5 Ways to Refine the Gold Cup
A despot once quipped, “The Golden Rule of Negotiating: He who has the gold makes the rules.” While I am but a humble fan distant from the smoke-filled rooms in Miami where CONCACAF decisions are made, I’ve followed this recent edition of the 2017 Gold Cup and believe that certain rule changes could be made that would drastically improve the quality of the tournament and the region in general.
There’s a phrase that goes around on Twitter and the interwebs whenever a controversial refereeing or administrative decision is made during CONCACAF play:
While the next 5 points don’t address how to improve refereeing or prevent the entire operation from turning into the “Florent Malouda Testimonial Cup”, they’d hopefully lead to a better product for the players, federations, and fans alike, and fewer instances of people feeling CONCACAF’d.
1. A Change of Scenery
I get it, MLS Commissioner Don Garber wants to play golf with prospective franchise owners and scout out promising venues for expansion in the United States, but it feels extremely contrived having the same cities in the good ol’ U.S. of A. trotted out every two years for stodgy first round games in front of sleepy crowds. If walls could talk, Raymond James Stadium would say, “Let’s just get this over with.”
I for one would love to see a different nation host the Gold Cup. As a program Costa Rica’s made some pretty respectable progress in the past few years, and it would great to see what they could do as hosts. The same statement could be made for Canada. Most importantly, it would be great to see a Gold Cup with a different flair and a chance for different members of CONCACAF to add their own cultural traditions as hosts to the tourney.
2. Every Fourth Year, Please
The coffers in CONCACAF HQ probably wouldn’t be happy with this one, but from a quality standpoint, I think that players would be benefit from having a break from international duty by holding the tournament every four years instead of every other one. The United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica have been involved in at least one international tournament every summer for the last 5 years (2013, ’15, ’17 Gold Cups, 2014 World Cup, 2016 Copa America Centenario), and each of those nations will likely extend that streak to 7 years with next summer’s World Cup and the following Gold Cup. I understand it’s not the same faces in the squad every year, but I think we could use a break and make the tournament more significant and meaningful to its participants by making it less frequent. On that note…
3. Explore Collaborative Opportunities with CONMEBOL
I thought the Copa America was great last year, and many programs in North and Central America could benefit from battling it out against the big guns of South America. If the Gold Cup moved to every four years, maybe there could be a new, abbreviated, tournament that rewards the highest finishers from both the previous Copa America and Gold Cups in a festive tournament for 8 teams. Anything to stir the pot.
4. No More Bailouts!
I’m not a fan of giving teams the option to send in the rescue squad after the Group Stage by introducing up to 6 new players. This favors the deeper programs (USA/Mexico/Costa Rica) and makes it harder for cinderella stories to emerge.
5. Transparent Draw
I usually don’t have an issue with the seedings assigned by CONCACAF before each tournament, but it would be nice to have a draw that is out in the open for the public. Making the process fully transparent would make the fixed USA-Mexico final conspiracy theorists (myself included) pipe down a little bit.
Anyway, let’s hope the second half of this year’s Gold Cup finishes better than the start, and that some of these changes might take place someday!
