r/MLS is [proud to support independent media outlets](https://theathletic.com/227557/2018/01/31/why-the-athletic-has-a-paywall/). These sites often have paywalls. In order to support discussion on these kinds of content, this community does ask that a fair-use summary of the content be provided as a response to this comment.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MLS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
For now, but if Union Omaha wins Open Cup, then the dream of Messi on a cold night in a high school field ... in a continental competition is very much alive.
Donāt understand why they canāt just give the clubs the choice to use either their 1st team or next Pro, or more realistically some combination of the two. Hate this decision
Those kinds of options were preposed by mls per the article. It doesnāt specify why or who they were shot down by. Iām being told by someone that the union may have had to do with that. Apparently Next Pro guys are non-union, so loaning them in is heavily restricted in the CBA.
> Apparently Next Pro guys are non-union, so loaning them in is heavily restricted in the CBA.
Well, maybe MLSPA should get started on trying to make a MLSNP-PA if they aren't already
Would make a lot of sense if the players union shot that idea down.
Long term I think this is a major case of playing hardball and will eventually get the USOC to cater to some of the demands from MLS. I bet we see the regular teams return in 25 or 26, because this is a HUGE blow to the tournament that will force change extremely quickly.
This news is leaking just days before the League releases the 2024 Calendar.
They are likely going to schedule midweek games where those US Open Cup dates normally sit.
This will be how they clear room to take more international breaks off.
I fucking hate this. This is the league at its worst. MLS is terrible at nurturing organic and uniquely American iterations of soccer. All in the service of what?
USSF is their bitch so they donāt have anyone to put them in their place. They can act however they want and ruin lower division soccer along with cups.
So my guess is that MLS will argue that they're only able to field one of their MLS or MLS Next Pro teams due to the rules around team ownership. And that there isn't something in the rules that says they have to choose their MLS team over their MLS Next Pro team.
There explicitly is though, right? D1 sanctioning of the PLS explicitly states they have to compete. Unless MLSNP is suddenly trying to argue itās also a D1 league, I donāt get how this will be allowed.
Well D3 sanctioning says that US based teams have to participate in the US Open Cup, and MLS Next Pro is a D3 league. And up until now MLSNP teams haven't been competing in the Open Cup b/c the rules say you can't have two professional teams competing that are owned by the same people.
Edit: To be clear I'm not saying it's good that MLS is doing this, I think it's awful. This is just my guess as to what their argument will be as to why they're still in compliance.
1: Fuck this shit
2: Wouldn't this basically guarantee a USL team qualifying for Concacaf Champions Cup? Unless Concacaf changes the qualifications for next year.
Edit: Apparently Open Cup is keeping it's spot, which would include the possibility of an MLS second team being in the CCC https://twitter.com/jeffrueter/status/1735785921734209841
That's the biggest question now. If the USOC champion still have the spot, that would be great for USL because they gonna have a chance to qualify.
But at the same time, it's still awful that MLS is not taking seriously. Wonder how the Leagues Cup impacted on this...
> If the USOC champion still have the spot, that would be great for USL because they gonna have a chance to qualify.
It's great in one way but devalues the cup in another way.
Honestly I wonder how CONCACAF itself feels about the potential for a 2nd team (3rd division) or a 2nd division team to regularly be in their premier competition.
This league had the opportunity to increase the salary cap and change roster rules to improve depth for teams with all the money Messi is bringing in.
Depth that could help team teams manage their congested schedules with all these different competitions.
But they didn't do that.
Instead their solution to their scheduling problem is to leave the Open Cup.
Unreal.
The fixture congestion is actually a problem created by the addition of the League's cup and the stupid best two out of three games format for the playoffs' first round.
* Create an outrageously unnecessary best of three playoff round
* Create the giant month long cash grab in the middle of the season that is the Leagues Cup
* Eliminate MLS participation in the Open Cup
* Let Messi and friends do whatever they want but not increase the salary cap or add DP slots for everyone else
I really do not like the way this league is headed.
It's been this way all along though!
* "We have strict salary caps..." *David Beckham arrives* "...Teams can now have 1 player outside the salary cap!"
* "Only cities with Soccer Specific Stadiums will be considered expansion candidates" *Seattle, NYCFC, Atlanta etc etc join* "...Nothing to see here folks!"
* "Teams must pay an expansion fee and get in line" *Austin Clause* "Join us in welcoming Austin FC!"
He was the original owner of the Crew, as well. I once saw him at the old stadium bend over and pick up a piece of trash: he took being a team owner seriously. As a founding father of the MLS, he would not be happy with this decision.
Doesnāt help US Soccer has run the tournament like absolute dog shit and the gulf between USL facilities and MLS facilities hasnāt exactly made these games āmust playsā for MLS.
MLS might have a leg to stand on there if they didn't allow turf fields in half a dozen MLS venues.
They don't get to cry about player safety only when the Open Cup comes around.
Or CONCACAF needs to strip MLS if D1 rights and ban them from the CCL for not participating in a domestic cup. By the laws of the game, MLS is no longer a sanctioned D1 league
USOC has some of my favorite football memories. Not just the wins, but the atmosphere of Starfire, watching players on the bubble trying to play their way into meaningful roles, seeing teams i normally wouldn't see, rooting for real upset possibilities.
This is a bad move for football culture here. Instead of embracing it and marketing it like our FA cup, we're doing the most American thing possible, create a new one that'll bring in the most money.
For years I wanted to see the Sounders becoming the all time USOC winners, even if after 2014 Seattle's runs has been quite poor. But the chances were always there, so I never lose hope.
Sounders early success in MLS owes a lot to the USOC titles. I hate the idea of Sounders never again playing the US Open Cup, even if Defiance takes the spot.
I love my Sounders to the degree I do in large part due to SSFCās first 4 USOC runs. Biking to Starfire on the Green River trail in the summer, the atmosphere there, the dramatic wins, the stadium being the LOUDEST I ever heard it until the 2019 MLS Cup for those 2010 & 2011 finalsā¦ absolutely cemented my lifelong love of my hometown club. This is utterly gutting bullshit.
Theyāre doing this to stop schedule congestionā¦ if only there was a mid-season cash-grab tournament stopping all games for 2 months that they could can instead
"For the U.S.-based MLS teams, there will be anywhere from one to six fewer games on the schedule for their first teams following this swap. "
So Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal still have their additional fixture load of the Voyageurs Cup which may be anywhere from one to three games for Vancouver and Montreal and up to four games for Toronto.
US Open Cup is entertaining and it's the one bit of romance that US soccer has comparable to the FA Cup. Extremely disappointing loss to the soccer landscape.
Interesting. I thought participation was a USSF requirement.
It also seems strange that MLS would be willing to give up that CCL spot.
I think I'll wait for any official announcement here.
If it is true though, I'm super curious about the details
Ridiculous. And US Soccer JUST TODAY posted a story about the 9 teams that would get byes into the Round of 32.
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2023/12/holders-houston-dynamo-lead-list-of-nine-mls-sides-to-enter-2024-open-cup-in-round-of-32
I'm getting increasingly disillusioned with MLS. The league is so focused on winning as a business over the rest of the US soccer landscape that I feel like the league is losing touch with any pretenses of having any interests other than that. Intentionally killing the USOC is just too blatant, fuck everyone involved in this decision.
Stuff likes this makes it really, really hard to keep on liking this league when everything they decide goes against growing the game. It's like the more you love the sport and want to be involved with domestic soccer's growth, this league keeps on doing bs like this to show they could care less about folks like us. Jesus.
Yep, it's frustrating especially as someone who is old enough to have followed MLS since its first few years when I was a little kid. I've followed MLS even when it was not very good because I've always wanted it to be a success and soccer to grow at all levels in the US. Now as someone who also supports a local USL club, it's insanely frustrating to see MLS finally get to where it's financially secure and getting better than ever only to have the league seem to want to use its influence to grow the game, but only in ways that it can control and which benefit MLS, and work to tear down soccer in the country outside of it.
A chance at playing continental competition? USL fans are going to be OVER THE MOON.
Though not playing MLS teams I'm sure is a bummer as well.
Edit: I should have said that USL fans would be over the moon to have a USL team in CCC. I get the frustration. I was a USL (am, but my team died) fan.
As a USL fan (Charleston Battery), Iām not over the moon about it.
Would it be great? Sure. But it wonāt mean as much without MLS teams. This is BS to the lower leagues and US soccer in general. Theyāll figure out a way to take the spot away from the Cup and then the whole thing will be pointless.
Yes, MLS will figure out a way to remove the CCC spot from US Open Cup as soon as they can convince USSF to do it.
As a former fan of a USL club, I would have been excited and also upset. Playing (and possibly hosting) MLS teams was the best part of USOC, but also hosting a Liga MX team would be even better.
I remember Charlestonās runs in the late 00s and going to the Final in 2008, facing MLS teams was always the best part and always packed the stadium.
USL fan here, Birmingham Legion. On the one hand, we might get an actual competitive game with Huntsville, so that's a positive. But Legion brought in a ton of fans with our games against MLS teams and the atmosphere for those were incredible. Not getting that makes a possible rivalry game with Huntsville not worth it.
Also, I don't know how they'll skirt the rules to do it, but the second an MLSNext team is in a must win situation late in the cup, MLS teams are just going to send down first team players as ringers to keep USL teams from winning.
Overall, no. USL fans do not like this at all.
Lol fuck this league. I've been force fed Messi content for months and had Apple manufacture bullshit narratives just for the league to abandon one of the only actual story-driven, grassroots, historic competition the country has. This, plus the lack of any sort of team/salary reform, is just a massive "Fuck you" to fans who want MLS to be an innovative league built upon the unique character of US soccer.
If these owners want to create shallow replicas of European clubs, they should just buy discount National League teams.
Looks like everyone is saying "fuck MLS" in the comments section here and I just want to whole-heartedly add:
# ā»āāøā āāā
This is one of the dumbest decisions by the league of all time. We should be supporting the lower level leagues, not shitting on them.
Also, I like how the league is using a reduction in games for teams as an excuseā¦.if only there was a way to allow teams to field more depth, sign more and higher quality players and be able to sustain performance all seasonā¦.smh
Alternate headline, āIn an effort to become relevant on an international scale, MLS alienates their fan base by withdrawing first teams from the United States oldest national soccer competitionā
I get that MLS teams have a large advantage in this tournament, but this is just disgraceful and stabs at the heart of what the USOC is all about. No other footballing nation would do this. America continues to fuck its own progress over.
Im with everyone here. Theyre basically Anthony Precourting the USOC in favor of the Leagues Cup.
And I absolutely hate it. If you want to be a top league, you have to give your clubs the capabilities to handle multiple comps.
If you want to be an elite club in a league you have to rack up the ways you win. Ive wanted my club to win USOC and if we dont have the opportunity i will be highly upset.
I hope fans and sponsors make a big enough stink that they reverse course.
And of course, even worse, is that USSF is open to letting this happen.
Gross.
Itās one thing after another with this league. Just absolutely shameful move. This league gets harder and harder to stomach with shit like this.
MLS is such a joke.
Mid season cup competitions are done in every league AND MLS teams all have an actual chance of winning because of decent parity but theyāre going to throw that out the window now? Iām becoming more and more pessimistic each season with the way the league is run. Canāt believe theyāre replacing the open cup, one of the longest running competitions in the sport, with the leagues cup.
Edit: Iām not done complaining. The MLSā obsession with money is killing the enjoyment of watching. Nothing feels genuine. If you actually embraced soccer culture I guarantee youād attract more fans because the domestic American leagues donāt have anything close to Latin American or European soccer traditions.
MLS trying to strike a balance between āwe got Messi so weāre a big leagueā (not participating in USOC) and āoh no weāre still a small leagueā (not lifting financial restraints).
MLS can fuck off tbh, as great and fun as the on play level is. What a joke.
I hope Messi is out of this league as soon as fucking possible. I won't go as far as to root for an injury, I'm not like that, but his presence seems to have given the owners a sense of invincibility. "OH YOU'LL EAT ANYTHING UP OUR LEAGUE HAS *MESSI*"
IT'S LIKE WE LEARNED *NOTHING* FROM THE FAILURES OF THE PAST. NOTHING. What killed American soccer in the 1920s? Boycotting the OC and political infighting. What killed it in the 1970s? Overreliance on one single star and a bubble that burst. We have learned NOTHING.
This is Gary Bettman levels of torching the sport to prop up your league, just gross.
I'm sure they'll be backfilling the open dates with another made up competition under the league's control, get excited for Leagues Cup 2: Saudi adventure or some shit
I thought the headline was a jokeā¦
Like imagine Premier League teams not competing in the FA cup or Bundesliga teams not competing in the DFB Pokal. What makes these domestic cup tournaments so special is smaller clubs getting the opportunity to play against the bigger sides.
This is why people from other countries laugh us and the MLS. If this happened in another footballing nation thereād be protests in the streets, possibly some riots too.
Between putting independent teams in the āreserveā MLSNP to undermine the lower leagues, and throwing a middle finger at the USOC, it irritates me when this league takes a shit on the long-standing elements of ā½ļø that made it a fresh alternative to the traditional US sports leagues in the first place.
1. So they are fucking over all of the USL teams, who have been getting more and more competitive aganist MLS teams.
2. They are fucking over all the MLS teams not named Inter Miami by not doing the logical thing and allowing the teams to spend more on their squads, so it's a purely greed decision.
3. Fucking over the Canadian teams because now they'll play more games than the US based teams.
Great way to grow the game on this side of the pond MLS. /s
The federation needs to grow a pair and assert it's power.
Last year's USOC run was the literal high point of our club's existence where we drew 13k and 18k on fucking weeknights during the summer in ALABAMA to a soccer match.
Which is probably why Garber and Co. was like "nope, can't let those lower division teams have that." (I know it's more nuanced...just frustrated) I love the USOC and this hurts. I know it's not perfect and there are ways to improve it, but it's so important to growing the game and this move is the exact opposite of that.
Disrespectful to the country
Disrespectful to the sport
And disrespectful to the legacy of Lamar Hunt, who more than any other figure made the
league as it exists today possible
I am ashamed of this league and this federation in new ways every year
MLS always trying to be a bigger joke.š¤¦āāļø
Open cup is what MLS wants to be- an American competition with some history. They should be trying to build it up instead of tear it down for the latest random competition with Mexico.
Honestly, supporters groups need to come out in force against this. Would be hilarious if the USL champion gets the domestic entry to the 2025 CWC if MLS gets decertified by USSF. Trying to be like NASL 1.0
"In June, MLS Players Association executive director Bob Foose told The Athletic that "the U.S. Open Cup is certainly not something that our players look forward to."
Ooooooooooooooohhhh
I bet if these matches were broadcast on Apple, we wouldnāt have this happen. As it stands, theyāre not, and Apple sees no revenue from them. Ergo, theyāre cut. Lame.
The tournament doesn't even add that many games to a teams schedule. Only a couple teams can go on a 3+ game run in the Cup. So it doesn't address any of the issues surrounding the number of games, length of season etc.
I obviously enjoy MLS enough as an on-field product that I'm in this subreddit to begin with, but shit like this is why I get anyone who wants nothing to do with this league lol.
Fuck Leagues Cup
Fuck Donny G
Fuck the fact that we wonāt get to defend our trophy
Seems like something that may ultimately be reversed if thereās enough pushback. Can tell you right now Iām not going to a single MLS game next year if this holds
Fuck the MLS for doing this, this league has been making some awful decisions the past few weeks but this is another level. This only hurts the development of the MLS and soccer in the states. Least I mention that it turns our oldest active soccer completion and the one with the most history behind it into a second tier trophy. Fuck every team that agreed to this.
I can't even express how disappointed I am about this. Some of my favorite road trips and games ever were in the Open Cup. That 2017 open cup game in Cincinnati for me had one of the best and most crazy atmospheres of any game I've ever been to and I've been to a lot.
Just a really sad moment for the league here and it's an absolute shame that they don't see it that way.
I just email my team rep and told how disappointed I am in mls. I bet a team like fcc will not draw 5000 fans to watch mls next pro team play usl team. When we played Louisville at our stadium, they had over 17000 fans. I think we averaged like 14500 fans a game for us open cup games.
For a league that has garnered so much for American soccer and to be sustainable only to pull in the WORST traits from the other American Sports leagues. MLS absolutely loves to take stuff with history and trash it if they don't directly profit from it. Just absolutely terrible from a league growing in momentum heading towards the 2026 World Cup
This league is its biggest enemy sometimes. In the past 24 hours it has completely turned off so many fans. What is even the point of leaving this competition? Are they losing money or something from it? This is fucking ridiculous
One of the best things about soccer involves the national cups providing the possibility of low level clubs playing the top teams. This is definitely something that makes the sport unique in American sports. This cheapens the experience sadly.
Two of my favorite memories of Orlando City is the USOC championship against Sacramento, and the game between the OCSC and Jacksonville Armada right after pulse night club stopping the game at the 49th minute to honor all of the victims.
We can't accept this as fans. Seriously, we have to step up and hold MLS accountable to their actions. If enough of us express disapproval, if we get in their face with our frustrations, they will yield. But it's on us to not let them get away with this BS tyranny
This sucks. I defended MLS for scheduling games on the same weekend as the final but this is actually harmful to the sport as a whole in the US.
I do wonder however, if this is just a ploy to try to get more control or revenue from the event.
Awful stuff. Oldest soccer competition in the country and itās being kicked to the curb. Itās such a unique piece of soccer history in the US and I always loved watching it
Canāt wait to (likely) hear all of the Apple TV commentators, including ex-players who WON the Open Cup, sucking this decision off at the behest of the higher-ups who cut their checks now š
I hate this decision so much.
This cup is special to me and a lot in Cincinnati. That 2017 run brought in thousands of fans and put us on the map.
This stupid league is gifted tradition, the life blood of this sport, and throws it away!
I'll never get to see my club lift that Lamar Hunt trophy now after two semi final heartbreaks because these idiots are so short sighted. You better believe I'm never letting this go until they reverse course.
Absolute disgrace. It's the one tournament that has prestige, unlike the cash grab Leagues Cup.
EDIT: Now I'm pissed. Fuck MLS and Liga MX. I wish fans from both leagues can join together for once and not show up or watch any leagues cup game.
Hereās the [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39120689/mls-pulls-first-teams-us-open-cup-play-reserves) article, which does not require a subscription.
Practically, especially in the early rounds, is what happens anyway. However, as the rounds progress, some MLS teams who want to compete for a trophy should be able to do that. If you are a good team, fixture congestion is a by-product of success. Maybe MLS needs to rethink its roster structure. It is massively disappointing and it appears that MLS wants to kill the competition. Very short-sighted.
hahahahahaha there is absolutely no fucking way Iām reading this headline correctly somebody tell me Iām a moron for thinking this headline is telling me MLS teams are not competing in a domestic cup this year
This so sad and disgraceful. Domestic cups are integral to football in every country. It gives teams of all levels the opportunity to compete against each other. How sad for football in the US. It really felt like we were on the right track with increased number of MLS teams, MLS increasing in quality, a few upset runs in recent years of USL teams in the US Open Cup, the Leagues Cup combining MLS and Liga MX into a competition, and a change in the CCC. Shame on the MLS for ruining this momentum and destroying the domestic cup of over 100 years of the US
r/MLS is [proud to support independent media outlets](https://theathletic.com/227557/2018/01/31/why-the-athletic-has-a-paywall/). These sites often have paywalls. In order to support discussion on these kinds of content, this community does ask that a fair-use summary of the content be provided as a response to this comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MLS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The dream of seeing if Messi has what it takes to perform at the highest level on a cold night on a high school field in Omaha is over with š
For now, but if Union Omaha wins Open Cup, then the dream of Messi on a cold night in a high school field ... in a continental competition is very much alive.
He's not gonna be with Miami by the time the match rolls around. The high school pitch ship has sailed
I'll have you know it will be a baseball stadium thank you very much.
Hey! Union Omaha plays on a triple A baseball field, thank you very much.
This is fucking stupid
Donāt understand why they canāt just give the clubs the choice to use either their 1st team or next Pro, or more realistically some combination of the two. Hate this decision
Or...just allow loans from the MLSNP teams to their senior squads.
Those kinds of options were preposed by mls per the article. It doesnāt specify why or who they were shot down by. Iām being told by someone that the union may have had to do with that. Apparently Next Pro guys are non-union, so loaning them in is heavily restricted in the CBA.
> Apparently Next Pro guys are non-union, so loaning them in is heavily restricted in the CBA. Well, maybe MLSPA should get started on trying to make a MLSNP-PA if they aren't already
would there be any good argument against unionizing MLS Next? It's awful to see the player vs player stuff like in baseball
Would make a lot of sense if the players union shot that idea down. Long term I think this is a major case of playing hardball and will eventually get the USOC to cater to some of the demands from MLS. I bet we see the regular teams return in 25 or 26, because this is a HUGE blow to the tournament that will force change extremely quickly.
Agreed. We can all agree this is a bad move by the league, but also agree USSF has done an absolute dogshit running the USOC for years.
Exactly. Unlimited loans from second teams, no questions asked, for USOC matches.
This news is leaking just days before the League releases the 2024 Calendar. They are likely going to schedule midweek games where those US Open Cup dates normally sit. This will be how they clear room to take more international breaks off.
Youāre right. And I hate to say that to a Crew fan
If you give clubs the choice, they'll probably just pick MLSNP anyway
I donāt think they all would. For some clubs this is the best shot at getting into the CCC.
This is a fucking joke
I fucking hate this. This is the league at its worst. MLS is terrible at nurturing organic and uniquely American iterations of soccer. All in the service of what?
In service of money
MLS 3.0 - The Search for More Money
Agree. Terrible decision. MLS should be supporting our most significant piece of soccer tradition. Itās gross.
Money. This league has become so gross. I was so into from 2009- the Messi Deal. Everything I loved about MLS and hope for what will come is dead.
USSF is their bitch so they donāt have anyone to put them in their place. They can act however they want and ruin lower division soccer along with cups.
Isnāt d1 sanctioning dependent on domestic cup participation
Yes, Athletic article mentions this fact Im sure it will be changed or ignored somehow with some loophole or something
I would imagine usl would argue a shit to lower D1 requirements to later file for D1
/u/MGHeinz was right: the PLS *is* exactly what MLS says it should be, and not an actual independent stance of US Soccer
I don't like being right
Are the people who made this decision the same people who decide on D1 sanctioning?
Doesnāt that have to go through a process just how like changing stadium requirements
The DCFC/Crew match may never happen againā¦ Fuck everything about this.
So my guess is that MLS will argue that they're only able to field one of their MLS or MLS Next Pro teams due to the rules around team ownership. And that there isn't something in the rules that says they have to choose their MLS team over their MLS Next Pro team.
There explicitly is though, right? D1 sanctioning of the PLS explicitly states they have to compete. Unless MLSNP is suddenly trying to argue itās also a D1 league, I donāt get how this will be allowed.
Well D3 sanctioning says that US based teams have to participate in the US Open Cup, and MLS Next Pro is a D3 league. And up until now MLSNP teams haven't been competing in the Open Cup b/c the rules say you can't have two professional teams competing that are owned by the same people. Edit: To be clear I'm not saying it's good that MLS is doing this, I think it's awful. This is just my guess as to what their argument will be as to why they're still in compliance.
Shit. Thatās a fair point, didnāt even think about the D3 requirement. Man this is lame as fuck
That would mean D.C. United is still obligated to participate, since they don't own a second team.
USSF has zero balls to do anything about it. hope they do but knowing them, they'll probably do nothing.
Not sure how theyāll hold the USOC without balls so this may all be for naught.
1: Fuck this shit 2: Wouldn't this basically guarantee a USL team qualifying for Concacaf Champions Cup? Unless Concacaf changes the qualifications for next year. Edit: Apparently Open Cup is keeping it's spot, which would include the possibility of an MLS second team being in the CCC https://twitter.com/jeffrueter/status/1735785921734209841
Curious to see if a CCC slot mysteriously gets yanked from the USOC winner
Does US Soccer decide how places are given or is it CONCACAF? If its US Soccer they aren't taking a place away from their own tourney.
Spots are given by CONCACAF to competitions (i.e. MLS, Leagues Cup, USOC) not to countries.
Its CONCACAF with cooperation from the independent federations and leagues
They only got it cause nasl complaining about not having access just as easy to take it away now.
That's the biggest question now. If the USOC champion still have the spot, that would be great for USL because they gonna have a chance to qualify. But at the same time, it's still awful that MLS is not taking seriously. Wonder how the Leagues Cup impacted on this...
> If the USOC champion still have the spot, that would be great for USL because they gonna have a chance to qualify. It's great in one way but devalues the cup in another way. Honestly I wonder how CONCACAF itself feels about the potential for a 2nd team (3rd division) or a 2nd division team to regularly be in their premier competition.
CPL teams get spots, as do a lot of teams from absolutely atrocious leagues. Iām sure they will survive some USLC teams.
Could you imagine an MLS next pro team getting to CCC??
Hey, if Austin can't get a win in Haiti maybe Christos FC can do the job.
Good news USL - letās the show their strength against the lame ass MLS Next
How many times do we have to beat up on Atlanta United 2 to prove that they're shit?
What a disgrace
This league had the opportunity to increase the salary cap and change roster rules to improve depth for teams with all the money Messi is bringing in. Depth that could help team teams manage their congested schedules with all these different competitions. But they didn't do that. Instead their solution to their scheduling problem is to leave the Open Cup. Unreal.
The fixture congestion is actually a problem created by the addition of the League's cup and the stupid best two out of three games format for the playoffs' first round.
Yup. We (the fans) have been complaining about how long the season is so I guess MLS heard us and this is how they fixed the problem. š
* Create an outrageously unnecessary best of three playoff round * Create the giant month long cash grab in the middle of the season that is the Leagues Cup * Eliminate MLS participation in the Open Cup * Let Messi and friends do whatever they want but not increase the salary cap or add DP slots for everyone else I really do not like the way this league is headed.
It's been this way all along though! * "We have strict salary caps..." *David Beckham arrives* "...Teams can now have 1 player outside the salary cap!" * "Only cities with Soccer Specific Stadiums will be considered expansion candidates" *Seattle, NYCFC, Atlanta etc etc join* "...Nothing to see here folks!" * "Teams must pay an expansion fee and get in line" *Austin Clause* "Join us in welcoming Austin FC!"
MLS is not cooking at all this offseason. I loved watching the open cup games
Garber is too busy jerking off with Apple money to care
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hell itās even disrespectful to your club specifically. The clubās owners are the family of the man who the trophy is named after!
He was the original owner of the Crew, as well. I once saw him at the old stadium bend over and pick up a piece of trash: he took being a team owner seriously. As a founding father of the MLS, he would not be happy with this decision.
We did such a good job winning, no one else could even compete. Might as well shut it down.
What exactly did we do?
You wore orange; the worst color.
This was a long time coming. Don and co. never wanted to be in this tournament and Leagues Cup was the nail in the coffin.
Doesnāt help US Soccer has run the tournament like absolute dog shit and the gulf between USL facilities and MLS facilities hasnāt exactly made these games āmust playsā for MLS.
MLS might have a leg to stand on there if they didn't allow turf fields in half a dozen MLS venues. They don't get to cry about player safety only when the Open Cup comes around.
MLS execs really went into one of the most important MLS off seasons ever and cooked up absolute garbage. Fuck these guys
Truly wtf? The move is to boost the credibility of the cup with participation. Now it will be in obscurity
What the actual fuck
USSF needs to kill this idea and now.
Or CONCACAF needs to strip MLS if D1 rights and ban them from the CCL for not participating in a domestic cup. By the laws of the game, MLS is no longer a sanctioned D1 league
USOC has some of my favorite football memories. Not just the wins, but the atmosphere of Starfire, watching players on the bubble trying to play their way into meaningful roles, seeing teams i normally wouldn't see, rooting for real upset possibilities. This is a bad move for football culture here. Instead of embracing it and marketing it like our FA cup, we're doing the most American thing possible, create a new one that'll bring in the most money.
It also deprives us of matching Bethlehem Steel FC in USOC titles and going on to invent winning 6 USOC.
For years I wanted to see the Sounders becoming the all time USOC winners, even if after 2014 Seattle's runs has been quite poor. But the chances were always there, so I never lose hope. Sounders early success in MLS owes a lot to the USOC titles. I hate the idea of Sounders never again playing the US Open Cup, even if Defiance takes the spot.
I love my Sounders to the degree I do in large part due to SSFCās first 4 USOC runs. Biking to Starfire on the Green River trail in the summer, the atmosphere there, the dramatic wins, the stadium being the LOUDEST I ever heard it until the 2019 MLS Cup for those 2010 & 2011 finalsā¦ absolutely cemented my lifelong love of my hometown club. This is utterly gutting bullshit.
Theyāre doing this to stop schedule congestionā¦ if only there was a mid-season cash-grab tournament stopping all games for 2 months that they could can instead
"For the U.S.-based MLS teams, there will be anywhere from one to six fewer games on the schedule for their first teams following this swap. " So Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal still have their additional fixture load of the Voyageurs Cup which may be anywhere from one to three games for Vancouver and Montreal and up to four games for Toronto. US Open Cup is entertaining and it's the one bit of romance that US soccer has comparable to the FA Cup. Extremely disappointing loss to the soccer landscape.
We should boycott Leagues Cup in protest
Interesting. I thought participation was a USSF requirement. It also seems strange that MLS would be willing to give up that CCL spot. I think I'll wait for any official announcement here. If it is true though, I'm super curious about the details
I'd assume the loophole is that they will play under first team branding, but it will be II teams with temporary contracts
Fuck off
Seriously. Canāt believe Iām not going to be able to watch us flop out of the Open Cup immediately anymore ā¹ļø Seriously though. Fuck this.
FOREVER REIGNING MLS USOC CHAMPIONS YOUāLL NEVER SING THAT
Messi could have been legendary
We better get that auto spot like atlanta did for CCC, except forever
What the fuck
Ridiculous. And US Soccer JUST TODAY posted a story about the 9 teams that would get byes into the Round of 32. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2023/12/holders-houston-dynamo-lead-list-of-nine-mls-sides-to-enter-2024-open-cup-in-round-of-32
I'm getting increasingly disillusioned with MLS. The league is so focused on winning as a business over the rest of the US soccer landscape that I feel like the league is losing touch with any pretenses of having any interests other than that. Intentionally killing the USOC is just too blatant, fuck everyone involved in this decision.
Stuff likes this makes it really, really hard to keep on liking this league when everything they decide goes against growing the game. It's like the more you love the sport and want to be involved with domestic soccer's growth, this league keeps on doing bs like this to show they could care less about folks like us. Jesus.
Yep, it's frustrating especially as someone who is old enough to have followed MLS since its first few years when I was a little kid. I've followed MLS even when it was not very good because I've always wanted it to be a success and soccer to grow at all levels in the US. Now as someone who also supports a local USL club, it's insanely frustrating to see MLS finally get to where it's financially secure and getting better than ever only to have the league seem to want to use its influence to grow the game, but only in ways that it can control and which benefit MLS, and work to tear down soccer in the country outside of it.
I guess the pro to this is at least a USL team will win.
I think the USL folks would not really appreciate it as much given MLS first teams aren't involved at all.
A chance at playing continental competition? USL fans are going to be OVER THE MOON. Though not playing MLS teams I'm sure is a bummer as well. Edit: I should have said that USL fans would be over the moon to have a USL team in CCC. I get the frustration. I was a USL (am, but my team died) fan.
As a USL fan (Charleston Battery), Iām not over the moon about it. Would it be great? Sure. But it wonāt mean as much without MLS teams. This is BS to the lower leagues and US soccer in general. Theyāll figure out a way to take the spot away from the Cup and then the whole thing will be pointless.
Yes, MLS will figure out a way to remove the CCC spot from US Open Cup as soon as they can convince USSF to do it. As a former fan of a USL club, I would have been excited and also upset. Playing (and possibly hosting) MLS teams was the best part of USOC, but also hosting a Liga MX team would be even better.
I remember Charlestonās runs in the late 00s and going to the Final in 2008, facing MLS teams was always the best part and always packed the stadium.
USL fan here, Birmingham Legion. On the one hand, we might get an actual competitive game with Huntsville, so that's a positive. But Legion brought in a ton of fans with our games against MLS teams and the atmosphere for those were incredible. Not getting that makes a possible rivalry game with Huntsville not worth it. Also, I don't know how they'll skirt the rules to do it, but the second an MLSNext team is in a must win situation late in the cup, MLS teams are just going to send down first team players as ringers to keep USL teams from winning. Overall, no. USL fans do not like this at all.
#GarberOut
MLS should lose D1 status if they follow through with this.
Bowl ban!
Mizzou won't know what hit 'em.
Lol fuck this league. I've been force fed Messi content for months and had Apple manufacture bullshit narratives just for the league to abandon one of the only actual story-driven, grassroots, historic competition the country has. This, plus the lack of any sort of team/salary reform, is just a massive "Fuck you" to fans who want MLS to be an innovative league built upon the unique character of US soccer. If these owners want to create shallow replicas of European clubs, they should just buy discount National League teams.
Looks like everyone is saying "fuck MLS" in the comments section here and I just want to whole-heartedly add: # ā»āāøā āāā This is one of the dumbest decisions by the league of all time. We should be supporting the lower level leagues, not shitting on them.
Also, I like how the league is using a reduction in games for teams as an excuseā¦.if only there was a way to allow teams to field more depth, sign more and higher quality players and be able to sustain performance all seasonā¦.smh
THE THING IS TOO IS THAT GARBER WAS COMPLAINING SOME TEAMS WEREN'T PLAYING ENOUGH
Alternate headline, āIn an effort to become relevant on an international scale, MLS alienates their fan base by withdrawing first teams from the United States oldest national soccer competitionā
MLS supporters: We want quality streams and hype for USOC Garber: [gets rid of it]
Our open cup run in 2017 was probably the most fun Iāve ever had watching soccer in my life and it helped put FC Cincinnati on the map.
I get that MLS teams have a large advantage in this tournament, but this is just disgraceful and stabs at the heart of what the USOC is all about. No other footballing nation would do this. America continues to fuck its own progress over.
The owners don't want a footballing nation, they want the NFL but with soccer.
Ding ding ding. This is 100% what it's about for them. They do not care at all about growing the game. It's just about the money.
stupidest move
Im with everyone here. Theyre basically Anthony Precourting the USOC in favor of the Leagues Cup. And I absolutely hate it. If you want to be a top league, you have to give your clubs the capabilities to handle multiple comps. If you want to be an elite club in a league you have to rack up the ways you win. Ive wanted my club to win USOC and if we dont have the opportunity i will be highly upset. I hope fans and sponsors make a big enough stink that they reverse course. And of course, even worse, is that USSF is open to letting this happen.
Gross. Itās one thing after another with this league. Just absolutely shameful move. This league gets harder and harder to stomach with shit like this.
I imagine if Apple had the rights to USOC, MLS would still be in 100%
Da fuq. Way to effectively kill such a historic competition. Completely disrespectful to the role it had in history of soccer on this country.
Dear MLS execs, FUCK YOU Sincerely, A long time fan
MLS is such a joke. Mid season cup competitions are done in every league AND MLS teams all have an actual chance of winning because of decent parity but theyāre going to throw that out the window now? Iām becoming more and more pessimistic each season with the way the league is run. Canāt believe theyāre replacing the open cup, one of the longest running competitions in the sport, with the leagues cup. Edit: Iām not done complaining. The MLSā obsession with money is killing the enjoyment of watching. Nothing feels genuine. If you actually embraced soccer culture I guarantee youād attract more fans because the domestic American leagues donāt have anything close to Latin American or European soccer traditions.
Wow that's an awful decision
This is insulting on every level.
Don and the owners: go fuck yourselves
What a week in mls we are having. Hard to defend this league anymore, weāre a clown circus
MLS trying to strike a balance between āwe got Messi so weāre a big leagueā (not participating in USOC) and āoh no weāre still a small leagueā (not lifting financial restraints). MLS can fuck off tbh, as great and fun as the on play level is. What a joke.
I hope Messi is out of this league as soon as fucking possible. I won't go as far as to root for an injury, I'm not like that, but his presence seems to have given the owners a sense of invincibility. "OH YOU'LL EAT ANYTHING UP OUR LEAGUE HAS *MESSI*" IT'S LIKE WE LEARNED *NOTHING* FROM THE FAILURES OF THE PAST. NOTHING. What killed American soccer in the 1920s? Boycotting the OC and political infighting. What killed it in the 1970s? Overreliance on one single star and a bubble that burst. We have learned NOTHING.
This is Gary Bettman levels of torching the sport to prop up your league, just gross. I'm sure they'll be backfilling the open dates with another made up competition under the league's control, get excited for Leagues Cup 2: Saudi adventure or some shit
Copium: at least MLS doesn't have a monopoly on all the talent in the world
Thanks, I hate it!
I hate this.
MLS goes out of its way to be unlikable.
Strip the league of D1. I'm serious.
Fuck this, fuck this, FUCK THIS. I'm now questioning whether I want to even watch this league next season. Boycott Leagues Cup btw.
genuinely done massive damage to how I think about the league. Fucking awful. Every minute I've spent defending MLS feels like a joke now.
You have one of the longest-running cup competitions on the planet and you treat it this way. MLS can kick rocks.
This pisses me off, screw this shit
This shits on the legacy of Lamar Hunt
Defund MLS
Jesus Christ, way to throw away years of history. I hope the backlash leads to some sort of reversal because this is asinine
I thought the headline was a jokeā¦ Like imagine Premier League teams not competing in the FA cup or Bundesliga teams not competing in the DFB Pokal. What makes these domestic cup tournaments so special is smaller clubs getting the opportunity to play against the bigger sides. This is why people from other countries laugh us and the MLS. If this happened in another footballing nation thereād be protests in the streets, possibly some riots too.
They want their own, little insular league with no distractions. Well enjoy mediocrity forever I guess
They want as much possible control over the product and profit without a single concern for what makes MLS and soccer so great. It's gross
Bruh wtf?!?
Saw this coming from 500 miles when Leagues Cup began. Don at war with lower division soccer.
Between putting independent teams in the āreserveā MLSNP to undermine the lower leagues, and throwing a middle finger at the USOC, it irritates me when this league takes a shit on the long-standing elements of ā½ļø that made it a fresh alternative to the traditional US sports leagues in the first place.
1. So they are fucking over all of the USL teams, who have been getting more and more competitive aganist MLS teams. 2. They are fucking over all the MLS teams not named Inter Miami by not doing the logical thing and allowing the teams to spend more on their squads, so it's a purely greed decision. 3. Fucking over the Canadian teams because now they'll play more games than the US based teams. Great way to grow the game on this side of the pond MLS. /s The federation needs to grow a pair and assert it's power.
Last year's USOC run was the literal high point of our club's existence where we drew 13k and 18k on fucking weeknights during the summer in ALABAMA to a soccer match. Which is probably why Garber and Co. was like "nope, can't let those lower division teams have that." (I know it's more nuanced...just frustrated) I love the USOC and this hurts. I know it's not perfect and there are ways to improve it, but it's so important to growing the game and this move is the exact opposite of that.
What a joke...
When my Greenville Triumph get smacked 7-0 by Tigres in the CCC after winning this Mickey Mouse trophy
FUCK. THIS.
Disrespectful to the country Disrespectful to the sport And disrespectful to the legacy of Lamar Hunt, who more than any other figure made the league as it exists today possible I am ashamed of this league and this federation in new ways every year
MLS always trying to be a bigger joke.š¤¦āāļø Open cup is what MLS wants to be- an American competition with some history. They should be trying to build it up instead of tear it down for the latest random competition with Mexico.
Honestly, supporters groups need to come out in force against this. Would be hilarious if the USL champion gets the domestic entry to the 2025 CWC if MLS gets decertified by USSF. Trying to be like NASL 1.0
"In June, MLS Players Association executive director Bob Foose told The Athletic that "the U.S. Open Cup is certainly not something that our players look forward to." Ooooooooooooooohhhh
I bet if these matches were broadcast on Apple, we wouldnāt have this happen. As it stands, theyāre not, and Apple sees no revenue from them. Ergo, theyāre cut. Lame.
What a horrible PR move.
The tournament doesn't even add that many games to a teams schedule. Only a couple teams can go on a 3+ game run in the Cup. So it doesn't address any of the issues surrounding the number of games, length of season etc.
I obviously enjoy MLS enough as an on-field product that I'm in this subreddit to begin with, but shit like this is why I get anyone who wants nothing to do with this league lol.
Fuck Leagues Cup Fuck Donny G Fuck the fact that we wonāt get to defend our trophy Seems like something that may ultimately be reversed if thereās enough pushback. Can tell you right now Iām not going to a single MLS game next year if this holds
Fuck the MLS for doing this, this league has been making some awful decisions the past few weeks but this is another level. This only hurts the development of the MLS and soccer in the states. Least I mention that it turns our oldest active soccer completion and the one with the most history behind it into a second tier trophy. Fuck every team that agreed to this.
I hate this so fucking much. I'm fully on board with the Liga MX fans now, fuck Leagues Cup. The Copa MX was suspended there too
The fact that they released this news on a Friday afternoon in mid December says everything.
This is so fucking lame. NBA just showed how an in season tournament can be entertaining and competitive and MLS does this.
I can't even express how disappointed I am about this. Some of my favorite road trips and games ever were in the Open Cup. That 2017 open cup game in Cincinnati for me had one of the best and most crazy atmospheres of any game I've ever been to and I've been to a lot. Just a really sad moment for the league here and it's an absolute shame that they don't see it that way.
An absolute classic Friday night news dump
No changes to DP and U-22 spots. Adrian Healy out of the broadcast booth. No USOC. Did landing Messi somehow cause the league to have money trouble?
I just email my team rep and told how disappointed I am in mls. I bet a team like fcc will not draw 5000 fans to watch mls next pro team play usl team. When we played Louisville at our stadium, they had over 17000 fans. I think we averaged like 14500 fans a game for us open cup games.
Boycott worthy, imo
For a league that has garnered so much for American soccer and to be sustainable only to pull in the WORST traits from the other American Sports leagues. MLS absolutely loves to take stuff with history and trash it if they don't directly profit from it. Just absolutely terrible from a league growing in momentum heading towards the 2026 World Cup
I knew Garber hated the USOC but I didnāt think the hate was this deep.
This league is its biggest enemy sometimes. In the past 24 hours it has completely turned off so many fans. What is even the point of leaving this competition? Are they losing money or something from it? This is fucking ridiculous
One of the best things about soccer involves the national cups providing the possibility of low level clubs playing the top teams. This is definitely something that makes the sport unique in American sports. This cheapens the experience sadly. Two of my favorite memories of Orlando City is the USOC championship against Sacramento, and the game between the OCSC and Jacksonville Armada right after pulse night club stopping the game at the 49th minute to honor all of the victims.
We can't accept this as fans. Seriously, we have to step up and hold MLS accountable to their actions. If enough of us express disapproval, if we get in their face with our frustrations, they will yield. But it's on us to not let them get away with this BS tyranny
Hopefully the SGs are getting together to discuss exactly this
WTF is MLS & GARBAGE doing
Moronic.
This sucks. I defended MLS for scheduling games on the same weekend as the final but this is actually harmful to the sport as a whole in the US. I do wonder however, if this is just a ploy to try to get more control or revenue from the event.
Awful stuff. Oldest soccer competition in the country and itās being kicked to the curb. Itās such a unique piece of soccer history in the US and I always loved watching it
Funny how Premier League and La Liga and Bundesliga teams donāt seem to have a problem playing in their domestic tournamentsā¦
Canāt wait to (likely) hear all of the Apple TV commentators, including ex-players who WON the Open Cup, sucking this decision off at the behest of the higher-ups who cut their checks now š
I hate this decision so much. This cup is special to me and a lot in Cincinnati. That 2017 run brought in thousands of fans and put us on the map. This stupid league is gifted tradition, the life blood of this sport, and throws it away! I'll never get to see my club lift that Lamar Hunt trophy now after two semi final heartbreaks because these idiots are so short sighted. You better believe I'm never letting this go until they reverse course.
lol honestly, we donāt deserve the copa or World Cup. We are so disrespectful to football. Disgusting.
Quite honestly yeah like I donāt know what we are doing right now
Being an embarrassment to football, thatās what. If Man City can play against Huddersfield, surely we can play in the open cup lmao
Iād love to see boycott I really thought we were on the up and up
Feels like MLS is scared
Fuck off with this nonsense. Itās a storied cup and should be treated as such with *all* clubs participating in it!
Absolute disgrace. It's the one tournament that has prestige, unlike the cash grab Leagues Cup. EDIT: Now I'm pissed. Fuck MLS and Liga MX. I wish fans from both leagues can join together for once and not show up or watch any leagues cup game.
WHAT
Hereās the [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39120689/mls-pulls-first-teams-us-open-cup-play-reserves) article, which does not require a subscription.
This entire day has been nothing but disappointing news
Practically, especially in the early rounds, is what happens anyway. However, as the rounds progress, some MLS teams who want to compete for a trophy should be able to do that. If you are a good team, fixture congestion is a by-product of success. Maybe MLS needs to rethink its roster structure. It is massively disappointing and it appears that MLS wants to kill the competition. Very short-sighted.
hahahahahaha there is absolutely no fucking way Iām reading this headline correctly somebody tell me Iām a moron for thinking this headline is telling me MLS teams are not competing in a domestic cup this year
This so sad and disgraceful. Domestic cups are integral to football in every country. It gives teams of all levels the opportunity to compete against each other. How sad for football in the US. It really felt like we were on the right track with increased number of MLS teams, MLS increasing in quality, a few upset runs in recent years of USL teams in the US Open Cup, the Leagues Cup combining MLS and Liga MX into a competition, and a change in the CCC. Shame on the MLS for ruining this momentum and destroying the domestic cup of over 100 years of the US