Philadelphia Gets Gold: 2015 Gold Cup officially awarded

It was officially announced this morning that Philadelphia would be hosting the CONCACAF Gold Cup finals, which will take place at Lincoln Financial Field (or, to one Enrique Sanz, "Financial Lincoln Field"), home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia will also be able to witness the third place and fourth place games, which will be played in the Philadlephia Union's own PPL Park in Chester, PA. Joining CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb at the announcement were Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Philadelphia Eagles president Don Smolenski, CONCACAF General Secretary Enrique Sanz, and Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz. All members of the panel seemed to be excited about Philadelphia playing the host city of this tournament as it would bring a lot of attention to the city and this would present an opportunity to showcase Philly's passionate sports fans.

When speaking to the press, Mayor Nutter hinted at a lot of great events happening in Philadelphia in the upcoming weeks as well as the far future, such as Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia in September and the Democratic National Convention in 2016, Nutter also hinted at a potential NFL Super Bowl in Philadelphia, "but that is another discussion for another day." Nick Sakiewicz also hinted that Philadelphia is "actively bidding" for Copa America to be played in Philadelphia next year.

On top of these announcements, the groups of the Gold Cup were announced. The United States and Panama headline group A, as they were the two finalists in the last Gold Cup. Joining the US and Panama in group A are Haiti and the winner between Honduras and French Guiana. In group B, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica and Canada will compete to advance while in group C, Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba will be playing to advance. The US will open their Gold Cup group stage in Dallas on July 7th against the winner of the Honduras/French Guiana match.