NOTEBOOK: Why no strike during Open Cup and an update on possible replacement players

First portion of article is free- the rest is paid.

The 2026 USL Championship season has kicked off, with moments of silence and no play for a minute of every match. That is because despite authorizing a strike with a staggering 90% “Yes” vote in late February, the players have chosen to stay on the pitch—for now.

Instead of a walkout, they’ve introduced a “minute of stillness.” For the first sixty seconds after the whistle, players stood motionless while broadcasts were forced to pivot to the stands or stay on the frozen frame of twenty-two athletes refusing to play. Our Johnathan Starling has tracked each start, and how commentators and camera reacted - his thread on this on Bluesky is a must read.

The message from the USL Players Association is simple: Without the players, there is no product. Meanwhile the MLS Players Association is now making public, what has long been their private support of the USL Players. Immediately after this was posted I heard multiple people in the USL space (fans of USL) float conspiracy theories that MLS players would like to see USL disappear and therefore enhance MLS. Let me ask those reflexively “MLS is worse than Mussolini or Stalin” people why would a group of professional soccer players want to LIMIT opportunities in their profession? As we know a MAJORITY of USMNT pool players (including some of the bigger stars currently) have at some point played lower division domestic soccer, so why would we want to see that collapse?

The idea that MLS players want USL to fail is totally cockamamie. Among the major issues dividing players and management is licensing fees. Here is an explainer published Friday about that division.