The Dark Side Of Messi & Co. Playing In The US
Taking Copa America to the US again is great for business. But it’s also a worrying sign for football’s loyal fan base in Latin America.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Lionel Messi returns to a national team football competition Thursday when Argentina takes on Canada during Copa America’s inaugural match. And the lucky Americans who want to see the best player of all time in action don’t need to travel to Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro for that, but just head to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
For the second time in eight years, Copa America takes place in the US and not in South America, birthplace of football’s oldest international tournament. This is the result of an almost irresistible business strategy seeking to promote regional football more widely while fattening the national federations’ pockets. But at the same time, it also reflects two troubling trends: the growing elitism of mega-sports events and South America’s concomitant struggles to host big competitions in this increasingly winners-take-all era.
When deciding where Copa America will go next, organizers should look beyond the dollar signs and consider some of the intangibles that are essential to football’s health and enduring appeal — for instance, its role as a huge binding agent for Latin Americans and a key part of their cultural identity. While playing in the US has many benefits, it also means leaving behind many football-crazy, loyal South American fans without the possibility to see their favorite stars closer home. Let me explain.
A deal between CONMEBOL (the body that governs South American football and the owner of the cup’s rights) and Concacaf (the confederation grouping North, Central America and Caribbean nations) allowed for a 16-team competition over 14 venues across the US, with a final game scheduled in Miami on July 14. This agreement solved some of the recurrent problems of organizing a regular Copa America: As CONMEBOL only consists of 10 countries, it usually needs to invite other nations to fill out the roster, something increasingly difficult given growing calendar demands. Recent editions also have been hit by organizational problems: The 2020 Copa America was postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and co-hosts Argentina and Colombia ended up resigning to hold the event — which at the last moment was moved to Brazil and played without people in the stands. Ecuador, which was expected to hold the current edition, ruled out that possibility in 2022 amid its growing insecurity crisis.
Enter the US, which is a safer option because it doesn’t require massive public investments or expensive logistics. With less than two years until the 2026 World Cup kickoff, organizing the cup on American soil can also be a test run for the teams and the host. (Although the three North American countries will share the tournament, the US will hold most of the matches.) You can find political reasons too: At a time when relations between the US and Latin America aren’t the best, football diplomacy can work some magic.
And yet despite all this, there is something fundamentally wrong about playing the second of the past four Copa America editions in a country that, yes, will put on a neat show but, let’s be honest, doesn’t have much of the tradition and passion you’ll see around the game in Latin America. From the perspective of a South American fan, it’s as if we are voluntarily giving up on having our own fun — or admitting defeat over our, let’s say, not great organizational skills.
I am writing all this while mindful of an apparent personal contradiction: I’ve been preparing to attend this Copa America for over six months and can barely contain my excitement about taking my family to see world champions Argentina defending their continental title with Messi as our guiding god. It may be Messi’s last tournament with his country and, though I may be (slightly) guilty of paternal projection, could be the greatest experience of my children’s lives. But that doesn’t mean I’m not checking my privilege: With some of the cheapest tickets going for more than $200 each(1), without counting flights, accommodation and expenses, this experience is hardly one that regular football fans in the region can afford.
To be sure, the expanded tournament in the US has lots of positives, from increasing the tournament’s reach and attendance — CONMEBOL said over one million tickets have already been sold — to generating more revenue for the federations to invest in their own projects. According to sources cited in an ESPN report, organizers will give the teams a record $72 million in participation fees and prize money, over three times what was paid in the 2016 edition also held in the US. The question of visibility is important not least because this year’s Copa America overlaps with the Euro 2024, a similar continent-wide tournament played by European countries in Germany. Football obsessives will be able to watch over 80 matches without any of them overlapping. It’s a fan’s dream, and fodder for some enterprising economist to study its real-time impact on global economic productivity.
Some could argue: Well, if South American countries don’t get their act together and prepare better for these increasingly sophisticated events, they will always have trouble retaining them or making them grow. Yes, there’s a reason that a region that lives and breathes football and organized the very first World Cup in 1930 got only three matches in the 2030 centenary edition. Thank you, FIFA.
But attending South American football will never be like the aesthetic experience of the Qatar World Cup or the cynicism of seeing Spain’s Super Cup being played in Saudi Arabia. Stadiums won’t necessarily be as nice and comfortable as the massive multi-event American venues, but the fervor and folklore more than compensate for that. In a world that’s increasingly obsessed with selling you “experiences,” you won’t be disappointed by a match at the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte or La Bombonera in Buenos Aires. Take Brazil’s 2014 World Cup as a model: It was messy, expensive and its preparation generated a tidal wave of corruption. But once the ball started rolling, it was emotional and unforgettable all the way. In sports, there is value beyond money. Besides, if you continue with a financially driven model, you run the risk of ending like Mexico, which is now playing more games in the US than in Mexico itself at the cost of losing the team’s identity.
In any case, for those enjoying football, Copa America offers a showcase of the continent’s rising stars who will soon storm Europe’s leagues. This year’s edition will be about the challengers (mainly Brazil together with Uruguay, Colombia and maybe Team USA or Mexico) trying to take down Messi’s Argentina.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. The competition will be stiff and thrilling. I won’t be sitting in one of the $8,000 seats, but I promise a full report from the ground.
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(1) Tickets as low as $50 were announced for some matches depending on demand, but my experience trying to buy at the official price set by organizers has been uneven. At the time of this writing, the cheapest available ticket to see Argentina-Canada goes for $221.65 including Ticketmaster's fees and taxes.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
JP Spinetto is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin American business, economic affairs and politics. He was previously Bloomberg News’ managing editor for economics and government in the region.
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