We Need To Talk About The 2024 Copa América

the copper America is the oldest active Continental football tournament in the world first hosted by Argentina and won by Uruguay in 1916 14 years before the World Cup 42 years before the Asian cup and a full 46 years before the Euros the copper America maybe the oldest Continental tournament in the world but it's also among the most adaptable once contested by as few as just three different national teams competing in a double round robing group of three and hosted in a single City since the 1990s the copper America has not only featured between 10 and 16 teams with up to four groups of four but also at least two teams who aren't even com ball members Mexico fellow Latin Americans and traditional conaf powerhouses are the most frequent invitees featuring in every tournament between 1993 and 2016 but the likes of Japan Qatar hated and Honduras have all competed in the most prestigious tournaments in South American football so far this Century eight out of the 10 comall national teams have won the copper America Ecuador and Venezuela the two exceptions meanwhile none of the tournaments nons South American invitees have ever managed to reign supreme with Mexico having come closest in 1993 and 2001 when they reached the final before losing against Argentina and Colombia to today however is the first day of the 48th edition of The Copper America beginning with a game between Argentina who are the reigning world and South American Champions and Canada who are making their first ever appearance to a coer America this is a copper America with a Twist though even by copper America standards and it's one that not everyone is delighted about the 2024 copper America is being hosted by the United States of America which as the geographers among you will know all too well isn't in South America as you can see here that is South America down there and that is the United States of America up there in what is often referred to as North America or simply not South America clearly and if there is nothing else that you take from this video then at least let it be this they are two different places following 44 out of 44 copas over the course of exactly 100 years all being hosted in South America on a host rotation basis since 1984 two out of the last four copers over the last 8 years alone have been hosted outside of South America it would be the equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations being hosted by Austria or the euro is being hosted by Nigeria so it is little wonder that it has caused a fair bit of controversy in South America and so regrettably I'm afraid we need to talk about the copper America why is it being hosted by the United States for a second time in only 8 years why isn't it being hosted by Ecuador whose turn it was to host it on a rotation basis and most importantly of all what does it tell us about the changing dynamics of world football which has greatly accelerated in recent years well funly enough that's what today's video is all about so sit back relax and join me on a journey to buesa uh oh no that's right isn't it to uh to Houston Texas for a deep dive into the copper America and to try to figure out how the hell we got here it's important to note as I alluded to in the introduction that 2024 isn't the first time that the copper America has been hosted outside of South America the first time was in 2016 just 8 years ago and that tournament was also hosted by the United States that also raised one or Su eyebrows in South America but 2016 was very different to 2024 the 2016 copper America was a special edition tournament known as the copper America centenario to celebrate 100 years since the tournament was first held in Argentina for that reason it broke up the usual cycle of the copper America being hosted once every four years taking place just one year after the 2015 copper America which was both hosted and won by by Chile and 3 years before the 2019 copper America which was hosted and won by Brazil the copper America centenario was abnormal not just because of its hosts and its timing but also its format featuring 16 teams for the first time ever 10 from comb ball and six from conquer no previous copper America had featured more than two national teams who weren't com Bell members and that precedent wasn't repeated in either 2019 or 2020 won in fact at the 2019 and 2021 copass there were no conquer teams at all kataar and Japan with the invitees in 2019 both knocked out in the group stage and in 2021 the copper America returned to being a 10 team only tournament featuring solely comb bow national teams when guest teams Australia and Qatar both pulled out due to the postponement of their 2022 World Cup qualifiers due to co creating a scheduling conflict the driving force behind the copper America centenario was actually US soccer and the United States themselves the US were announced as copper America centenario hosts in 2014 but between that announcement and the start of the tournament FIFA was marred by a serious corruption case disclosed by United States Federal prosecutors which rocked the organization and implicated both conera and Kabal conera president Jeffrey Webb and former Comal presidents Nicholas Leos were both arrested and both confederations were plunged into chaos the case directly implicated daisa a partnership of three different media companies who were the rights holders for the copper America centenario in December 2014 Jose Javier the owner and founder of traffic Sports Marketing a Brazilian company that was one of the three shareholders in daisa plad guilty to corruption charges including racketeering wire fraud and money laundering in an indictment the FBI stated that officials had either been paid or promised bribes totaling $20 million for the copper America centenario alone the Scandal and indictments put the whole copper America centenario project at risk and the tournament most likely would have been cancelled had US soccer president at the time sunel gulti and his commercial officer J be halter not stepped in and offered to assume all of the financi Risk by covering the overhead costs of hosting the tournament not everyone on the US soccer board of directors was holy convinced the Financial Risk as they saw it was just that and they also feared the reputational damage of US soccer allying itself so closely with both conaf and Kabal in the immediate aftermath of both organizations having been so thoroughly disgraced garti and bear halter won the debate though and whilst the reputational aspect ECT is difficult to truly measure it was certainly a shrewd financial decision because US soccer assumed all of the risk and without them the copper America centenario would have been cancelled or hastily held somewhere else with a vastly inferior budget US soccer had an awful lot of Leverage in negotiation unsurprisingly therefore they were able to extract extremely favorable conditions when it came to retaining Revenue particularly in terms of ticket sales that any previous most because the US has the most impressive Stadium infrastructure in the world lots of citizens with plenty of disposable income are next to no aversion for price gouging in sports in a manner that is alien to most of the rest of the world hosting the copper America centenario proved to be very lucrative to US soccer in total the tournament raised between 75 to 990 million depending on how you calculate it which saw us soccer's coffers boom from 65.4 million at the end of the fiscal year preceding the tournament up to a whopping $14.6 Million by the end of the fiscal year that followed it US soccer used the windfall from the copper America centenario to operate at a deficit at increase investments in football over the next 3 years not everyone was quite as delighted by the tournament as us soccer's Treasurer though president of the Uruguay Football Federation Vilma Valdez complained that the US was quote a country where they don't feel football which quote brings about problems his complaints might have had a bit more weight to them had he made them pre- tournament rather than just after Uruguay's defeat against Mexico H Valdez claimed the tournament was biased in favor of Uruguay had already been irritated In fairness before a ball had been kicked when the Chilean national anthem was played instead of their own ahead of their game against Mexico at the University of Phoenix stadium in Del Arizona and Valdez certainly wasn't alone among Latin Americans in feeling that the average American wasn't significantly engaged or passionate enough about the copper America to justify their host status so long story short yes the copper America has been hosted outside of South America before once under controversial circumstances very recently which only adds to the controversy and for a tournament that wasn't actually an official edition of The Copper America I should clarify that point the copper America centenario is recognized as an official copper America but just not as a regular edition one the 2015 copper America went down as the 44th Edition and the 2019 copper America as the 45th Edition making the copper America centenario the only unnumbered irregular or special edition copper America the 2024 copper America by contrast will go down as the 40 e8th edition of the tournament and takes place under very different circumstances regular editions of the copper America which this is are supposed to be hosted on a rotational cycle and 2024 was Ecuador's turn to host Ecuador of thce hosted the copper America most recently in 1993 which was incidentally the first copper America in which two nations from outside comab Bal were invited to take part namely Mexico and the United States Ecuador's Stadium infrastructure obviously isn't comparable to americaas but it certainly is comparable to Chile who hosted in 2015 with only three 30,000 plus capacity venues and only two with capacities in excess of 40,000 Ecuador by contrast has 5 30,000 plus capacity stadiums and their list of potential venues included the recently renovated and fairly modern estadio George capwell Capac 4,020 the much smaller but even more modern estadio bankco Gill and the apply named estadio Monumental which has a capacity of almost 60,000 Francisco AAS president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation said that Ecuador was fighting with everything that they had to host the tournament for the first time since 1993 in May of 2021 stating ambitious plans in relation to infrastructure projects whilst acknowledging that the covid pandemic had taken a significant Dent to the nation and particularly the nation's footballing coffers in November 2022 however Ecuador declined the opportunity to host the copper America in a brief statement AAS said quote we are not able to organize the copper America adding only today our country must focus on resources that will help us face the difficult predicament that concerns us all and that is our priority there are more important things than football end quote Ecuador was hit by an economic crisis in 2022 caused by inflation due to the covid-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the economic policies of then president guo lasso followed by a political crisis in 2023 this is the point where I would usually launch into a deep dive into Ecuadorian socioeconomics and politics d all the way back to the Bronze Age but I am working on going off on fewer tangents so I'll try and be TS like a lot of countries Ecuador experienced High inflation between 2020 and 2023 which many felt was exacerbated by guo lasso presidency and policies Ecuador's first right-wing president in almost 20 years lasso advocated hardcore neoliberalism making cutting taxes fuel subsidies and deregulating oil and gas companies a key pillar of his programm in government combined with the economic turmoil caused by external shock factors Ecuador's economy suffered badly resulting in spiraling prices for basic necessities a spike in unemployment and a significant number of people being plunged into poverty the various crises culminated with the 2022 Ecuadorian protests which spanned more than two weeks including both a general strike and a march on the nation's capital city of Keto the protests weren't successful in getting lasso impeached or in lobbying for Price caps on essential Goods but the brutal response of the state and the police which saw five protesters killed made lass's position effectively untenable in May 2023 a political crisis led to the dissolution of Ecuador's national assembly and lasso who is no relation to the lead character in the American television series Ted lasso not least because that is fictional announced that he wouldn't stand for real election with his polling having collapsed over the course of his 2 years in office Ecuador of course aren't the first country to be unable to fulfill their copper America hosting duties due to an economic or political crisis the 2021 coper America was supposed to be hosted jointly by Argentina and Colombia but Colombia were removed as co-host due to ongoing protests against President Ian duk Marquez in May 2021 and just 10 days later Argentina will ALS Al removed due to issues relating to the government's covid-19 protocols this all happened just 2 weeks before the tournament was set to begin with Brazil stepping in as last minute hosts there are either very recent or ongoing political or economic crisis in Argentina Brazil Colombia Ecuador Peru and Venezuela that is over half of all comall members and it makes successfully staging a major football tournament very difficult while giving com who are no less chaotic and cisis ridden than any of these countries themselves it should be said lots of headaches most importantly of all though as was the case in 2016 and 2024 it opens the door to some more inventive Solutions and when I say inventive what I mean of course is lucrative Brazil were initially touted as potential 2024 copper America hosts but that would have been their third successive copper as hosts meanwhile Peru also offered up their services but were overlooked in favor of the United States and an expanded format reminiscent of the 2016 special edition with Peru reportedly promised hosting rights in the near future Instead at this point it should be said that the United States obviously has problems of its own it has the highest homicide rate in the developed World by far the highest number of mass shootings and no lack of political turmoil when one thinks that the attack on the Brazilian Congress in 2023 was basically just a rerun of the 2021 January 6th attacks on the United States capital so the US isn't some kind of utopian Wonderland but it is Rich very very rich and it has lots of shiny and expensive stadiums that is the simplest explanation for why the US is about to host the copper America a tournament arranged by com ball for the second time in 8 years six of the world's seven most expensive stadiums are in the United States with Wembley Stadium the sole exception as are nine of the top 15 at the cpra America centenario the average Stadium capacity was in excess of 70,000 there is only one Stadium at Euro 2024 which is being hosted by Germany the nation with the largest stadiums in Europe that has a tournament capacity higher than 70,000 and that is the Olympia stardan in Berlin just to put things in some perspective although there was only an average attendance of 46,000 at the CPR America centenario meaning that there was an average of 24,000 empty seats per game though there was a huge discrepancy between sold out big games and almost empty less desirable fixtures the tournaments still smashed almost all previous CPR America records the tournament had the highest total attendance of edic coper America the highest reported Global viewing figures and crucially by far the highest revenue the move to anoint the United States as 2024 hosts came as part of a broader strategic partnership between conaf and kaball both parties said that the agreement didn't just relate to this tournament or even only to their men's teams but they didn't care to elaborate on what else it would entail other than a blatant cash grab for everyone involved it does come as part of a series of so-called strategic alliances being struck within the world of football in recent years though kobal and UEA agreed a memorandum of understanding in 20120 which was ratified in 2022 which was perceived as football's traditional two most powerful confederations and the only two to produce men's World Cup winners forming a united front against the threat of FIFA who have increasingly Allied themselves with golf States and other resourcer dictatorships rather than more established football Nations kobal however sees UEFA and Europe as both a friend and foe they are friends in the fight against FIFA but obvious rivals in almost every other sense European clubs due to their economic mate have stripped South American clubs of their best players routinely since the 1990s and comall is of the view that the reason why the Euros has so much more Global appeal in the copper America and is therefore so much more lucrative isn't because of the quality of football or the entertainment value but because of Europe and uefa's financial heft their commercial and broadcasting Partnerships and Slicker promotion they see the US therefore the world's largest economy as their ticket or at least one key aspect towards redressing that balance the gulf between the two the CPR America and the Euros hosted side by side this year remains enormous but in some respects it has certainly gone some way towards leveling the playing field the question is at what cost traveling to the United States which isn't in South America is exclusionary to lots of South American football fans who would otherwise have attended the tournament and that's before you get into the ludicrous ticket pricing and distribution unlike the Euros or the World Cup the cpra America operates so-called Dynamic pricing which is a very nice way of saying making any high demand fixtures extortionately expensive there also isn't a centralized ticketing system for the tournaments as with FIFA and UEFA but instead each venue manages the distribution of tickets for games that they are hosting sold via websites like Ticket Master you know with the usual Hefty booking fees promoting touts and third party resell in the process the end result is tickets that would be unaffordable to the vast majority of South American football fans even if they were willing to travel but that is sort of the point the US is a very lucrative market and the target market for us-based CPR Amica tickets isn't fans from Mexico Argentina and Brazil but Mexican Argentinian and Brazilian immigrants to the US and their diaspora populations as well as wealthy Americans with an interest in football that is not exclusive to the US or the cpra America it should be said I have been to Albania turkey and Serbia games already at this Summer's Euros where the vast majority of Albania turkey and Serbia fans live in Germany earn German wages and are more likely to be able to afford Euro 2024 tickets than Albania turkey and Serbia fans who live in Albania turkey and Serbia but at the cpra America in the US it is that scenario played out on steroids so much so that following the cpra America centenario the US have actually targeted specific venues with particularly large Latino populations for this copper America rather than just picking the biggest or best stadiums as they tried to last time around it's sometimes jokes that Mexico are the most popular men's national team in the United States and the Mexican Football Federation play almost all of Mexico's non-competitive home games in the United States not Mexico for solely financial reasons there is also the uh you know admittedly minor question of uh at what point does it cease to be a copor America at all this is a competition organized by Comal ostensibly for comall teams if six out of the 16 teams aren't from combo ball what is it if only 37.5% of the teams at this Summer's Euros were UFA members I don't think that I'd be comfortable still describing it as a Euros to be clear that doesn't have to be a negative some South Americans have taken to calling this tournament the copper paname mostly disparagingly but if that is what it is to become there may well be a compelling case for it but that is different to what was the Copa America the Copa America may have typically had two guest teams from outside of com Bal from the 1990s onwards so it is a bit different to the Euros in that sense but when the United States are the hosts for the second time in 8 years meaning they have now hosted more times than Colombia or Paraguay and Brazil Argentina and Uruguay are traveling there for the tournament because Comal are dependent upon their financial might and infrastructure is it worth asking the question who are really the invitees at this stage anyway that is it for today's video thank you all very much as of for watching it I did want to make a CPR America video because uh this Channel's probably going to be a bit Euros heavy over the next month so you know good to mix it up uh as I say hope you enjoyed it hit the like button if that was the case let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments comments and of course goes without saying at this stage make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on not just for this channel HTC 7s but also my second Channel alip poot armor both of which should be about to appear on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might fancy watching after this one uh and you can also find me on Twitter Instagram or threads by the username hc7 on all three and all of those links plus a whole lot more good stuff should be down in the video description below cheers

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 93,895

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Copa America, Copa América, 2024, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, United States, Host, Brazil, Argentina, South America, Mexico, Canada, UEFA, Euro, Euro 2024, 2024 Copa America, We Need To Talk, Documentary, USA

Id: jbuLRxG3chI

Length: 24min 30sec (1470 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 20 2024