CLEVELAND -- From the 2018 NCAA Division I and III Wrestling Championships to the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and international soccer matches, friendlies and tournament play alike, Cleveland has or will play host to some of the most recognizable events in sports in recent years.
And with CONCACAF (the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Association Football) making the commitment to return to Cleveland for the 2019 Gold Cup, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission believes more events could be coming to the North Coast.
“We are going after some of the biggest events in the country,” Commission President and CEO David Gilbert told WKYC.com. “One of the things they look at, absolutely, is the resume of the events that have been hosted here and how successful they have been. This gives us another opportunity to showcase that as Cleveland continues to try to stay one of the top cities in the country for hosting major events.
“I think it’s one of the reasons that they chose us, and it gives us another great opportunity to showcase what we can do to make these events successful. We think, ultimately, that’s one of the biggest hallmarks. We’re not selling Cleveland as a city, which we love. We’re selling the ability of our community and all of these partners to make these events more successful in Cleveland than they will be anywhere else.”
The CONCACAF Gold Cup will make its return to Cleveland after its debut appearance at FirstEnergy Stadium in the summer of 2017.
The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup will feature an expanded field of 16 teams from North and Central America, as well as the Caribbean with the event starting on June 14 and culminating in the championship match on July 7.
Currently, six of the 16 spots in the field have been filled by the United States of America, Mexico, Trinidad, Honduras, Panama and Costa Rica.
A tournament starting this fall and concluding in March will determine the remaining 10 teams that will fill out the field.
“There were a lot of great cities out there trying to bring this to their community and we’re thrilled that they had the confidence in us to do it, and we’re going to show them again that we can host a tremendous event, and we believe that it’ll be very successful again,” Gilbert said.
When FirstEnergy Stadium played host to Group B play in the 2017 Gold Cup Tournament, more than 28,000 fans watched as Panama and Martinique battled in the first of two matchups and the USA took on Nicaragua in the finale.
And while the teams have not yet been announced for the Cleveland matches, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is expecting a successful event at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“We have a very passionate soccer community,” Gilbert said. “We have great local clubs that are going to be much behind it, that were with us in ’17 and are going to be with us again in ’19.
“It’s a very passionate city in general, and I believe they put a lot of confidence in our community, our organization and the Browns to make sure that it’s marketed so well that people come in. For them, it is about building attendance, and I think they have a lot of confidence that when it’s here, they’re going to put a lot of butts in the seats and it’ll make it a great experience for the teams that are here.”
