This 2004 season I vowed to try and follow the A-league a little closer & make it to Boulder for a few Rapids Resv. games. The US Open Cup provides me the oppurtunity to do both, and see how Blake is getting along at Rochester. This Cup has some true potential to become something worth watching. Browsing some A-league sites and forums people are already planning road trips to see thier team square up with an MLS squad. So why so many problems with media coverage & finding sponsers? Perhaps Freddy Adu's apperance will help some.
IMO, it's because this is different than all of the other sports in this country. In the big 4, you have one season that determines the playoff seedings, and then the playoffs determine the champion. It's very cut-and-dried. In soccer however, you have teams basically playing for two championships simultaneously (in Europe a lot of leagues play for 3 or 4 different championships). A league champion (MLS), and then a national champion (US Open). So in the minds of the media, the competition that has the best teams squaring off against each other is more important than a competition that has lower level teams facing off against MLS squads. Which I think is stupid because this country goes insane for March Madness, and the US Open Cup is the closest thing to that in professional sports in this country.
American sports fans can't grasp soccer and so they don't look at the US Open Cup. It doesn't matter if it is like March Madness or anything else. With better marketing I think American soccer fans will get more into the Cup and get it more coverage. However, until American soccer fans are created, US Open Cup is not going to do any better than MLS. I love the Cup and think it should get more press. I like the idea of any team being able to compete with the big boys.
"I love the Cup and think it should get more press. I like the idea of any team being able to compete with the big boys." I agree but considering that soccer must now compete with POKER on sports channels, I have serious doubts soccer will every rise above being a minor sport on TV. Face it, soccer doesn't draw fans to the Television.
Hey, don't dis poker. I can watch that for hours. I also recommend Pokerroom.com. It is a gift from the gods.