia, etc...). Even South Sudan is now a full FIFA member.

There are less precedents to follow for federations merging. West Germany/East Germany comes to mind, but it happens pretty rarely. It wouldn't surprise me at all if FIFA ejected them, but CONCACAf didn't, and Puerto Rico ends up falling into that weird limbo area where Gaudeloupe and a few other teams play. Not playing during WCQ, but present for the Gold Cup.

[finchster]

Still must go through the house though. Congress like I said has more republicans, but Puerto Ricans seem to side heavily on democrats side. To what I've heard so far, the Republican congress is not in for voting in a State that supports the democratic party more.

Not necessarily true, the dominant party in Puerto Rico is the PNP and it contains both Democrats and Republicans who favour statehood. Members of the PNP can register as a Democrat or Republican and the current Governor is registered as a Republican and helped campaign for Romney. It’s hard to say which way Puerto Rico will lean because their current political parties are focused on Puerto Rico’s relationship with the USA. Puerto Rico is more likely a swing state in my opinion.

Also, it would be foolish for the Republicans to block Puerto Rico from joining. If they have any hopes of winning an election in 2016 they have to start appealing to the Latino community. GW Bush did a good job of this by granting amnesty to illegal-immigrants and that helped him win in 2004.

Looking at current demographic trends, the Republicans can’t afford to piss off the Latino community.

Also, congress doesn’t approve Puerto Rico they pass an ‘admission act’ which would lay out the conditions for Puerto Rico joining the union and Puerto Rico would draft a state constitution. There would be a referendum in Puerto Rico on statehood based on the admission act and the state constitution. If the referendum passed the President would approve Puerto Rico as the 51st state.

Its possible congress would create an admission act that’s unpopular in Puerto Rico and it wouldn’t pass the referendum, but this is political suicide for the Republicans.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20238272

Will the PR Islanders still be allowed to enter the Champions League through Caribbean Qualifications, or will they have to qualify through US Open Cup? CONCACAF allows other islands to play in Gold Cup, but is there a set "rules" that are followed for CCL?

From what I've read the pro-statehood people didn't really get a clear cut victory, so it's not safe to assume that Puerto Rico's constitutional status is going to change.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/puerto-rico-statehood-experts-challenge-results/

http://www.purdueexponent.org/opinion/columnists/article_0effcc7a-26b0-54bc-9510-e4996105bd39.html

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

It's about time PR becomes a state, they have been US citizens for nearly 100 years. 1917 I believe.

[Blue and White Army]

The Islanders are fairly heavily funded by the PR government. Because of uncertainty as to whether the newly-elected government will continue to support them, the Islanders have decided not to participate in the 2013 NASL apertura (spring season).