Canada and the 2024 Copa America

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

23 minutes ago, Shway said:

The only key thing is....last tournament, there wasn't a single stadium that didn't have a capacity over 60k. 

That is a good point, but there were a lot of empty seats.

Many games were not even close to reaching the 60k capacity.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the MLS stadiums used for some of the group stage matches in a few of these cities.

There are also questions regarding if they put down temporary grass in certain stadiums like they will for the World Cup.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, EJsens1 said:

I wonder if BMO will get a game. Obviously it’s imperative we qualify after the November window for that to happen. If we were in a group with say Bolivia or Panama, it would make sense to have a game here against us. There’s no chance if we’re drawn with Brazil or Argentina a game would happen in Canada. 

If Canada gets a game, should be in Vancouver. Not enough Canada games out west, and a Copa America game would be a decent make up for the whole Iran/Panama/nothing fiasco.

[RS]

5 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

If Canada gets a game, should be in Vancouver. Not enough Canada games out west, and a Copa America game would be a decent make up for the whole Iran/Panama/nothing fiasco.

CONCACAF & CONMEBOL won't care about any of that.

Assuming they qualify, Canada will likely be based out of LA or some other (relatively) hard to reach location just because.

[Shway]

17 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Many games were not even close to reaching the 60k capacity.

We've had several discussions in regards to this.

30k higher priced tickets vs a sellout lower priced tickets. 

That could've played a factor to why their wasn't sellouts, but I hope these tickets/packages are priced properly.

17 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

It wouldn't surprise me to see the MLS stadiums used for some of the group stage matches in a few of these cities.

There are also questions regarding if they put down temporary grass in certain stadiums like they will for the World Cup.

I thought about this too..
Majority of those stadiums aren't used regularly during the summer so it could allow for a trial of the temporary grass situations. 

[SpursFlu]

I think one of the aspects of this tournament is to use this as a dry run for the World Cup. Much like the old Confederations Cup was before. So I'm pretty certain it will happen in World Cup approved venues only

[EJsens1]

13 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

If Canada gets a game, should be in Vancouver. Not enough Canada games out west, and a Copa America game would be a decent make up for the whole Iran/Panama/nothing fiasco.

I don’t know the answer to this, but I’d assume one of the stipulations for Copa was all games to be played on grass, leaving Vancouver out. Can anyone else confirm this? 

[sose]

20 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

If Canada gets a game, should be in Vancouver. Not enough Canada games out west, and a Copa America game would be a decent make up for the whole Iran/Panama/nothing fiasco.

That would require Vancouver getting a grass pitch pronto

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

I think one of the aspects of this tournament is to use this as a dry run for the World Cup. Much like the old Confederations Cup was before. So I'm pretty certain it will happen in World Cup approved venues only

Wasn't there talk of some sort of event in 25 that would serve as prep also? Club world Cup?

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

If Canada gets a game, should be in Vancouver. Not enough Canada games out west, and a Copa America game would be a decent make up for the whole Iran/Panama/nothing fiasco.

Agreed. Not just that Canada doesn't play out here often, it's that Vancouver will be more "world cup ready" than BMO. Sure, there are some things you can test, but the temp seats won't be in for Copa America I assume, so you won't get the full simulation of what a full house looks like.

[SpursFlu]

5 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Wasn't there talk of some sort of event in 25 that would serve as prep also? Club world Cup?

Agreed. Not just that Canada doesn't play out here often, it's that Vancouver will be more "world cup ready" than BMO. Sure, there are some things you can test, but the temp seats won't be in for Copa America I assume, so you won't get the full simulation of what a full house looks like.

Club world cup is done after this year. I thinknthe extended startbin 2027? Might be wrong They're doing the Intercontinental club thing but will only feature 4 teams so likely 1 location in 2024. Probably Vegas

I'm pretty sure when Copa America was announced it was said it would be used as a World Cup prep event and it's been confirmed that it will only be in the US. The logo has the bars and stars everywhere 

Edited October 23, 2023 by SpursFlu

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, RS said:

CONCACAF & CONMEBOL won't care about any of that.

Assuming they qualify, Canada will likely be based out of LA or some other (relatively) hard to reach location just because.

Oh, I think it will all be in the US. But if not, the CSA should push for Vancouver over Toronto.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, EJsens1 said:

I don’t know the answer to this, but I’d assume one of the stipulations for Copa was all games to be played on grass, leaving Vancouver out. Can anyone else confirm this? 

The last Copa had games played on turf.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, sose said:

That would require Vancouver getting a grass pitch pronto

No, it probably wouldn't. The Copa in 2016 had games played on turf.

[narduch]

3 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Club world cup is done after this year. I thinknthe extended startbin 2027? Might be wrong They're doing the Intercontinental club thing but will only feature 4 teams so likely 1 location in 2024. Probably Vegas

I'm pretty sure when Copa America was announced it was said it would be used as a World Cup prep event and it's been confirmed that it will only be in the US. The logo has the bars and stars everywhere 

There is a new 32 team version of the Club World Cup that will first happen in June/July of 2025

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Majority of those stadiums aren't used regularly during the summer so it could allow for a trial of the temporary grass situations. 

The more I think about this the more a draw in early December makes sense.

The MLS schedule for the next year is often released just before Christmas.

Enough of those stadiums are used by MLS teams to make that schedule a factor (New England, Seattle, etc)

[Watchmen]

37 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The more I think about this the more a draw in early December makes sense.

The MLS schedule for the next year is often released just before Christmas.

Enough of those stadiums are used by MLS teams to make that schedule a factor (New England, Seattle, etc)

I think MLS will break for at least some of it.

[RS]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Wasn't there talk of some sort of event in 25 that would serve as prep also? Club world Cup?

Expanded Gold Cup.

[Obinna]

32 minutes ago, RS said:

Expanded Gold Cup.

That's the one.

[Ruud]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:35 PM, JamboAl said:

Just a reminder for those wondering…the Nations League Semi-Final in Vegas was over $100 US including fees and taxes for the cheapest ticket (in the Voyageurs section).  Most tickets were in the US $175-$500 range with premium seating facing the centre circle around US $750-$1,000.  

There will be no $35 tickets at Copa America.

This is a cash cow for everyone involved or else they would have never agreed.  But might be more fun than 2026. Better matches out of the gate 

we need this badly. 

[Watchmen]

36 minutes ago, Ruud said:

This is a cash cow for everyone involved or else they would have never agreed.  But might be more fun than 2026. Better matches out of the gate 

we need this badly. 

I just keep thinking about how while everyone team wants to qualify for the World Cup, smaller countries that qualify for the Euros celebrate the achievement just as much. That should be what the Copa sort of is too, an additional chance for smaller countries to qualify for a bigger tournament (and the Gold Cup really isn't that unless you're a really tiny island nation).

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

49 minutes ago, Ruud said:

But might be more fun than 2026. Better matches out of the gate 

we need this badly. 

Yup. But the stadium experience is so much better in soccer-specific stadiums.

6 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

I'm pretty certain it will happen in World Cup approved venues only

I really hope it is 80% WC stadiums and they test out the rest of the stadiums in 2025 with the (expanded) Gold Cup or during the 2025 Mega-Club World Cup.

Being very far from the pitch like we were in Orlando in November 2019 ( @dyslexic nam , @JamboAl ), we still had a great view and the players could hear us on the pitch and Yanks all over the stadium could hear us. A great experience. 65k + NFL stadiums are just not the same.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[EJsens1]

41 minutes ago, Ruud said:

This is a cash cow for everyone involved or else they would have never agreed.  But might be more fun than 2026. Better matches out of the gate 

we need this badly. 

I just don’t think this tournament comes even close to resonating with the World Cup and Euros. I don’t think anyone is suggesting it is either, but you’re moving it to the US where soccer isn’t king despite its large growth the last 25-30 years. I guess my point is that you’re not going to get 60 grand to see Uruguay take on Panama for example at outrageous prices unless you want to see massive empty stadiums. Tickets weren’t even as high as that in category 1 group stage games in Qatar like they were for the Nations League semi and final. 

[Shway]

50 minutes ago, EJsens1 said:

I just don’t think this tournament comes even close to resonating with the World Cup and Euros. I don’t think anyone is suggesting it is either, but you’re moving it to the US where soccer isn’t king despite its large growth the last 25-30 years. I guess my point is that you’re not going to get 60 grand to see Uruguay take on Panama for example at outrageous prices unless you want to see massive empty stadiums. Tickets weren’t even as high as that in category 1 group stage games in Qatar like they were for the Nations League semi and final. 

And this is the most important point.

If they focus on the experience and prestige they could organically grow the product to where they could charge what they do. Currently, it's not there.

 Concacaf WCQ gave me different perspective in regard to support for nations like Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala who came out in numbers. Was it the price? Probably because it was $40-$60 for decent seats.

 I'm not saying don't charge the crazy prices they do for premium seats, but it's typically the people who pay the cheaper prices that create the atmosphere's at games. So why price them out in 60k stadiums... for the greed.

I just really, really, really hope they don't overprice these games, because like you stated the vast comparison between Qatar and NL tickets shouldn't be. 

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, EJsens1 said:

I just don’t think this tournament comes even close to resonating with the World Cup and Euros. I don’t think anyone is suggesting it is either, but you’re moving it to the US where soccer isn’t king despite its large growth the last 25-30 years. I guess my point is that you’re not going to get 60 grand to see Uruguay take on Panama for example at outrageous prices unless you want to see massive empty stadiums. Tickets weren’t even as high as that in category 1 group stage games in Qatar like they were for the Nations League semi and final. 

I think the ticket prices for Qatar are irrelevant. I think they had a smaller group of traveling fans compared to other World Cups (given the cost, accommodation limitations, and controversy over them even hosting it) so it was simply an attempt to maximize getting as many of those fans in to each stadium as possible. Even then, it sounds like it was pretty easy to get tickets to quite a few games.

[Shway]

19 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I think the ticket prices for Qatar are irrelevant. I think they had a smaller group of traveling fans compared to other World Cups (given the cost, accommodation limitations, and controversy over them even hosting it) so it was simply an attempt to maximize getting as many of those fans in to each stadium as possible. Even then, it sounds like it was pretty easy to get tickets to quite a few games.

Disagree. The World Cup is second to none regardless where it is... it's the biggest sports tournament in the World...Copa America would make #10 (I wonder what Russia prices were like). 

[red card]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

We've had several discussions in regards to this.

30k higher priced tickets vs a sellout lower priced tickets. 

That could've played a factor to why their wasn't sellouts, but I hope these tickets/packages are priced properly.

I thought about this too..
Majority of those stadiums aren't used regularly during the summer so it could allow for a trial of the temporary grass situations. 

They won't be laying grass over turf for the World Cup. Instead, everything wiil be dug out for the grass pitch to be put in. They're also looking at growing different types of grass pitches given stadiums are in different climates and have different stadium shadings. NJ Metlife Stadium may also keep the grass pitch while at this point, it doesn't appear the other turf stadiums will be keeping it after the World Cup.

Copa America 100 was run by USSF/SUM as they made over US$100m on it. Their ticket pricing strategy is to maximize revenue rather than size of the crowd. They have shown with USMNT friendlies that while average attendance has fallen by about 10k in this century, total revenue has almost tripled.

This Copa is run by the 2 Confeds but Concacaf seems to have followed more of the max revenue approach given ticket pricing for Gold Cup/NL. One of the key reasons Conmebol would agree to have Copa staged in the US again is for the revenue potential.