📆 Concacaf sets out the path to the (2030) World Cup
Format talk returns PLUS: Big boys in trouble in Liga MX + the Conca-catch-up!
🇵🇷 The Monday premium newsletter is a day delayed for a few reasons.
First, I’ve been wrapping up the final bits of prep ahead of taping for Episode 2 of Football Cities. Episode 1 in Guadalajara is below - and it’s helpful if you watch it as I begin seeking sponsorship for this and other forthcoming episodes!
Second, I didn’t get much done Sunday because of the Super Bowl.
How cool was it to see Bad Bunny put his idea of Pan-Americanism on one of the biggest stages in the world?
I joked that it was a direct nod to our region, though of course he started with nations in CONMEBOL. (Bad Bunny hinting about MLS-Liga MX teams in Libertadores?)
I loved it.
The rest of the blame for the delay goes on Buzz Carrick. Well, I suspect it goes on his collaborators more than on Buzz. Either way, I had to stop by Monday night’s live taping of the 3rd Degree podcast. That’s the audio arm of the outlet he launched back in 1997, obsessively covering all things Dallas Burn, later FC Dallas.
While I never ended up formally contributing to 3rd Degree, and I guess we were minor rivals on the beat at some point, Buzz’s passion set a blueprint for regional soccer coverage.
He’ll keep doing that coverage but will be doing it remotely from the Pacific Northwest. Safe trip, Buzz. Keep in touch.
And, thanks, subscribers for your patience when the Monday newsletter has become the Tuesday newsletter.
Format talk is back!
Long-time readers of the newsletter will recognize Format Talk, which is what I would’ve named this newsletter when it launched back in 2020 had I known we’d be talking about formats at this depth this often.
Concacaf announced its new men’s soccer ecosystem - which is basically just what it calls “The way things are going to work” - last week, setting out the path for teams after this World Cup and all the way up to the next one in 2030.
Essentially, things look pretty similar to what they have since Covid disrupted the schedule set out for the 2022 cycle. The Nations League Final Four will take place in March of a Gold Cup year, and those teams will likely see each other again at the Gold Cup.
The Gold Cup is slated to take place twice in the cycle as usual, despite soccer nerds like me (and probably you reading this) pushing for it to happen once every four years.
The big quirk this time?
