MIAMI, CMC- Eight new world class venues in the United States are among 13 which have been selected for the prestigious Gold Cup in July, CONCACAF announced today.
The new venues are the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Sports Authority Field in Denver, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Compass Stadium in Houston, Sun Life Stadium in Miami, JELD-WEN Field in Portland, and Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City.
The region’s premier National Team tournament will also return to five venues from its previous editions- Cowboys Stadium in Texas, Soldier Field in Chicago, Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Red Bull Arena in New Jersey and CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
“We would like to thank all cities and venues in the United States for their interest in our Confederation’s Gold Cup and congratulate the ones that have been selected to host its 2013 edition,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb.
“CONCACAF is looking forward to a successful tournament, working in close partnership with both stadium and local authorities, while expanding the reach of our competition to a larger number of fans in more locations throughout the United States.”
Organizers are hoping that expanding the tournament to new venues across the United States would build on the success of the 2011 tournament which drew more than 600,000 fans throughout 13 match-days, including nine sell-outs.
Eleven nations have qualified for the 12-team tournament: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States.
Guatemala and Panama meet Friday to determine the tournament’s final entrant.
The 2013 edition of the Gold Cup runs from July 7 to 28.
