Sources: Copa América to pay out record $72m

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Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentMay 25, 2024, 03:46 PM ET

Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.This summer’s Copa América is set to distribute a record $72 million in participation fees and prize money to the tournament’s teams, with the winner getting $16m, sources told ESPN.

Each team will receive a $2 million participation fee just for taking part, with the remaining $40 million being classified as prize money. The prize money portion is more than double the $19.5 million awarded in 2021, when winners Argentina received $6.5 million.

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The tournament is being co-organized by CONMEBOL and Concacaf, the respective confederations of South America and of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The U.S. is hosting this expanded edition of the Copa América for the second time, having previously hosted the Copa América Centenario in 2016. On that occasion, there was a total prize pool of $21.5 million, with $6.5 million going to winners Chile.

Teams that progress only to the quarterfinals will receive $2 million each in prize money. The fourth place team will receive $4 million, the third place team will pocket $5 million, while the losing finalist will receive $7 million. The tournament will also cover the teams’ costs for hotels, airfare and ground transportation.

The amount of prize money provides a hefty incentive for the participating players beyond the honor of playing in such a prestigious tournament. That is especially true for players from the United States. Thanks to the latest Collective Bargaining agreement it signed in 2022, the U.S. men stand to make 70% of any prize money awarded.

Nine percent of whatever prize money the U.S. might earn will go into a joint fund that will be split evenly between members of the USMNT and USWNT, with the U.S. Soccer Federation pocketing the remaining 21%.