CONCACAF Competitions

If I were head of CONCACAF for a day, here's what I'd do...

National Teams

World Cup Year +1
- USA and Mexico compete in Copa America
- Canada competes in the UNCAF (Central American) Cup, bringing team total to 8. Two groups of four, with 6 Gold Cup berths on the line (5 + Canada's). Hosted in Central America, across two nations if necessary.
- All 30 Caribbean teams compete for Caribbean Nations Cup. T&T and Jamaica automatically qualify while other 28 teams play home-home series to fill out 16 team tournament. Four groups of Four that could even be held, potentially across up to four nations, to spread the wealth. All Semi-finalists (i.e., top 4 teams) qualify for Gold Cup.

World Cup Year +2
- Gold Cup. USA, Mexico, 6 from Central America, 4 from Caribbean. Hosted in USA, Mexico, or Canada. Timed to be at least partially offset against EuroCup while still fully within summer window.

World Cup Year +3
- Confederation Cup. Gold Cup winner attends.
- UNCAF Cup. If needed, replace Central American team in Confed Cup with Mexico.
- Caribbean Cup. If needed, replace Caribbean team in Confed Cup with USA.
- Intent of both UNCAF and Caribbean Cup is B-teams for major clubs still in world cup qualifying, while providing valuable experience for weaker teams.

The intent of this is as follows:
- more distribution of wealth, via tournament hosting opportunities.
- opportunity for better competition for teams at all levels. USA and Mexico can focus on Copa America. Canada competes with strong Central American teams. More Caribbean teams get to compete in meaningful competition.

Club Teams

I would create a Caribbean Superleague. Currently, teams from T&T and Jamaica dominate the region, so we can assume those leagues already meet the need. However, for other nations, they perhaps lack the ability to produce a league winner to compete regionally.

The Caribbean Superleague would consists of 12 teams, no more than one from a nation, that are not part of the national league system, but purely part of the Superleague. The Puerto Rico Islanders would be a prime, already existing, candidate. They are a team capable of competing regionally, but not part of Puerto Rico's league system. Other teams like this would be created in other nations of the Caribbean region, intended to be a team capable of competing regionally, giving the local fans the opportunity to see higher quality soccer played regularly in their home stadium.

In order to encourage local participation, all teams would be required to include 3 players eligible to play on the home nations national team in the 18 man game squad and another 3 that are eligible to play on the national team of a Caribean nation.

CONCACAF Champions League would include, as it does today, 3 teams from the Caribbean. I would change this, however, to be the winner of the T&T league, the winnner of the Jamaican league, and the winner of the Caribbean Superleage. The Caribbean Club Cup would remain, but as a secondary competition, with parallels to the Europa League.

 

Yep, agree with Don.

Now all you gotta do is come up with some dosh and get an appointment with Jack Warner.