Even though the CONCACAF Gold Cup takes place on a biennial basis, under previous guidelines prior to 2013, only the winners of the Gold Cup that was held two years before the FIFA Confederations Cup qualified as CONCACAF's representative. For example, Mexico won the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and qualified for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. This, in turn, lowered the prestige of the alternating tournament, with CONCACAF teams fielding weaker rosters in the Gold Cup that was held on the same year as the Confederations Cup because the result would have no bearing on qualification for the Confederations Cup. Many teams that were also involved in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup during that year put less focus on the Gold Cup. CONCACAF announced the introduction of a play-off match on 5 April 2013. Starting from the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, the CONCACAF representative would be decided by a play-off between the two CONCACAF Gold Cup winners prior to the Confederations Cup. Then CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb stated this "will allow the Champion of every single Gold Cup edition to have the same competitive opportunity to represent CONCACAF at the international level." In the case where the same national team wins both Gold Cup tournaments, no play-off is played, and the team qualifies directly to the Confederations Cup. Following CONCACAF's decision to end their affiliation with Traffic Sports USA due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Major League Soccer's sister company Soccer United Marketing was chosen as commercial representative for the match.
CONCACAF originally announced on 23 July 2015 that the play-off would be played as a single match on 9 October2015 in the United States. After the conclusion of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup on 26 July 2015, CONCACAF announced the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as the venue. The date was later amended to 10 October in order "to allow fans in attendance to enjoy a day-long of festivities, including Futbol Fiesta, a free, interactive fan zone outside the Rose Bowl."
Ticketing
On 27 August 2015, CONCACAF announced the ticket allocation process for the match. Both the United States Soccer Federation and the Mexican Football Federation received 30% of the tickets each, which was distributed through supporter groups. Another 30% was sold through a lottery where the general public could apply. The final 10% was given to local teams and sponsors. This system was to prevent the crowd being dominated by either team's supporters despite being on U.S. soil similar to previous Gold Cup finals.
Squads
Each team could select up to 23 players for their squads. On 15 September 2015, CONCACAF announced the provisional team lists. The final 23-player squads were announced by CONCACAF on 5 October 2015.
Mexico
On 1 October, the final squad was announced. Head coach: Ricardo Ferretti
A 2019 edition was initially planned, featuring the winners of the 2017 and 2019 tournaments. In November 2016, CONCACAF announced that the television rights for the 2019 edition have been sold to Fox Sports. On 26 July 2017, with their victory in the final of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the United States ensured they would participate at a minimum in the 2019 CONCACAF Cup should they fail to win the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. However, on 15 March 2019, FIFA announced that the Confederations Cup would be abolished, with the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup taking place instead. This therefore also meant there would be no future editions of the CONCACAF Cup.
