NBA star Chris Paul and USMNT legend Clint Dempsey team up to launch $1million, winner-takes-all World Cup-style soccer tournament – with YouTube giants Hashtag United also set to be involved
USMNT legend Clint Dempsey and 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul are part of a new $1 million, winner-take-all soccer tournament which is set to debut next summer in North Carolina.
The Soccer Tournament will feature 7-on-7 play and 32 teams split into four-team groups followed by a 16-team, single elimination knockout phase that resembles the World Cup.
The tournament will be run by TNT Enterprises, who puts on The Basketball Tournament during the summer. The popular attraction features former pro and college players and is now broadcasted on ESPN.
Dempsey is serving as an adviser and team manager for the soccer version.
Clint Dempsey is the USMNT’s joint-leading scorer of all time, with 57 international goals
Future NBA Hall of Famer Chris Paul is also reportedly involved in the project as an owner
‘I came from a pickup soccer culture, from a culture of taking people on,’ Dempsey told ESPN.
‘This is something that promotes that and hopefully opens the door for some people to take their game to the next level and chase their dreams.’
Paul is also reportedly part of the league’s ownership group.
The tournament will take place next June at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
Aside from the generous pot of prize money – The Basketball Tournament also has a $1million prize – The Soccer Tournament will also take cues from its predecessor in another way.
Inspired by the ‘Elam Ending’ used in TBT, where the clock is shut off in the fourth quarter and a target score must be hit to win, a similar rule will take effect in North Carolina.
Each match will end with ‘target score time,’ ESPN said, where the winning team’s total at the end of regulation plus one will have to be hit (for either team) to end the contest.
In basketball, the concept ensures exciting finishes that always end with a game-winning shot, rather than draining the clock.
English social media behemoth and semi-pro club Hashtag United will also have a team in the tournament, with founder Spencer Owen saying in a YouTube video that the $1 million prize could be used to help fund a stadium for the club.
Hashtag United has over 600,000 YouTube followers and plays in the Isthmian League North Division.
‘We’re trying to put a squad together that can win this thing,’ Owen said in the clip.
‘We also wanna do what we’re really good at as well which is make great content and tell great stories from being in this tournament.’
Owen said Hashtag would be ‘bringing in some big names’ for the tournament while keeping some players from the club involved as well.