Just a thought I had...wondering if it could be done. The Open Cup is supposed to be open to all club teams, amateur and pro. Is that what would keep them from including college teams in the tourney?? It seems to me that adding major college teams like UVa, Clemson, Indiana, etc. would be a good way to draw attention to the tournament. I am guessing there is some rule that prevents this from happening though.
In the summer, many college players are with PDL teams that do participate in the cup. Also I don't think NCAA teams are affiliated with USSF, which would probably put a damper on things.
college teams in us open cup Bath university participates in FA Cup in England. What a great freakin story!!! Imagine the possibilities!!!! Imagine Stanford vs The LA Galaxy! Imagine UNC-Chapel Hill vs DC United! Imagine St. Johns vs Metrostars!
college teams in open cup The idea is crazy but probably will never come true but we can imagine can't we! SMU vs Dallas Burn! Indiana (College Soccer Country) vs Columbus Crew! UCLA vs San Jose Earthquakes! Maryland vs New England Revolution! Virginia vs Chicago Fire! The endless possibilities!!!! Why not????
So why can't this happen? Because the winner of the USFA Cup gets $100, 000. A NCAA team can not participate in a tournament where a pot of gold is at stake.... WANKERS!
1. NCAA teams are not registered with the USSF. They play by their own rules, rather than the FIFA Laws of the Game enforced by the USSF. 2. The NCAA allows teams to practice and play only during specific windows of time each year. Many Open Cup match dates fall outside of these windows.
The CPSL (Ontario/Quebec) semi-pro league started an Open Cup this year (amateur and CPSL teams). The winner would get $10,000. I read that some amateur teams pulled out because they didn't want to hurt their players chances of going to the NCAA.
And as someone else pointed out, what happens when , say, Boston College plays the Cape Cod Crusaders, when BC's star player also plays for the PDL Crusaders (I think this may have been the case for the Rapids' Casey Schmidt)? It may sound enticing, but I suspect that most college teams couldn't compete with A-League or even PSL teams, much less MLS teams.
On the other hand, didn't BYU's club team play in the PDL this year, and, if so, wouldn't they have been eligible for the USOC? As a club team, is BYU soccer not under the auspices of the NCAA?
i might be mistaken, but I think different rules govern club teams as opposed to NCAA Divisional teams...
The actual BYU soccer program got cut I believe, but it is still around as a club team, which the school likes because it's a lot cheaper then the actual program. So the reason they played in the PDL was because of the fact that they were not a part of NCAA in terms of soccer. I believe that is what happened, I'm not positive.
Yeah, but that money goes to the schools, the money for winning the USFA Cup goes to the players as a bonus I believe, so the college players would be getting "paid" to play, therefore losing their elegability unless they didn't keep the money.
1. The money goes to the team to use as they see fit. The players get a cut, but each team decides how that is done. 2. If you think players in the NCAA aren't compensated for those events, you're incredibly naive. They may not get a check cut to them, but, believe me, they get compensated very well for succeeding in those competitions. 3. It's not the USFA Cup.