Gold Cup gold

In soccer terms, the Gold Cup is not a world-renowned tournament. It's certainly not near the level of the European Championship or Copa America. Still, it's what we've got here and the players take it seriously so it usually turns out to be an enjoyable tournament.

But one other side effect of the tournament is the money CONCACAF generates. During the conference call yesterday, CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said that the tournament brings in a good amount of cash which in turn is invested (most of it, hopefully) in other things.

“The money that we earn through the Gold Cup represents about 70 percent of the overall budget which supports then all of the other competition: the Under-20s, Olympic teams, indoor soccer, five-a-side, beach soccer, youth tournaments.”