The elephant in the room here in Charlotte from the major soccer scandal that’s centered on CONCACAF, the regional soccer confederation for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean: CONCACAF officials are accused of soliciting bribes. CONCACAF’s big event is the Gold Cup, which is held every two years in the United States. Charlotte is hosting a Gold Cup doubleheader in July. So did CONCACAF functionaries also shake down cities down wanting to host games? And as I wrote in December, when the games were announced:
Check out the difference in size between some of the stadiums used in the competition. For example, Kansas City’s Sporting Park seats 18,467 while Wikipedia lists Bank of America Stadium as seating 74,455. Weird. And for an extra special bit of oddness, not included among the 13 cities named to host a game (or games) are Seattle, Portland, OR, or anywhere in Florida. Oh, and the U.S. national team plays two of its three games in stadiums seating 18,500 to 20,500. Who thinks this stuff up?
We may soon have an answer to that.
