US Open Cup lives on ...barely: Held hostage by a competition that SUM markets- but it's not Leagues Cup
Don't just blame the Leagues Cup. It's deeper than that.
A saga which began in mid-December was put to bed to Friday to an extent, but the solution will create lingering questions and animosity for months if not years to come.
US Soccer has forced *some* MLS participation in the US Open Cup. While the common narrative is that Leagues Cup is the culprit, let’s focus on the CONCACAF Champions Cup , League, Cup, today.
Keep in mind 17 of the 26 MLS clubs based in the United States (the issue of MLS clubs in Canada is something I want to address in the near future) are in Open Cup, even if many of them are fielding reserve teams. The nine that are not, are instead playing in a competition on its 4th different format in 16 years…but one marketed by SUM. And one that hardly draws better than US Open Cup and is largely invisible in media.
MLS Open Cup participation is limited and exempts clubs playing in a revamped CONCACAF Champions Cup that has changed format three times in the last 15 years while being marketed by MLS’ marketing arm SUM for much of that time. And somehow teams that finish 5th in a conference qualify for this revamped “Champions” Cup?
Nothing about how MLS has handled the Open Cup has been logical, fair or makes any bit of sense outside of financial business metrics. But it is all about business. MLS at times feels like a marketing company (SUM) that happens to manage a soccer league. That’s a bit unfair, especially when so many MLS players and coaches as well as club front offices are so deeply committed to the game. But in terms of the top brass at MLS everything is ALWAYS about money.
"Simply, no team should participate in the U.S. Open Cup at a loss,” MLS EVP Nelson Rodriguez told The Athletic on Friday. Never mind that MLS teams generally lose lots of money every time they open their stadium in league play, now we’re saying a standard that the league is unwilling to apply to its own competitions must be applied to US Open Cup?
Never mind that MLS as a the top men’s league in this country which had been subsidized for years one way or another by USSF has a RESPONSIBILITY to the rest of the game in this country.
Through the years, MLS’ marketing targets and goals have weaved all over the place and ultimately their hesitancy about the importance of US Open Cup, beyond the actual money & marketing issues, comes down to that. Let’s also remember they were responsible for marketing the Open Cup from 2005 to 2022.
Now MLS/SUM once again markets the CONCACAF Champions Cup, I mean League, oh it’s a Cup again! The format of this competition was changed AGAIN this year, the fourth different format change in the last 16 editions of the competition. And in many cases the midweek games cost MLS clubs money to open large stadiums for smaller crowds- not unlike US Open Cup. BUT the key difference is SUM markets the competition and through the relationship MLS enjoys with CONCACAF, have been able to shoehorn ten MLS teams into a competition that has less than 30 participants. Maybe La Liga should argue that it deserves seven or eight UEFA Champions League spots. That’s the equivalent here.
Given that MLS can dictate the terms of competition to CONCACAF with ease, and have been exempted the same restriction on Canadian clubs placed on USL, it’s no small wonder CONCACAF Champions Cup/League/Cup comes first.
And since it comes first, US Open Cup, a property which now is taking on a newfound commercial value thanks to US Soccer’s efforts to actually market the competition had to be sacrificed. Not only sacrificed, but discredited thorough various talking points that were both duplicitous and disingenuous.
Not only they keep changing the format, but the games are more difficult to find than U.S. Open Cup games.
FS2 is out of sight and out of mind for the vast majority of soccer fans.
Detroit will have more games on television this year than any MLS team LOLOL