2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Paul Berry, Oct 2, 2025.

  1. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Leagues Cup attendance is pretty impressive to me given it’s a newer competition.
     
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  2. AZUL GALAXY

    AZUL GALAXY Member+

    Aug 28, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    CDSC Cruz Azul
    Also there were some leagues cup games that were made to favor Liga MX teams but diminished the attendance like America vs Minnesota in Houston 13k America vs Portland in Austin TX under 10k also a lot of this games are in weekdays.
     
  3. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    I looked at a couple things, first was how would MLS's Leagues Cup record look as a purely home record in Liga MX? The answer in PPG was that it would be about one place below mid-table.

    The other thing I looked at was transfermarkt valuations for each league by thirds. IIRC, it went like this:

    Top Third: LMX +20%
    Middle Third: Wash
    Bottom Third: MLS +10%

    That will probably just slightly underestimate MLS, because it's a bit older league where some of the best players don't have much transfer value due to age.

    In other words, there's decent evidence LMX is a better league, but also decent evidence that it's close.
     
  4. STR1

    STR1 Member+

    Atlanta United
    United States
    May 29, 2010
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Leagues Cup is having games in Mexico this year. The home games will be for the stronger Liga MX teams. Let's see how the strongest Liga MX teams do in Leagues Cup at home. Opponents for those Liga MX teams range from strong to ducks. This will answer a lot of questions.

    Tigres plays RSL, Minnesota and Vancouver.

    Toluca plays Seattle Sounders, LAFC and FC Dallas.

    America plays San Diego, Portland Timbers and Austin FC.
     
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  5. DGreat

    DGreat Moderator
    Staff Member

    CD Guadalajara
    Mexico
    Oct 5, 2007
    El Ombligo
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Of course, it banks on LigaMX fans starving to see their team. Just like Superliga, just like any other meaningless tournament in the past
     
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  6. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Yes, fans wanting to see an event is how selling tickets works. You’ve cracked the code.
     
  7. AZUL GALAXY

    AZUL GALAXY Member+

    Aug 28, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    CDSC Cruz Azul
    If is meaningless for you it doesn’t mean it is meaningless for everybody, Leagues Cup and CCC
    are meaningful for me.
     
  8. DGreat

    DGreat Moderator
    Staff Member

    CD Guadalajara
    Mexico
    Oct 5, 2007
    El Ombligo
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    CCC isn’t meaningless. I was responding to leagues cup post. I do t care if they dangled CCC tournaments to try and make it stick. It’s still a friendly pre season tournament that most don’t care about in LigaMX. I’ve stood firm on that stance.
     
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  9. wantmlsphilly

    wantmlsphilly Member+

    Aug 2, 2006
    Philadelphia, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's a sellout in Philly.
     
  10. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It doesn't matter as long as it makes money.

    CCC costs money to play in. Leagues Cup makes money for everyone (as long as the LMX get paid what they're due).

    If they could make CCC profitable then I'd expect CCC to disappear or be folded in in some way.
     
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  11. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Leagues Cup is not a friendly tournament. Of course one is free to dismiss it but that applies to CCC or Carabao Cup or anything else as well.
     
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  12. ArsenalMetro

    ArsenalMetro Member+

    United States
    Aug 5, 2008
    Chicago, IL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I think Leagues Cup is about as dumb a competition as exists on Earth, and it’s still 10x more important than the godforsaken Carabao Cup.

    Which is, in turn, 100x more important than the Scottish League Cup, which still exists for some reason despite not having a European qualifying place attached to it.
     
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  13. jaykoz3

    jaykoz3 Member+

    Dec 25, 2010
    Conshohocken, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If it's pre - season then why does LigaMX play 3-4 LEAGUE games prior to playing in Leagues Cup?

    If there was no Leagues Cup, Chivas, America, Cruz Azul and Tigres would still be venturing to the United States mid-week to play cash grab friendlies against Euro Clubs, or each other. Leagues Cup at least gives EVERY club in LigaMX access to more revenue streams.
     
  14. DGreat

    DGreat Moderator
    Staff Member

    CD Guadalajara
    Mexico
    Oct 5, 2007
    El Ombligo
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    because ligamx does stupid decisions for money.
     
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  15. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Damn that need to earn money to be competitive in a professional sport!
     
  16. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Carabao/EFL Cup isn't disliked in England. EFL Trophy is an annoyance.

    The League Cup originated as a midweek competition to fund floodlights. It was treated with disdain until they moved the final to Wembley and a Third Division team beat Arsenal on a surface reminiscent of The Somme.
     
  17. ArsenalMetro

    ArsenalMetro Member+

    United States
    Aug 5, 2008
    Chicago, IL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    #1017 ArsenalMetro, Apr 20, 2026
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2026
    And the modern reason for it to exist, when every other country that had one has scrapped it, is...?

    It may not be "disliked" - though I need a citation for that claim - but the lack of interest for it prior to the very late rounds is obvious. Crystal Palace filled Selhurst Park to 60% capacity for their third round match against Millwall. For an extremely direct comparison, they had 5,000 more people attend their FA Cup match against Millwall last season.

    Burnley got 6,000 for their third-round match; their average this season is 21,000.

    It's dumb, repetitive, and doesn't have any good reason to exist when fixture congestion is such a problem already.
     
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  18. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It has a 75 year tradition, makes money and it allows teams to field their peripheral players. There were 88,486 at the final. Personally I don't give a crap whether Notts County win or lose the early rounds.
     
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  19. DGreat

    DGreat Moderator
    Staff Member

    CD Guadalajara
    Mexico
    Oct 5, 2007
    El Ombligo
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    There are better ways to make money but that requires long term planning and not a quick lick. But that’s a conversation for a different thread.
     
  20. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Something Liga MX hasn't thought of in the last 83 years?
     
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  21. wantmlsphilly

    wantmlsphilly Member+

    Aug 2, 2006
    Philadelphia, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So your point is they would still be able to maintain their huge payrolls without trying to increase revenue from playing friendlies in America is they did before Leagues Cup?
     
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  22. newtex

    newtex Member+

    May 25, 2005
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup
    Home team first, times are ET
    TV coverage on Fox and Univision channels. Some of the listed broadcasts will change.

    Semifinals

    Tuesday, April 28
    (L1) Nashville SC (USA) v. Tigres UANL (MEX) 8:30 pm FS2/TUDN

    Wednesday, April 29
    (L1) Los Angeles FC (USA) v. Toluca (MEX) 8:30 pm FS2/TUDN

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Tuesday, May 5
    (L2) Tigres UANL (MEX) v. Nashville SC (USA) 9:30 pm FS2/TUDN

    Wednesday, May 6
    (L2) Toluca (MEX) v. Los Angeles FC (USA) 9:30 pm FS2/TUDN

    The Final is May 30.
     
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  23. wantmlsphilly

    wantmlsphilly Member+

    Aug 2, 2006
    Philadelphia, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well little chance to see these games as I only have FS1 on Sling. I guess it's VPN and YouTube from Europe. I wonder how this will workout in the future with the MLS playoffs overlapping this current schedule?
     
  24. DGreat

    DGreat Moderator
    Staff Member

    CD Guadalajara
    Mexico
    Oct 5, 2007
    El Ombligo
    Club:
    CD Chivas de Guadalajara
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    what were they doing before Leagues Cup? do you think Leagues cup makes or breaks LigaMX payroll?
     
  25. AZUL GALAXY

    AZUL GALAXY Member+

    Aug 28, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    CDSC Cruz Azul
    So by your standards of meaningful or meaningless right now the Asian equivalent of CCC Quarter Finals, Semi finals and Final is being played only in Saudi Arabia.
     

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