They better not have changed that, unfair to the other leagues in the US if the only way to get to CONCACAF CL is being in the MLS. I think there should be more open to other leagues than MLS personally.
Why is it unfair? US is first division. It's called "champions league" for a reason. 2nd division and lower clubs don't have routes to other continental championships either. Ok, well, I suppose that doesn't mean that it's not unfair. But it sure is the standard. If the USL and other leagues feel they deserve more of a chance now is their opportunity to prove it. Win the US Open Cup.
Can't happen. Some PDL teams didn't start until mid-May this year. There's no way the USOC could be played any earlier than it already is.
MLS began its qualifying procedure for the US Open Cup in 2007. Dates for the 1st round of the US Open Cup since 1996: 1996 - June 28 1997 - June 18 1998 - June 9 1999 - June 5 2000 - June 4 2001 - June 9 2002 - June 9 2003 - June 4 2004 - June 2 2005 - June 15 2006 - June 14 2007 - June 12 2008 - June 10 2009 - June 9 That's right. This year's tournament started earlier than any since 2004. And since MLS qualifying started, the tournament has been starting earlier and earlier in each of the last three years. MLS' involvement has actually been moving up gradually every year since 2003. Dates for the first appearances of the majority of MLS teams in the competition, since 1996: 1996 - September 4 1997 - July 23 1998 - July 6 1999 - July 12 2000 - June 14 2001 - June 26 2002 - July 16 2003 - August 5 2004 - July 14 2005 - July 12 2006 - July 11 2007 - July 9 2008 - July 1 2009 - June 30 That's right, it was 2001 the last time MLS teams entered the Open Cup earlier than they did this year. You'd also see absolutely no PDL teams in the competition. Unless they didn't want to use their NCAA-eligible players. This year's tournament is compressed and does come at an unfortunate time. There's not a whole lot you can do about it, though. There is no evidence that when the MLS teams enter substantially affects MLS teams' performance in the tournament. There is no evidence that the presence or absence of a reserve league substantially affects MLS teams' performance in the tournament. How can so many of you just continue to spout stuff that can be so easily demonstrated to be false? Why do you do it?
Now, why on earth would they make the effort to look things up when they can just say things and you'll do it for them?
It's the standard in Europe, not elsewhere. In other confederations it isn't uncommon to see cup winners in the Champions League. In fact, Tokyo Verdy once played in the ACL after being relegated the previous year thanks to the cup. Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and the UAE all send cup holders to the ACL. Brazil send the Copa do Brasil winners to the Copa Lib.
Good point, but you named seven countries, out of how many in the world? If you take all of the federations that have pro leagues and send teams to a confederation champions league* of some sort I'm sure you'll find that at least 80% of them do not send cup winners. That's pretty much a standard, is it not? *competitions like the Europa Cup and Copa Sudamerica do not count because they are secondary tournaments and the winner cannot claim to be champion of their confederation.
As much as I'd like to say, "ooh, Uzbekistan, let's emulate them," the fact is, we already do. Our Cup holder goes to the Champions League. What some people want is the USL champ to get a spot. And that would be fairly unprecedented, as far as I can tell.
I went through and checked based on current competition. Please correct me if I'm wrong. None of the 53 European feds send cup winners to the Champions League. So, only first division clubs are allowed there. All 42 African countries entering the CAF Champions League send only first division clubs, some the top two teams, some only the league winner. The few federations in Oceania send league winners unless they are so small that they don't really have a top league. I don't feel like going through tons of info. But I'm pretty sure that we can conclude that they may send some cup winner types or teams from lower divisions, but that's because there is no fully pro division. In Asia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Japan, and S. Korea send cup winners. The other seven countries participating in the tournament do not. So, in that confederation alone, only half the feds send teams from competitions that include lower leagues. Not only that, but the Saudi cup competition that sends teams to the CL consists of 7 first division teams and the fed cup winner. Hardly a chance for a lower league team there. The Qatar cup is open only to 16 teams from the top two divisions. And I believe only the Japan and S. Korea cups are true open cups open to every level of soccer in their countries. Oh, and at least for the 2009 edition, the Uzbeks did not send a cup winner. They sent their first division's top two teams. Out of all the teams that qualify for the Copa Libertadores only one from one fed is a cup winner that potentially comes from a lower league. The one you mentioned from Brasil. And in CONCACAF, the US Open Cup winner can qualify, as can the Canadian Cup winner. Some of the feds that send teams to the Caribbean championship may also send lower division teams, I'm not sure. But that's less that a dozen feds at this point. So, that's it, out of the over 140 federations that send teams to a champions competition of some sort, a whopping 10 (potentially 20 some at most) have it set up so a lower division team can possibly qualify. So, it's a standard not to do so. I'm not saying that it should be this way. But the USL teams should consider themselves lucky that this is even a possibility. And if it gets taken away from them, then they're no different from the thousands of other lower division teams in the world that can't qualify for their continental championship.
Europe used to have a separate cup just for the cup winners called the Cup Winners Cup, it was merged into the UEFA Cup, that's why the cup winners go there instead of the Champions League. Platini is a fan of putting cup winners in the CL though. The USL situation is a special case in my eyes. CONCACAF doesn't hold a minor competition like UEFA and CAF do (The AFC Cup is for emerging nations) and there's the whole issue of possible promotion for lower division teams in England. I don't want this to be one of those threads though, but it's a valid point in this case. People can say "there is promotion, you have to buy it", but Charleston can't pony up $50m, and neither could a team like Falkirk in Scotland, if you see my point there. The Open Cup winners are champions, I just feel they should be treated as such. Uzbekistan actually sent the cup winner last year. The same two teams occupied all the spots (League 1st, Cup winner -- alt: League 2nd, Cup 2nd).
Well, they didn't send them because they were the cup winner though. They sent them based on their league performance. So it doesn't matter. I'm familiar with the Cup Winners Cup. Anyway, USL is second divison whether they like it or not, and right now they have a means to qualify for the CCL. So, it's pretty much a moot point.
The average attendance of this year's Open Cup (2,256) is the lowest overall tournament average since MLS began. The third round had the highest average since 1999, but this quarterfinal round was the lowest-attended in the modern era.