CONCACAF rolls the League out

Today CONCACAF became the final confederation to introduce a Champions League competition for the elite clubs in its region.  (We'll ignore the abortion of an attempt at a Champions League in 2002.)  Here is how the 24 entrants will be distributed:

4 teams: USA and Mexico
3 teams: Caribbean region (out of 30 countries, not all have domestic leagues)
2 teams: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama
1 team: Canada, Belize, Nicaragua

The automatic qualifiers to the group stage will consist of teams from North and Central America -- two each from USA and Mexico, and one from Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.  The rest are drawn into eight qualifying ties, with the winners of the home-and-away series advancing to the group stage.

I'll have more comments in the coming days, but these were my immediate ones:

• CONCACAF is following the European calendar, which is convenient for all of the domestic leagues except MLS.  It's really a double-edged sword for the American and Canadian sides.  They will have a slight advantage during the group stage, but it could be negated by the sheer number and frequency of matches near the end of the regular season.  Moreover, those sides are hobbled by salary constraints so they can't field a second XI that is almost as good as the first, so it will be a matter of priorities.  If they make it out to the knockout rounds, they would be in preseason mode and have to face sides that would have match experience.  It's going to be a difficult road.
• The group stage schedule is crazy.  Six matches in seven weeks??  The UEFA Champions League takes 12 weeks to complete its group stage; Copa Libertadores goes through its group stage in ten.  Admittedly, CONCACAF doesn't have a lot of room to maneuver -- it can't prolong the group stage into November, which would affect the MLS playoffs.  And it can't start the group phase too early without cutting into the offseason of most of the clubs participating.  Perhaps an extra week can be added at both ends.  Either way, expect this to get heavily criticized by the clubs.
• SuperLiga is now a superfluous competition, and the sooner it goes away the better.  Actually, the sooner the staff at SUM move over to the Champions League, the better, because...
• There was no mention of prize money, television broadcast contracts, or sponsorship.  I suppose that's all coming - Rome wasn't built in a day and all that - but the sooner word comes out on these topics the better.  And the payoff for participating in the Champions League must be a big improvement on the Champions' Cup (which was next to nothing).  CONCACAF doesn't give me a lot of confidence that they can secure these deals on their own.  Enter SUM.

To conclude on a positive note, the CONCACAF Champions League is here, and it seems to be better thought through than the previous attempt.  There are many more steps to go, but I'm cautiously optimistic.  More news on this front, CONCACAF, please!