It's not that MLS doesn't care about the tournament. MLS was tired of being expected to carry the tournament's water. MLS was tired of US Soccer's negligence and laissez faire effort with regards to the Open Cup. Where has been the hype and interest for the Open Cup the past several rounds?
Why would there be interest in the USOC since MLS has diminished it. I think you are swallowing Garber’s propaganda whole. The basic facts are that finally, after decades, USOC was starting to get more interest and hype. Not universally, but slowly. Austin sold out a R32 game in 2023. Round of 32. Think about that. Kansas City, Seattle, Nashville, and a few other teams saw their fanbases embrace the USOC — a lot because their teams took it seriously. We saw sporadic strong attendance earlier, and more widely, than ever before in 2023. Attendance was ticking up, again slowly and not uniformly — but isn’t that how soccer has always grown in our country? Seriously. Then MLS backs out, not for the reasons you give in my opinion, but because they don’t want any successful soccer that they don’t control. It is USOC’s growing success that MLS is against — not the neglect for which MLS has always been equally responsible. Hopefully fan uproar will force MLS back to actually doing its part. If MLS was honest about thinking they were carrying the tournament’s water, you don’t just whine at a board meeting non-sensibly like Garber did — then unilaterally pull-out. You ask for a private meeting and you ask your partners to plan with you how to build the cup into what it should be. You share a vision of a better competition, and you be a part of the solution. To hear MLS say that they ever carry the water of USOC is hard to swallow after watching Garber and MLS executive piss on the tournament for over two decades. The idea is without reason that US Soccer can make the tournament into something without the active partnership of the people to whom US soccer have given ultra-valuable Division 1 status.
If INDY somehow hosts the final, move it to the dome , lower the prices and go for a big crowd. Could be a big deal in a town to have some sports team win a championship.
================ I agree with so much of this. Some teams and towns were getting into to. Crowds in the last 5-6 years have gotten really large at times. Where the MLS missed the boat was not using the 100+ year history of the cup to build up MLS and soccer in general. They were basically handed a very old and historical cup for their teams to win. And they should win it 90% of the time. Instead of pandering to the fans of all the LigaMX teams with the stupid Leagues Cup, why not pander to the fans of YOUR OWN FREKIN COUNTRY ? Promoting this Cup and putting all the levels of the tournament would have given Apple TV even more content to show and bring it down to ALL the teams and cities involved in the cup, not just limiting it to the 29 MLS cities. This is just so hearbraking..
Love that at the presser after the USOC final last night when Kai Kamara met the Don on he told him not to take this cup away. Excellent. The players understand, the Don not so much. When to the game last night, excellent vibe in the house....no reason this can't continue. Apple TV would have a lot more to show as well. No reason the financials can't be worked out on this. Its just the clutter of the soccer scheduling that's a problem