Webb hails Gold Cup a ‘huge success’ as blue riband event closes with US win

It also marked a new era for the confederation and its new president. “We have had over 500,000 spectators at matches. We had 81,000 for the semi-finals in Arlington, Texas, and 70,000 in Baltimore for the quarter finals.” The final played out in front of a crowd of just under 60,000 at a packed Soldier Field in Chicago.

“Our TV ratings have been tremendous, particularly in the US with Univision where we have had between four and five million watching games. We have also seen a lot of activation by our sponsors.” Santander activated its sponsorship across the region with other sponsors took the opportunity to run promotions on game days in the fan zones, and across the US in particular.

“Enrique Sanz (CONCACAF general secretary) and his team have done a tremendous job this Gold Cup. We wanted the players and teams to have a great experience at the Gold Cup and we wanted a lot of engagement with fans,” said Webb.

The fan engagement around the matches included tail-gating and fan villages, to a world record Mariachi (Mexican bands and singers) serenade at the opening match at the Rose Bowl. The Interactive Gold Cup, with qualifiers played in Playstation3 consoles on-line, had the final played live between the semi-final matches in Texas with the gamers on the pitch and the match relayed on to the stadium big screen.

The importance of the Gold Cup financially cannot be under-emphasised. “The Gold Cup makes a big difference to our finances. It allows us to run all of our other competitions,” said Webb.

In terms of ticking boxes for a confederation that a year ago was embroiled in the corruption scandals of cash for votes and various allegations of missing or mis-appropriated funds, the Gold Cup has pretty much ticked all the right ones and pulled the confederation out of a dark place.

It has been a positive and cleansing experience all-round. While there is doubtless still work to be done, and some confederation ‘healing’ to be done, the first steps have probably worked out better than anyone could have imagined.

Before the start of the tournament Webb said he couldn’t wait for the matches to begin “and for us as a confederation to get back to playing football”, referring to the various scandals and ultimate confederation reorganisation that he initiated. At the end he will be relieved it all went so well.

The Gold Cup tournament visited 13 US cities in 21 days with its 25 game format, kicking off at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on July 7. Each city hosted double-header matches, with Chicago hosting the final.

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