Major League Soccer’s first-team involvement in the U.S. Open Cup will becoming to an end.
League Commissioner Don Garber confirmed on Friday that the league will not send their first teams into the historic tournament, beginning in 2024. Instead, MLS will be represented in the tournament via their MLS NEXT Pro sides, who will take the places of the first teams.
Garber originally hinted at the idea during his State of the League address prior to Dec. 9’s MLS Cup Final. He provided supporting comments on Friday, further committing himself to the decision.
“I made those comments because I believe that if we’re going to have our professional teams competing in a tournament that is the oldest tournament of its type anywhere in the country, we all need to embrace it,” Garber said. “From our federation to our respective leagues, and give it the profile and give it the support that it needs.
“If we can’t do that, then we all should be together and decide that there needs to be a new plan.”
The U.S. Open Cup was founded in 1914 and provides the only meaningful competition between the country’s first division and the rest of the American soccer ecosystem. Due to the country’s lack of a promotion/relegation structure, the Open Cup provides great experiences for lower-league clubs in the USL and other American leagues.
U.S. Soccer has not officially approved of the decision, but did confirm MLS’ interest in removing their first teams from tournament involvement.
“Major League Soccer notified U.S. Soccer today of their Board of Governors vote regarding the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup,” USSF said in a statement. “Our staff is currently reviewing.
“U.S. Soccer and our Members remain committed to the success of the historic U.S. Open Cup and look forward to engaging with all our stakeholders on the future of the tournament.”
The Houston Dynamo lifted the U.S. Open Cup in 2023, defeating Inter Miami in the finals.
I will not watch or support MLS until this is reversed. Period. Full stop. Please increase reporting on USL on this site. I will be following that league and it’s lower divisions as well.. Go Vermont Green FC!
I have followed MLS for such a long time and derided US Soccer fans for not supporting MLS. “If you don’t support MLS, you don’t support US Soccer.” It seesm with this move MLS does not support US Soccer so I will not support it.
It’s sad, but if you take the romanticism and emotion out of it there isn’t much to argue with. Yo all realize the cup is a huge money loser for all. Right? ven those lower league teams. You know the MLSPA cold care less about this. Right? Don’t let the union slide on this. They don’t want these matches, on dangerous fields, against opponents who can injure, where they make nothing. They also don’t want to expand rosters because strong unions limit opps, instead of wanting to create the, unless it 100% favors and improves current members. From all angles the cup is a problem. ESPN+ just pulled it also. No one really wants it. CBS picked it up for a few matches for nothing hoping Messi plays in a match. Let’s not make believe teams overseas don’t field reserves sides in the early/mid rounds of their cup matches not really caring unless they make it through. The EPL teams are notorious for this. All I am saying is there are clearly reasons. A lot fo them if you care to research. That’s all.
“The EPL teams are notorious for this. All I am saying is there are clearly reasons. A lot fo them if you care to research. That’s all.” This is what MLS teams have been doing for years too. This is to protect MLS’s brand not their players. Columbus the newly crowned MLS Champs lost to Pittsburgh this spring using a mostly reserve roster. Should The Crew and the Riverhounds meet again this year the lineup won’t be much different but this decision provides the owners with cover when MLS teams lose.
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“because strong unions limit opps, instead of wanting to create” you realize you’re blaming the weakest union in professional sports? Garber will wax poetically about protecting the players but dropping a tournament that you play a max of 4 extra games spread out over 3 months to push your tournament in which players could play 7 matches in four weeks is laughable. That doesn’t even take into account the extra midweek games that were put back into the schedule to make room for leagues cup. I am sure the MLSPA isn’t upset with this decision but they weren’t the ones that introduced the idea nor were they in the Governor’s Board meeting voting on it.
USL doesn’t have a bunch of horrible fields.
are you familiar with the long and ever changing history of MLS cooking up these alternative summer events that then go away, eg superliga? the previous versions of this thing were tiny 8 team things. they did one — one — big version then dumped USOC. this seems like a heavy bet on messi whose contract lasts through only ’25. the MX teams at times seemed only half heartedly interested and the 3-team group structure was a mess. i’m not a tradition absolutist, i do not think we should xerox europe, but MLS has its tendency to get cute. i feel like this is the latest episode in MLS’ chase for the MX fan yeti who isn’t much interested. i think we instead are chiseling away at getting a little respect.
is this massively consequential? will MLS pay any price? not at the moment. not many were watching USOC but the hardcore. is it an odd choice at the same time the NBA is doing their in-season tournament? is MX going to play along for long enough, play the games hard enough, for this to be worth it?
personally i feel like MLS hobbled itself with the apple deal which limits the value of messi and this tournament. people are talking about USOC broadcasting. is there any english outlet for leagues cup?
IV: Messi doesn’t come without the AppleTV deal. MLS/Inter Miami were able to funnel extra money thru Apple to make it work. Officially for the Messi documentary series that AppleTV also runs. So MLS didn’t hobble themselves. Leagues Cup is part of the MLS Season Pass so was available worldwide wherever AppleTV is available. I don’t remember the number but they remind you on every broadcast the number countries, but it’s definitely available in Europe.
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As for fields, USL fields are generally fine but there are a lot of turf fields and still a couple played on minor league baseball fields. You play at Louisville and you won’t notice the difference, but El Paso might give you pause. The easy solution though is just update the quality standards to host a match.
JR: you know what i am saying. it’s not on TV. they make it harder to see messi and cash in on the value without TV. it’s not like we can tune in saturday or for this tournament and get in on the hype, without apple.
i understand how apple and messi relate but i also believe they are narrowcasting what they have then bought.
you also know what i am getting at on the fields. the USL fields are generally sufficient where with an exception or two it doesn’t justify the decision. i don’t like turf but MLS also has some turf. i don’t like mixed-baseball but NYCFC. it’s blatant snobbery. or prissiness. do you think when EPL or championship end up at some lower division team in FAC it’s some manicured green? i went to a league 2 match once where the field was literally at a graded slant. some of their fields are chewed up. i wouldn’t be surprised if it occasionally affects lineup decisions but does the rest of england take its ball and go home? no.
i think the poster is confusing outcome with purpose. i think they want their big dollar tournament with MX. if that improves the field quality, well, that’s a random side effect. yeah, if we played first division vs. first division with a lot of elite countries it would be a nice field. we aren’t exactly playing the mexican second division.
IV: I disagree streaming is TV now, the Apple product far exceeded anything produced by Fox, ESPN, or NBC in production, pre and post game, studio. And as I pointed out without Apple, Messi is playing in Saudi Arabia or back at Barca. Without Messi you don’t have increased interest at home or abroad. There are still free games on every week on Apple, all you need is an AppleID and to download the free app. If you have AppleTv everytime you open it on your device the advertising is right there on your Home Screen. The biggest push back on the Apple deal was from people in their 40s, and that’s not MLS’s intended demographic.
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Didn’t mean to make it sound like I disagreed on fields at lower levels. There are a few and some of the USL turf is older generations but as USL gets more and more of their own stadiums that is going away too.
The switch to Apple TV resulted in me watching about five games this season. The lowest ever since I started following MLS. Why? I don’t know really. But yeah, this happened.
This decision shows antipathy towards soccer in the US. I’m extremely mad. There is too much competition inside and outside the US for MLS to take a dump on the soccer system here like this. Bub-bye MLS.
Ha! The union is the problem here….certainly laughable….
JR: the messi thing is the oddest combination of hype situation and yet narrowcasting i have seen. even more so than sticking USNT games, in the buildup to a home world cup (as well as an incredible series of hosted events), on TBS and streaming. i get he’s in some rich other league without it. but he’s here 2 more years and the deal is for 10 years. the apple deal caps his value to mostly MLS diehards, folks willing to pay twice for apple+, and highlight viewing.
for comparison, i tuned in to ibrahimovic’s debut, which was an amazing game and display, and on a legit cable sports channel. and messi has done 10x things like that. and 95% of it is behind a paywall. meanwhile NBC and co. have multiple EPL games a week live — which, ironically, is more than they can probably actually see in england itself. i think there they have a local blackout rule.
i think people get messi is a big deal but unlike beckham or ibrahimovic or rooney, i can’t just trip across their games channel-flipping.
“pitch standards” is a fanboy and tv obsession, not something i have heard the players go on about. to me half the interest in these national and regional cup events is the random, varied locales and fields. kind of like soccer tourism. i got a kick out of watching the dynamo play at puntarenas. i get the tv folks want night games. i get the fanboys want some mix of the usual suspect big hitters in the region, on immaculate fields. i think over a period the fun drains out of that. i also feel like it’s lame to set up a hoosiers style tournament then start taking away small team home games on supposed pitch concerns. to me half the fun of these games is seeing big club FC go play in a national league park that holds 2k people, with a less than ideal pitch. to me it’s compelling to watch the class shine through despite it all, or to watch the upset. to me LAFC vs. monterrey for the 20th time will get boring. you see where they are tinkering with format. and a lot of format in recent years has been to squeeze the small squads down into the second tier regional tournament, and accept very few onwards. which IMO is better as upset-protection than anything else. can’t lose to the jamaican team if you never play them. you know, “pitch rules.” or “but they should be in the qualifying tournament.”
IV: weren’t you the guy complaining about the pitch conditions in Panama for the WCQ were going to be too dangerous for our stars to play under?
MLS abandoning US Open cup is like the European Super League teams abandoning their domestic leagues. US Soccer should fight it like UEFA fought it. FIFA will stand by US Soccer.
FIFA will stand with whatever makes them money. Thinking FIFA is some nobel outfit is laughable. The fans stopped the SuperLeague in Europe. UEFA was just trying to save their $$$$. Stop with the nobility stuff. It’s naive.
When there is a fight between a federation and a league that is not supported by the federation, FIFA will take the side of the federation. It is their obligation. Saying that, FIFA will try to resolve the issue peacefully for a financial reason of course.
All the tradition and history of the Cup—and now–because of greed—-no MLS teams. Nightmare MLS.
While I don’t agree with it. Garber has solid points.
Reality is that the Ooen Cuo really doesn’t have good following and is seen by many fans as a nuisance.
But in saying that the fans are the ones who have to make the TV companies take notice. If you love in a state that has local teams involved go turn put. Show support. Make it a tournament that the MLS execs and power brokers take seriously.
You realize that outside a few hardcores no virtually no one has shown they care about the US Cup. Sorry. NASL just ignored it. It’s amazing how little attention it gets from fans, media and sponsors, but it’s oh so horrible.
BTW I played in it on a crap field, in front of a few hundred people, and hurt myself for almost a year. Team couldn’t even cover my medical costs. Yeah, let’s romanticize that while we changed in a bus. Sigh. Reality doesn’t exist in the romantic world of delusion.
TK, Which MLS team did you play for? Which years?
Don’t agree with the move. MLS needs to work with USSF.
But I do understand that money is what runs the show.
Leagues cup will bring more revenue and better competition. Jusy wait until the expand it to South American leagues. That will be coming in the future. CONMEBOl will see the dollar signs.
I heard that the Premier League threatened to do the same thing to get the FA to come to the table better. And they found common ground.
It’s easy to find common ground when there is a lot of money in the game like in England. No different than our big sports leagues here. Not the case with the US Open Cup. USSF can’t support it and promote it properly because they don’t have the money and it is a huge money loser…….for all. Fans barely care. Sponsors and TV don’t care. Many of the players and nixon don’t care. Is what it is. That is reality. Soccer didn’t have 100 plays years to grow here as the main sport. It was mocked openly as little as a decade ago in the mainstream here. It’s amazing it’s come this far, this fast. That’s the reality.
first, USSF/MLS have previously made the whole “separate teams” fuss — contracts, player registration — and ruled out this same scenario.
second, is the real point MLS drops out — perhaps to emphasize the competing leagues cup — and then nicely asks if the B team rejoins instead?
third, how do you do this and still use USOC to decide concacaf slots? if you tracked your previous position then the B team or other winners should go to concacaf instead. and there should be rules on who can be loaned down and play. separate teams is separate teams, no?
fourth, historically ASL participated, NASL didn’t, and until 95 A-League and USISL didn’t. mind you, at this point we’re talk a quarter century of how it’s been done, but it’s been handled different ways since the beginning. but still, can you imagine if EPL said we’re skipping FA Cup?
It’s 100% to push Leagues Cup and to a lesser amount CL, Campeones Cup. MLS makes money on Leagues Cup it doesn’t on US Open Cup. USSF would collect any revenue from the Open Cup. Also, beating Liga Mx teams attracts eyeballs, beating Pittsburgh Riverhounds tends not to. Not sure this is a good move for MLS, they created Next Pro because their USL teams largely didn’t compete well in USL. Concacaf will determine the slots for the 2025 CL so unless they take away the Open Cup Champion slot the winner would qualify for CL.
Disgraceful
This is a sad move.