Copa America Centenario will be held in United States next summer

CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and the U.S. Soccer Federation
announced Friday that plans to hold the Copa America
Centenario in the United States during the summer of
2016 will proceed as originally planned.
The announcement concludes a tortuous process in
which the holding of the tournament had been in doubt
ever since 14 soccer administrators and marketing
executives were arrested back in May on corruption
charges.
The investigation that led to those arrests uncovered
$110 million in bribes that had been paid by sports
marketing company Datisa, which owned the
commercial rights to the Copa America Centenario.
Sources indicated that the USSF had refused to go
forward with the tournament unless complete
transparency could be ensured by CONMEBOL and
CONCACAF, which included the removal of Datisa from
any aspect of the tournament.
One sticking point included having Datisa return the
money it received for selling those rights to third parties,
including Mexican multimedia company Televisa. That
proved tricky, as Datisa's assets had been frozen by the
Department of Justice.
Last week, CONCACAF announced that it had reacquired
its marketing rights for the tournament from Datisa, thus
smoothing the way for the tournament to be held.
CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, and the USSF also announced
the formation of a new executive committee to govern
the event. It will be comprised of five members, two
from CONMEBOL, two from CONCACAF, and one from
the USSF. The intent is to provide even greater financial
transparency regarding funds collected for broadcasting
and sponsorships.
The 16-nation tournament, to be played from June 3-26,
2016, will feature all 10 national teams from South
America and six from CONCACAF, including the United
States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica.
The areas that expressed interest to host were Atlanta;
Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver;
Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Florida;
Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Nashville,
Tennessee; New York/New Jersey; Orlando, Florida;
Philadelphia; Phoenix; St. Louis; San Diego; San
Francisco; Seattle; Tampa, Florida; and Washington,
D.C.
Organizers are in the process of selecting from the list
of host cities and venues. However, sources told ESPN
that the final will be played at the Rose Bowl, in
Pasadena, California, and one of the semifinals will be
held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In a joint statement, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL said:
"We are extremely happy for our fans, our teams and our
partners, that we were able to find a way to host the
Copa America Centenario celebration in the United
States under an entirely new structure for managing the
tournament's operations and finances. The improved
governance structure will bring greater accountability
and transparency to the event so it can serve its two
intended purposes - to celebrate the 100 years of history
of Copa America, and provide a once in a lifetime
spectacle for fans in the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL
regions."