this cup should be like the FA cup in england you could get rid of mls playoffs and have this tournament as this countries soccer playoff. the mls season ends and the team with the best record wins the league. then the games left are the us open cup games culminating in a big event for the final on thanksgiving night . big trophy presentation. million dollar reward for winning team. am i nuts?
The US Open Cup is already like the FA Cup in that teams of all calibers are open to participate. The Cup in both nations is separate from league play, so it should not replace the playoff system (the FA Cup also has no effect on EPL play, so I don't get your original correlation). I do agree that the US Open Cup should be a priority among teams, as it has a decent amount of history to it.
the difference is the FA cup is taken seriously and is prestigious and the US open cup is not taken seriously. why is this?
Us Open Cup just needs more media coverage and sponsorships, and there should be a official cup held short before MLS starts between MLS Cup winner and US Open Cup winner as there is in almost all countries...they just need that and nothing else!!!
Because MLS teams can half ass their way through and still win it. MLS teams shouldnt even play in this competition; there's more important games to be played.
MLS Teams should play in it. It's the National Champions Cup. US Soccer needs to show more importance to it. That's the problem. US Soccer hasn't shown an ounce of care like we the supporters do and that's why most MLS Sides won't care.
No one takes notice of this tournament until the end when the trophy is in sight. MLS teams don't care because its a fairly easy tournament and its put right in the middle of a schedule that has important games to be played. There is absolutely no reason the Open Cup should be taken seriously. Leave it for the semi pro teams.
thats why you treat it like the FA cup and have it last after the end of the mls league. this isn't rocket science people there's a pretty damn successful league..it's called the EPL. Might want to turn your television to FSC or Espn on a saturday morning and check it out. Good Grief.
He neg repped me and called me an idiot. I think he's serious. He's also trolling, but I don't think he knows that.
Yes, yes you are. Not necessarily for thinking that a competition open to all teams should be a very important trophy to win. But for not understanding that the things you're describing can't and won't happen here. They're a non-starter. Why do people here completely ignore the reality that we're not Europe?
Wasn't Going To, But Figured I'd Do It All At Once Because, by and large, club soccer isn't taken seriously in this country. We have enough problems getting people to take league matches and our championship game seriously. Good luck getting them to care about a half-assed competition taking place over the span of a summer on Tuesday and Wednesday nights that's virtually non-competitive. Playoffs aren't going away. Get used to it. A strong Open Cup helps soccer in this country. It doesn't replace the MLS Cup playoffs. Sorry. And a title sponsor! Because I'd rather sponsor the US Open Cup than put my company's name on an MLS jersey! And they need more billboards! And FSC needs to televise the early rounds! You mean the supporters who don't go to the matches? Hey, I saw cricket on TV the other day. From India. Pretty damn successful league. I'm just sure that would work here!
The FA Cup's historic popularity is directly related to the fact that, operating since the 1871-72 season, it's the oldest football competition in the world. Also, when the Football League was set up in 1888 and added a second division in 1892, performances in the FA Cup were key to deciding whether to either accept an application for membership from a team or even extend an invitation to apply. Which is why Cardiff, as well as Swansea and Wrexham were invited to join the league in the 1910s/20s, while Linfield wasn't. A good cup run for these teams is a return to their roots/a chance to revisit the glory days of blessed memory & all that jazz. Finally, the FA Cup is directly run by the English FA - always has & always will be - while the League and the EPL are licensed by the FA; which is the standard format globally. However, the FA had an interest in keeping the Cup relevant, as it generated serious $ for the FA, kept the Football League in line because of the existance of an alternative trophy that was older and had even more history, and was (and is) a means of extending the FA's relevance and influence in the lower levels of the English pyramid. Quite simply, the FA Cup had a "sponsor" willing to invest time and effort into promoting it. Cups in countries where the Federation is historically weaker is a vis the clubs than the English FA, tend to have a much weaker history, tradition and relevance - like the US. The Open Cup is not alone in being a marginal consideration to the big boys of the major leagues.
It's also directly related to the fact that soccer is popular in England. Well, that's true. But, honestly, what's the best-case scenario? USSF pumps a boatload of money into it and gets....what? Marginally increased attendance and visibility? And loses most of the money it pumps into it? Until and unless the lower divisions in this country close the gap between themselves and the rungs above, this tournament is a sideshow that only points out the disparity organizationally between the top flight (with the money) and the lower flights (without). You can get your occasional upset, yes, because the ball is round and everything else is conjecture. But at the end of the day, it's still a haphazard tournament with a limited perceived history, very few moments of glory to point to, and one that is played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the summer with games scheduled at short notice between teams who either don't care or teams you haven't heard of, or (as towards the end) teams you see all the time anyway. Intrinsically, it has little chance of success no matter how strong USSF is or how many resources are brought to bear for it until the depth of our soccer pyramid is shored up.
I should have been a bit clearer. It can be tried, but it sure as hell won't work for a million and one reasons apart from the ones you've given. The Open Cup won't become a big trophy in the US, even 100 years from now and I'm not recommending it be tried. Ok, maybe as a classroom assignment for a marketing class you don't like. Different countries, with different challenges and different cultures tend to result in different outcomes. The FA Cup is big, but not as big as it was before the 1990s when live TV, European competition got on TV and the EPL hype machine kicked in. It's also quite important in Germany and Holland - stronger FAs vis a vis the clubs- but nothing in Spainand Portugal - weak FAs. BTW, the thread title is about the Open Cup becoming THE trophy in the US and supplanting the MLS Cup. An Open Cup becomes more important than a League regular season champioship AND the playoffs: stupidity on meth.