CONCACAF playoff likely for Rose Bowl on Oct. 9

The winner of Sunday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final between Mexico and Jamaica will meet the U.S. in an Oct. 9 playoff to determine the region’s entrant in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. And Pasadena’s Rose Bowl is the likely site for the game.

Last week the Pasadena City Council approved a request from Soccer United Marketing to hold an unspecificed soccer event at the stadium. SUM has been instrumental is helping CONCACAF with the organization and planning of the Gold Cup.

Under previous CONCACAF rules, the winner of the first Gold Cup in each four-year World Cup cycle represented the region in the Confederations Cups, a kind of World Cup dress rehearsal. But under new guidelines, if consecutive editions of the biennial Gold Cups are won by different nations a playoff must be held to determine the Confederations Cup entrant. The U.S., which will play Panama in Saturday’s Gold Cup third-place game, won the tournament in 2013, earning its spot in the playoff.

Should Mexico beat Jamaica, the U.S. probably would oppose a game at the Rose Bowl, where it hasn’t beaten Mexico in 21 years. The last U.S.-Mexico game there, the 2011 Gold Cup final, drew an overwhelmingly pro-Mexican crowd of more than 93,000 fans. But another big crowd would mean a big payday for CONCACAF.

Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn told the Pasadena City Council that the game would earn the city a minimum of $400,000.