The long-touted Copa América Centenario will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a special edition tournament that will take the competition outside South America for the first time. All of the games will be played at large stadiums in the US, said a joint announcement by Conmebol and Concacaf at the latter’s Miami home. The scheduled 2015 and 2019 competitions, featuring the usual Conmebol teams only, will take place as planned.

The announcement raises the prospect of the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez playing in front of US crowds for their respective national teams. In line with the long-term speculation about the possible success of such a tournament, there was no confirmation as to whether the competing South American sides would be sending their “A” teams and their European-based stars only a year after the 2015 edition and two years after the World Cup, though Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb did claim: "There is no question that some of the best talent in the world will be on display."

Not that that should be a deal breaker for the proposed tournament’s success. With six Concacaf teams, including Mexico and USA, the tournament will look to build on the impressive diaspora-driven crowds for previous exhibition games and key Gold Cup ties in the US, such as the 71,124 who showed up to see Brazil play Honduras in an exhibition at Sun Life Stadium in Florida last year, or the 81,410 who showed up for the same season’s Gold Cup semi-final double-header at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas.

The Copa América is the world's oldest national team competition, having been played since 1916, following its founding to celebrate Argentinian independence. Now, as Webb notes, there is at least a one-off opportunity "to make the competition a true Copa América". He also said that this would be the biggest sporting event hosted in the United States since the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The allure of major South American soccer teams playing in a proven US market seems obvious, especially when lucrative TV and marketing deals are added in. When Conmebol president Eugenio Figueredo's phone rang during Webb's remarks the latter joked, "I hope that's a sponsor." That said, the path to this decision has been far from smooth and has involved some fraught political infighting as countries and federations have jostled for position.

The notion of the tournament was first floated in 2012 when then acting Concacaf president Alfred Hawit suggested that the existing stadium infrastructure, potential crowds and general marketing potential all pointed to the US as ideal hosts rather than Mexico. But after an original tournament announcement by Conmebol in October of that year was hastily countered by US Soccer Federation and Concacaf assertions that talks were still ongoing, it was clear that a consensus was far off.

In particular, Mexico had to be quietly relegated as a potential venue, though comments in Mexico last week by Webb, to the effect that the Gold Cup could be moved out of the US, perhaps indicated a political solution that had been floated in order for the Copa América Centenario to be played in the US. The US has at least co-hosted every Gold Cup (Concacaf’s biennial regional competition) and has been the outright host for the past five competitions. Webb’s comments suggested he is open to the competition being spread throughout the region, appeasing Mexican interests.

As for where in the US the 2016 tournament will be played, reports in Marca this past January suggested six potential US venues. Thursday’s announcement confirmed only that an organizing committee would now be set up and cities could express an interest, but the stadiums named in the story included the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Citrus Bowl, in Orlando, Florida, RFK Stadium in Washington DC, and Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

There are other intriguing consequences of the announcement. Asked if this move might be a precursor for a possible ultimate merger between Concacaf and Conmebol, Figueredo clearly flirted with the idea while kicking the question down the road to be addressed by the next generation. As it is, the current US generation's viewing tastes for European soccer will be tested by the dates of the tournament: 3-26 June, which will overlap with Euro 2016.

For Webb's part, there are some immediate benefits for his federation, particularly the stronger teams, beyond the obvious marketing potential.



In particular, the Gold Cup has enjoyed a mixed reputation as a competitive entity for the stronger Concacaf teams. Last year an MLS-dominated USA line up swept to the title, while an uncharacteristically poor Mexican team were eliminated in the semi-finals, but with those two sides routinely dominating, the competition has historically been of debatable value for testing the stronger regional teams between World Cup cycles. Even if the Conmebol sides don’t send their strongest squads, the format of the Copa América Centenario promises a more meaningful challenge.

Other than USA and Mexico, the other two Concacaf sides will include at least one Caribbean team (the winners of this year's Caribbean Cup), this year's Copa Centroamericana champions, and then the remaining top four finishers in next year's Gold Cup will play in a playoff for the final two places.

For the USA in particular, the announcement begins to shape up a potentially meaningful competitive cycle between the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Last week Jürgen Klinsmann assembled the USA under-21 squad who will become the basis of the 2016 Olympic team, for a training camp in California that was at least as much a briefing about their expected individual and collective trajectories over the coming cycle. And should the main national team retain the Gold Cup next year, they will represent Concacaf at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. At the very least they will enter a playoff to do so with next year’s winner.

Full list of competing teams

Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

USA

Mexico

Winner of 2014 Copa Centroamericana

Winner of 2014 Caribbean Cup

Top four finishers in 2015 Concacaf Gold Cup not to have already automatically qualified will face playoffs to determine final two teams.