The idea of moving the number of participating teams in the CONCACAF Gold Cup from 12 to 16, may not have been a recent flash of genius from a footballing mind.

But for sure, the possibilities would be a game changer for those countries hungry to strut their stuff in the prestigious tournament.

Victor Montagliani, the Canadian football boss who is campaigning to become president of CONCACAF, relishes any innovation that will grow the confederation’s marquee tournament.

“Maybe we can even make it bigger from 12 teams to 16 teams, and this is something we need to seriously look at. We might have the ability to bring more teams, and there is a development side to that and a business side as well,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We talk a lot about other things to do with CONCACAF, but it’s our competitions that give blood to our organisation, it’s those competitions that generate the revenue and the Gold Cup is the primary source of that,” said Montagliani.

The Canadian businessman thinks CONCACAF must remain pragmatic in being prudent and creative in growing its most valuable assets, which include its tournaments.

“I think we need to also look at our Champions League, which is a young but growing product. We have to look at our competitions from a fiscal, economic, competitions and development standpoint.

“One of our primary objectives is to establish a very good template as a strategy as we move forward for the next 10 years as to how these competitions are going to feed this confederation,” noted Montagliani, who is a member of CONCACAF’s Gold Cup Committee.

The Copa America Centenario, to be hosted in the USA this summer, is seen to hold massive commercial potential and be a big money spinner for CONCACAF. And it is against this background that Montagliani suggested that perhaps exploring hosting future editions of the storied South American championship may not be a bad idea.

“It (Copa America) has a lot of potential in a lot of areas, and kudos to the people who have saved this on behalf of CONCACAF, because obviously it’s a revenue opportunity and also a great showcase opportunity,” he said.

“You never know, maybe it is something we can look at in the future to host more often than every 100 years. But I think it will be a hell of an event, and it’s a great opportunity for all three of our regions as the format ensured that we had cross-union representation,” reasoned Montagliani, who chairs CONCACAF’s Women’s Championships Committee.

He said one of the good things about the Copa America Centenario, is that it allows some of the smaller nations within CONCACAF to perform on a glitzy stage.

“The Caribbean Cup and the Central American winners will be a part of it, and Jamaica will obviously benefit from that… we also have Panama and Haiti as well after the play-offs, so I think it’s going to be a great tournament, and not for just the two powerhouses Mexico and the US, but a great tournament for all three regions,” Montagliani concluded.

The celebratory edition of the 100-year-old continental championship, to be held June 3-26 in 10 cities across the USA, will be contested by all 10 South American teams and six from CONCACAF.

– Sean Williams