United States, Mexico Both Reportedly In Running To Host 2016 Copa America

It sounds a tad ridiculous on the face of it, but there's a report out of Mexico suggesting that the United States is being considered as a possible host for the 2016 Copa America. The story also says Mexico is being strongly considered as a host for the 100th anniversary tournament that crowns the champion of South America.

The president of the Ecuadorian football federation suggests that the tournament would feature 16 teams, six of whom would come from CONCACAF. "I have no doubt that the obstacles are being overcome," Luis Chiriboga is quoted as saying."

This is just the latest rumor swirling around the United States' involvement in Copa America. As you may remember, there was an idea swimming around several months ago that the CONCACAF Gold Cup might combine with the Copa America to form a sort of Western Hemisphere championship. For all intents and purposes, that's basically what would be happening here, except for the fact that this would essentially be run by CONMEBOL.

There are reasons to be skeptical of this report, though. The biggest is that as of today, there's no 2016 tournament being planned. The 2015 edition is being held in Brazil and Chile is hosting in 2019. There was once talk of having Mexico host the 2015 tournament because of Brazil's hosting of the 2016 Summer Olympics, but that was scrapped. There should also be 2018 World Cup qualifying going on during 2016, which could make scheduling a bit tougher.

Still, if this were to happen, it would surely be a smashing success. While not quite the World Cup, the tournament would likely feature the likes of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, among others. It would rank behind only the World Cup and European Championships in terms of interest in national-team tournaments.