News: 2014 US Open Cup to see much-needed schedule changes, most teams of Modern Pro Era (TheCup.us)

Four suggestions that will go nowhere. One, play it fall-spring, with the championship in May. I know this won't happen, but, as long as MLS is going to stick to a summer schedule while disregarding the tournament, it would put some distance between the Open Cup and the MLS Cup.

Two, have MLS teams enter at the Round of 64 and make it a regionalized preset bracket (rather than weekly draws). MLS could actually enter in the spring (maybe the week before the regular season starts) and play on consecutive midweeks, with a weekend set of games during the March international window.

Three, lower-division always hosts, provided stadium meets minimum specs and they post bond.

Four, for every team division 4 and lower, make them qualify through a uniform system of 51 state cups (i.e. a California Cup, Texas Cup, etc.) regardless of USSSA or US Club Soccer or whatever, rather than the hodgepodge we have now. Then the state cup winners playoff to get the 27 remaining Round of 64 spots (could give TX, CA, NY byes). Having a single state cup in each state would be a great way to raise interest in the lower divisions.

US Open Cup is the only team competition in North America where a local pub team can potentially end up facing a team of full-time professionals. They don't market that well enough.

 

My only argument on the first point is that media coverage can't go below zero (no offense). The Cup.US is awesome and I sense it would do a great job regardless. The college players thing is something I had not thought about. An even more radical idea might be including college teams in the US Open Cup. I'm sure that runs afoul of NCAA regs, but if you wanted to give the tourney a marketing boost, there it might be.

On hosting, I don't know. Obviously, home-and-home doesn't work because of time/travel. MLS sides, in my humble opinion, do an absolutely awful job of marketing themselves outside their home cities (compare with the efforts MLB teams make to play exhibition games on the road against their lower-league affiliates or, more rarely, against other team's affiliates in their marketing area). They should view Open Cup as an opportunity to expand their marketing reach, especially when they visit the South. I'm just saying that if teams like the Sounders or the Revs are going to play in 5K stadiums for the match anyway, why not go ahead and play away?

On the State Cups, play them in the summer proceeding. I.e. right now, we'd be playing the 2014 State Cups. State Cup winners would playoff either this summer or in the fall to determine who went to 2015 Open Cup (Germany does something similar with provincial winners from lower divisions). A State Cup tourney would be, potentially, much easier to market and profit off of than the ad hoc tournaments in place now. Just a thought.

 

It isn't zero now.

Many people wish it would be better, but that's simply unrealistic, given it's a soccer tournament played on random Tuesdays (or Wednesdays) in the summer.

There is more written in mainstream media about the US Open Cup than ever, and it grows incrementally. I realize it's not enough for some people who can't believe we haven't won two World Cups already, given it's been 25 years since Caliguiri, for crying out loud.

More USOC matches are carried online and on actual television than ever before. (I know - I called one of them last month.)

To say media coverage is zero now ignores the evidence. And is an example of petulance.

Completely and utterly impossible, nor would it be a marketing boost.

So, potentially, the players who earn the right this year to play next year might not be the players who actually play next year, and the players who actually play next year might have had absolutely nothing to do with winning the right this year to play next year.

I realize the CCL kind of works this way (and PDL teams qualify for the USOC - now - on the basis of past season's performance), but it's even more pronounced at the low amateur level.

 

On media coverage, I apologize. I didn't mean to imply that streaming, etc. hasn't grown. I meant more earned media coverage, like ESPN, or even local newspapers and generic (i.e. non-soccer-specific) blogs. It's still a long way from even being the level of MLS, which itself is a long way from even college basketball. MLS Soccer has made an effort but really only for games in which MLS teams participate. The Cup.US still does a great job and the streaming growth has been fun but the final is on GolTV, which is not fun, nor available for most.

On the college teams competing, I meant it as an off-the-wall suggestion. I didn't mean it as something that could happen in the short term but if structural changes took place that made it possible, it definitely would be a marketing boost. How could it not be? Clubs with immense tradition and pre-existing fanbases entering the tournament would be a good thing. Again, it's not one that will happen anytime soon (or ever). Probably more likely to see the end of college soccer as we know it than to see college teams in the USOC. Just a fun aside.

On the last point, sorry, but you're just flat wrong. That's already the way the system works. The 2015 Qualifying for several regions took place in June of this year. I'm just arguing that instead of a patchwork of regional and league tournaments for lower division teams, you have an easy-to-understand set of State Cups that teams from d4 and lower participate in.

 

I almost want to get away completely from the "state cups" format. I know, I'm saying this as a PDL supporter, but the state-to-regional qualifiers have seemed sketchy at best, but at least a little better then the even-lower Specialty or Club qualifying. Here in the Midwest, many states didn't even field an entry.

Why should the PDL be forced into this format, or the NPSL be re-forced back to this format?

 

From a fan's perspective, I think it would make the Open Cup easier to follow and more compelling. I also think the pathway to qualification remaining constant year-after-year for d4 and below would be a major, major shift from the current system.

I know there have been some ad hoc state tournament formats in the past; I'm arguing I'd like to see a comprehensive set of state cups for everybody d4 and lower (USASA, USL PDL, NPSL, etc.). Has that ever been done? It just seems like the logistics would be simpler even if the politics would be more complicated. It also seems like it would be a little easier to market.

 

Even though I disagree with BamaMan's comments, it does bring up the point that MLS is (should be?) going past 16 American teams next season, so a format change is possible.

 

i like this idea as it would create a cross league competitive games. I was thinking of a northwest qualifying between the Northwest NPSL, Evergreen Premier League, Maybe the Northwest PDL conference teams too but not necessarily them. I just want to play different teams than the Northwest Conference teams that we already play 6 times in the regular season.

 

The format changes a bit every year ... MLS, NASL & USL all add teams (and sometimes subtract them) causing a shift.

We're not THAT far away from having the MLS, NASL and a few USL teams enter in the same round that would create more of an NCAA tournament feel with regards to the bracket ... I think that would add a bit more excitement. You could still flip for who hosts, but the path to the Cup would be set a bit earlier.

For those saying that lower divisions would get to automatically host if they had a qualifying stadium ... that takes away from the fact that some of these lower division clubs WANT to play a game in Sporting Park or BBVA, or Providence ... they may never get a chance to experience that again ... why restrict that from happening? Maybe you give them the choice ... they could host, or for a small (set) fee, they could travel, and part of their payment is a friendly at their place? That would help spread the brand if that's what you're worried about.

Either way, kenn's right ... this tournament IS getting more covereage and attention than ever before, it grows every year, and will continue to do so as more teams get in the field. Just let it happen, no need for completely changing something that is working and make those PDL teams field teams without the college kids they depend on. MLS covereage/attention is growing too ... people will ALWAYS want that to be faster, but usually that ends up in something crashing and burning.

 

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't want any team to be forced to host. My argument was just give them the opportunity to do so.

On growth of the US Open Cup, it's coming along pretty slowly. Maybe it is growing for those in MLS markets but it's still a difficult tournament to follow absent theCup.US. The final is still on GolTV. What I'm arguing for is to put a bracket infrastructure in place that can remain and easily be adapted as leagues change.

 

I like the bracket format (to do it in an NCAA style of a bracket) ... eventually you could have the sort of Bracket Challenge that the NCAA does.

They could do it now and have the MLS teams and the highest finishing NASL/USL teams make up the "Seeded" teams in the round of 64 (32 seeded, 32 unseeded).

In 2015 that would mean 18 MLS (21 minus 3 Canadian teams) teams, 10 NASL teams (12 minus 2 Canadian teams) and 4 USL teams (maybe the semifinalists of their end of season playoffs). As the leagues grow, USL teams and eventually NASL teams get pushed to the "unseeded" group. You then have the rest of the pro teams (2015 would mean ~18 USL teams) have a guaranteed spot in the "unseeded" group. In 2015 that would leave ~14 spots open for amatuer teams in the "round of 64". However you wanted to decide on those 14 teams is kind of insignificant if you ask me, but there were 42 teams entered (couple of them didn't end up playing) this past year ... you could essentially set up a couple of play in rounds to determine that 14. But the thing is, after that 14 is determined, you could have a 64 team bracket that doesn't change and is set from the that round. You would only have to add in play in games or a more formal "round of 128 with 32 "bye's" or something as the numbers of professional teams grew. But really, the tournament bracket starts at 64.

This won't automatically bring in TV deals or more media to cover it, but it wouldn't hurt and likely keep soccer fans in random markets in tune to the tournament for longer (if they filled out a bracket and there was something on the line if they were in a pool or something). I wouldn't expect this to jump start growth/attention or anything else, but it would be fun!