In this exclusive conversation with SportsLatam he explains to us in detail the new projects and challenges he’s facing in America.
What projects and news have you been working on?
My main focus in 2017 has been to develop a new football tournament in the Americas to mirror the Uefa Nations League in Europe.
We have set-up a holding company in the USA, Nations Cup Inc with B4 Americas, as B4 is the major investor.
The Americas Nations Cup is a unique event that will occur every four years with the competing 16 teams split into four groups. The proposal is to hold the tournament over eight Fifa dates, four weeks, starting in September and concluding in March. The group stage would consist of home and away matches played in the competing countries, with the Finals stage taking place in a to-be-decided country.
We have already secured major broadcast partners and investors. We are now in discussion with the organisations that run football in the region in order to get their support for a tournament that would bring together the Concacaf and Conmebol federations.
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We started the project a few years ago when it became clear that the value had fallen out of national team friendly matches after the creation and launch by Uefa, through its former president Gianni Infantino, of the Nations League in Europe.
Based on the creation of the Nations League it became a necessity for our region to also develop a competition to bring more value to friendly matches and to be able to compete with this type of event in the local media sector.
The Americas Nations Cup is prime real estate in the fight over broadcaster budgets. It will help combat against competitions such as the Uefa Nations League and other international content that take away budget in the prime real estate media sector from local and regional content.
We then began devising the tournament with the aim of bringing a competitive national team competition for the entire continent, a concept that was given further credence after the hugely successful Copa América Centenario. We are aiming for the first edition of the Nations Cup to be played in 2018
Those who know you are aware you never do just one thing at a time! What else can you tell us?
In addition, in 2017, B4 Americas completed the sale of the company's stake in Miami FC to Riccardo Silva as well as brokered a number of TV rights deals across the continent.
What’s your take on the Latin American market?
The transparency that now exists in the Latin American market is creating many opportunities.
The structure of football governance in the Americas has been re-defined and full transparency and compliance with international law is obligatory.
We believe that by creating new tournaments and working closely alongside the Federations and Confederations, B4 is well-placed to play a key role in the region for the long-term future.
