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Boise, USA. The organizing group will be raising funds until November or December, according to Beristain. By that time, also, they will know who will be playing against Athletic Club − Seattle Sounders (WA), Real Salt Lake (UT), and Portland Timbers (OR) are the contenders, although it looks like the team from Washington would be the most likely team.

Around 25 people are working to make this happen. The core of that group is comprised of John Ysursa and John Bieter, from the Basque Studies program at BSU; Bill Taylor and Craig Warner, as the president and the executive director of the Idaho Youth Soccer Association; and Argia Beristain herself.

They have created the Basque Studies Foundation, a separated entity from BSU that will manage the scholarship program to be created thanks to the revenues from the game. “The idea is to give five full academic scholarships of $35,000 every year, for ten years,” explained Beristain. “But it will depend on how successful we are at raising money.” The real quantity of the scholarships will be announced at halftime at the match. Any student of any academic discipline will be able to apply for these scholarships with the proviso that she or he will have to take, at least, one course at the Basque Studies Program.

“Athletic is helping us a lot, they are making a real effort without which this would be impossible,” stated the organizer. In fact, the soccer team from Bilbao (Basque Country) is waiving its appearance fee (nonetheless the flights and the hotel rooms will be paid by the organization) and, also, is going to take this match into account at the time of organizing their next summer’s preseason, so that their American fans can see them play in the US.

The organizing group expects to sell around 36,000 tickets for the game ranging from $35-$90 each, depending on the location at the Albertson’s Stadium (formerly Bronco Stadium). A fairly realistic cypher considering Jaialdi attracts a lot of people not just from all over the country but also from overseas.