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For ten months, Major League Soccer has been publicly commenting on the state of the U.S. Open Cup, the 110-year-old single-elimination tournament run by the U.S. Soccer Federation that includes teams from all levels of the US Soccer. This month, a solution was finally reached: MLS will field just eight of its 26 eligible teams in the tournament. while most other franchises would enter their teams from MLS Next Pro – the league’s development circuit.
On a wide table with Athletics at the league office in New York City, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Nelson Rodríguez, EVP of sports products and competition at MLS, reflected on the discussions so far, including why they happened in the first place.
“Imagine the MLB or the NFL playing all their teams in a tournament that was scheduled during their season — in the middle of their season — in ways that the league had little to no involvement in,” Garber said. “We have no financial involvement in it. We do not control the brand. We do not control the condition of the facilities.
“I think it’s definitely an emotional, passionate hot spot for some groups of people. I think we will end up in a good place. I will tell you this, if it wasn’t for the energy that we put in and said, it really can’t go on the way it is, US Soccer would never have made the commitments that they are making now. I feel very strongly about that.”
Here’s how Garber and Rodriguez answered questions about why the league changed its attendance, the reaction to the move and what comes next.
How the fans feel about the Open Cup
Speaking at the roundtable, Rodriguez cited a poll that MLS conducted through its fan panel, which asked them to rank the non-regular season contests teams participate in throughout the year.
“Of the competitions in which MLS participates, the Open Cup is the third, with 6% interest for fans,” said Rodriguez. “The League Cup is at 4% – after a year, something we invented. The Leagues Cup broke attendance records, brought new fans into the market. Number one so far is the MLS Cup and number two is the CONCACAF Champions Cup — and CONCACAF, I would argue, through some of the same incentives that we provide, has greatly increased its investment in raising the CONCACAF Champions Cup.”
Rodriguez continued, going back to his time with the Chicago Fire, where he was an executive from 2015 until stepping down in 2021. The Fire won the Open Cup four times in his first nine seasons as a club, from 1998 to 2006.
“For us, it all ties back together, but we’re not just creating stuff — we’re trying to listen to our fans,” Rodriguez said. “There is a very small, passionate group of fans who believe deeply in the Open Cup. I was president of a club; we played our (best) 11 from the first game and the second game as far as we went. We believed in that, and I think there are still some MLS teams that believe in that. But we think we should allow the freedom to let the clubs find their way, if and when this competition serves the fans properly.”
Messi is among the MLS players who will miss time for the Copa America (CHRIS ARJOON/AFP via Getty Images)
Player load and overclocking program
Rodriguez said the change in MLS participation in the Open Cup this year was driven by the number of games on the schedules of a number of league players.
“(Changing our involvement to) 2024 was a recognition on our part that there was a lot going on in this year,” he said. “The Copa America can take up to 64 players (from MLS teams). It’s not just about the schedule being stuck. It’s the workload of the players – how many games they can play, especially when there’s an increase in national team tournaments and the Nations League grows and the Club World Cup is coming.’
Rodriguez was asked about balancing those player load issues with the expanded Leagues Cup, as well as the league’s decision to expand postseason play that now includes 18 teams (counting the play-in round) as well as a longer playoff. best of three MLS Cup first round. Rodriguez responded that “only two teams” will play the maximum seven League Cup games in any given year, and that it is not certain that both of those teams will be from MLS. Conversely, some teams will only play twice if they cannot get out of their League Cup group.
Nelson Rodriguez was previously an executive with the four-time Open Cup winners Chicago Fire (Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports)
The financial factor
Rodriguez elaborated on the earlier point made by Garber, looking at the logistical differences of competitions that are run (at least in part) by MLS and those that are not.
“We also don’t think the financial burden of the tournament should be solely on the back of MLS,” Rodriguez said. “This seems heavy to us, that we have to be the financial support of the federation’s event – of an event that should unite football in America. Those were the messages that we tried to deliver and we tried to work within the parameters that US Soccer set for us. They told us who to talk to, when to talk to, and that’s what we did diligently and faithfully throughout the process.
“Next Pro is another great investment our ownership is making that is paying dividends in the USA National Team pool system. Banning those players from a meaningful competition that is supposed to unify feels archaic and just plain wrong. Our request for some exceptions for a waiver was for 2024 only, knowing it would take time to work with all the constituents around the US Soccer table to find an event and format that works for everyone.”
Garber acknowledged the enthusiasm for the tournament that many vocal opponents of the MLS position expressed in response to the league’s plan in December. However, he also highlighted why he felt US Soccer should continue to evolve the tournament.
“US Soccer has new leadership elected, their new management with JT Batson and his staff are doing a great job, but professional soccer has not been their focus – nor should it be. It is not the focus of FA (English). It is not the focus of the German federation. They have a broader focus on what they need to think about holistically, but the federation has never been in a position to fund and prioritize the US Open Cup.
Garber sits on US Soccer’s board (Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
Could MLS have lost USSF sanctions?
A point quoted from Athletics and others in recent months is that participation in the US Open Cup is among the first criteria listed for a league to retain first-division sanctions under the federation’s Professional League Standards (PLS). For critics of changing the league’s involvement, breaking away from that guidance could jeopardize MLS’s compliance with the guiding principles.
Apparently, it was at the heart of US Soccer’s initial rejection of the MLS plan in December. However, the league framed the sanctioning guidelines debate in a different way.
“We also think it’s unfair that only division one teams are forced to play – nobody else is forced to play,” Rodriguez said. Garber emphasized this point, saying that he thought “people didn’t understand that.”
(It should be noted, however, that the US Open Cup is also a mandatory point for the men’s and women’s Division III Leagues in last revision published date March 17, 2023.)
“I’m not sure why that’s considered fair,” Rodriguez continued. “At the end of the day, I think what we all want are clubs that are in the tournament, that want to be in the tournament, that want to shine, that want to win, that want to expect – having the right host incentives becomes important.
For now, Garber said, the ban resolution serves as a moment for each entity to take a breath and reiterate its ‘why’ in all of this.
“We take very seriously that we have an obligation to build the sport,” he said. “This is something we think about every day. I’ve been on the US Soccer board for decades – I’ve never missed an AGM (annual general meeting). I take that responsibility with passion and seriousness. But we all need to think of our evolving world of football as something that cannot simply be based on what was, but must evolve into a world of what is and what should be. This requires rethinking things. Just because the tournament was around for so many years doesn’t mean it didn’t really need to rethink its format and its relationship with its clubs.”
(Photo: Jason Allen/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
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