Doesn't really matter. Every country has a domestic open cup that the top tier participates in. Do you want us to be the only country that doesn't have this? There are ways to reduce the participation in the earlier stages.
Even Cyprus, population 1 million, has a cup But not every country has a really open one with the rinky dink teams.
And our nearest neighbor, Mexico, does not (been on hiatus since COVID, after being on hiatus from '97-'12).
They never reached the fifth game when they had a cup nor when they didn't, so the cup probably has nothing to do with it.
So let me get this right... * Don Garber (MLS Commissioner and USSF board member) is CEO of Soccer United Marketing which owns the media rights to the Mexico National Team (amongst many other things) * Garber runs the SuperLiga from 2007-2011 * Copa MX, founded in 1907, goes on hiatus in 2019. * Leagues Cup is founded in 2019 * May 2023, Garber criticizes Open Cup, stating that the tournament is "a very poor reflection on what it is that we're trying to do with soccer at the highest level." * Dec 2023: MLS announces they won't compete in the Open Cup So, Garber wanted Liga MX and MLS to exit their respective open cups, to make room for his new brain child - Leagues Cup, which is interrupted by the pandemic (but he has to push the pedal in 2023 to ride the Messi wave). It's clear that he cares only about money. And that he's leveraging his influence to make all of North America his personal experimental playground (while also pushing beyond NA/concacaf with SUM).
If by "he" you mean "the face of what the owners want" then maybe. But everyone seems to forget Don Garber works for them, not the other way around.
Copa MX went on hiatus because of COVID, and they never decided to restart it, other than playing the long-delayed final that was scheduled for April 2020. Garber had nothing to do with that. Garber is not an evil genius running everything. He's an employee and representative of the MLS owners. He doesn't tell Mexico what to do, and it turns out that MLS is staying in the US Open Cup.
For years I’ve heard the rallying cries of “we don’t need MLS!” among lower division fans. This would’ve been an opportunity to put that to the test and gauge the ability of mainly the USL clubs to carry the torch of a U.S. soccer institution.
So if USL championship has an opportunity to play in a tournament like Leagues Cup where they could make way more money than USOC, would they take it or let it go ?
Surrrre... Garber had nothing to do with it. And how exactly do you know that? Provide proof. He is definitely influencing things. Let's not be naive. He's more than an employee, he is an executive with 3 very powerful soccer organizations. I can see why he would not get an open cup. I get it, because I see it in Europe. I got into the English open cups first. And that made me realize that open cups are great and a part of soccer culture. Now, Garber did not start there. He didn't start with English football. He started as an NFL executive who hated soccer. That is his context. And in the big 3 US professional sports there are no open cups. Hence it would only make sense that his mind is wired to not see value in open cups, and to approach major league soccer similar to the other pro American sports. Lamar Hunt was a football guy too... BUT... he went to Europe and fell in love with soccer there then built it up in the US.
"Prove a negative because I feel like he did something even though I have no proof of it" GTFO of here with that logic. SMH.
Of all the COVID conspiracy theories I've seen, this is the best one yet: Don Garber starting a pandemic in order to shut down cup competitions.
I'm under the belief that anything going forward that has Inter Miami and Messi attached to it will have sponsors lining up at the door to sponsor, and of course the stadium going forward will be packed with people trying to get a glimpse of Messi, even if he does not play. You did not see Peacock lining up to show the '22 Open Cup Final did you. It is called the Messi effect.
Rather pull out of the US Open Cup and since they are invested into the Leagues Cup MLS should consider reducing the regular season from 34 matches to 32 or even 28 matches. This can be accomplished by realignment of the two conferences with three division each with five clubs in each division. Such as: EASTERN CONFERENCE Northeast Division NYCFC New York Red Bulls CF Montreal New England Revolution Toronto FC Central Division Chicago Fire DC United Columbus Crew FC Cincinnati Philadelphia Union Southeast Division Atlanta United Charlotte FC Inter Miami CF Orlando City Nashville SC WESTERN CONFERENCE Northwest Division Minnesota United Colorado Rapids Vancouver Whitecaps Portland Timbers Seattle Sounders Pacific Division LAFC LA Galaxy RSL San Diego FC San Jose Earthquakes Southwest Division Austin FC Houston Dynamo FC Dallas Sporting Kansas City St. Louis City Each club would play everyone within the division twice (28 game schedule) or 3x (32 game schedule) (8 or 12 total) Then play each club from the other divisions within the conference once (10 games). Then play each club from two divisions in the other conference once (10 games).
More News about the US Open Cup: https://hudsonriverblue.com/mls-said-to-be-holding-the-us-open-cup-hostage/.
Wild that USL is willing to situate themselves as a second division league in US Soccer, and MLS still feels threatened by them. I'm not entirely convinced by the authors arguments that MLS is frightened by USL clubs successfully developing and selling talent abroad (the author connects Kobi Henry's sale to OCSC getting kicked out of their stadium for an MLS NEXT club, and... idk... maybe?), but I do think that there are enough MBAs suffering from severe cases of "zero-sumitus" in MLS' ownership groups that they view USSF's relationship with MLS as adversarial. This sucks because the ensuing fight will only have one true casualty: lower-leagues soccer...
Source: 2024 U.S. Open Cup gets go-ahead under proposed new format https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39559693/2024-us-open-cup-gets-go-ahead-proposed-new-format Couple tidbits: The source indicated that complete details are still being ironed out, but the decision to have a tournament in 2024 has been made and what will likely gain final approval is a hybrid type of tournament with not every MLS team participating. The precise level of team participation from MLS and USL clubs is still to be determined. The source added that the plan calls for the federation to make its largest financial investment ever to ease the cost of travel and assist with promotion, especially for lower-division teams. When asked if he thought MLS was above playing in the Open Cup, Garber said, "What has happened over time is the tournament has not resonated enough with fans and commercial partners and sponsors, and certainly media partners in a way to justify the level of participation that had been required of us in the past. And over time, MLS has come into the tournament at different levels. We've had different numbers of teams, all ways that the league and the federation and the U.S. Open Committee have worked to try to ensure that the tournament is working for everybody."
After months of uncertainty, US Soccer will announce the format and draw for the 109th edition of the United State’s national championship tomorrow, February 29, or Friday, March 1. JUST 8 MLS TEAMS WILL PARTICIPATE Only eight teams from MLS will compete in the 2024 Open Cup. Defending US Open Cup champions Houston Dynamo will be joined by the top seven US based-squads from the 2023 Supporters’ Shield standings that are not competing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup: Atlanta United, FC Dallas, LAFC, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, and Sporting Kansas City. https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/nyc...AAMeOdnKcCRxX4URdAptp7buL3WjadGgHUuGwGDIeZBtw
The nine teams that finished below San Jose in the standings will be represented by MLS NEXT Pro teams. NYCFC II and RBNY II will be joined by Austin FC II, Chicago Fire FC II, Colorado Rapids 2, Crown Legacy FC, LA Galaxy II, Minnesota United FC 2, and Portland Timbers 2. The reserve teams will be joined by the two independent MLS NEXT Pro teams, Carolina Core FC and Chattanooga FC. https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/nyc...AAMeOdnKcCRxX4URdAptp7buL3WjadGgHUuGwGDIeZ