MLS and the U.S. Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that the national federation did not grant a necessary waiver to allow its franchises to field its developmental Next Pro teams in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
“After thoughtful consideration, we have informed MLS that the U.S. Soccer staff recommendation … is that the request be denied,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement.
The league said it “is committed to finding a viable solution for the 2024 tournament and is working to find a pathway that addresses its goals and concerns.”
The announcement follows MLS’s decision late last week to pull its teams from the U.S. Open Cup, the nation’s oldest continuously-running soccer competition involving teams from every level of the U.S. soccer system. The decision was criticized from many corners of U.S. soccer, including fans of MLS teams, lower leagues and clubs.
Why did this happen?
An MLS spokesperson said last week that the league decided to pull its teams from the U.S. Open Cup in part to aid with fixture congestion — exacerbated in 2023 by the addition of an expanded Leagues Cup to the MLS calendar. There are an array of other factors as well, including the fact that Open Cup games involving MLS teams often draw lower attendances than regular-season league games. As a competition administrated by the U.S. Soccer Federation, MLS is not in control of many aspects of the Open Cup, including broadcast rights, marketing and competition standards.
In a May meeting of the U.S. Soccer board of directors, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the Open Cup was “a very poor reflection on what it is we’re trying to do with soccer at the highest level.”
MLS reasoned that it could pull its first teams but maintain its participation in the competition by sending teams that compete in MLS Next Pro, its developmental competition that began play in 2022 and is classified as a third-division league by U.S. Soccer.
U.S. Soccer did not elaborate as to its reasons for denying MLS’s request in its statement Wednesday. However, the move would seem to violate the organization’s Professional League Standards, a USSF document that guides the sanctioning and structure of leagues within the U.S. soccer pyramid. Under the guidelines for a first-division men’s outdoor soccer league, one of the first points for sanctioning is that all “U.S.‐based teams must participate in all representative U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF competitions for which they are eligible.”
What comes next?
In the short term, Major League Soccer said it will continue to work to define its participation in the 2024 tournament before considering the next steps. A source briefed on the league’s plans for the competition stated that one course of action that the league hopes to explore is the potential for fielding both MLS first teams and MLS Next Pro sides in the U.S. Open Cup with the aims of providing its developmental sides access to a higher level of competition.
However, any course correction for 2025 and beyond will now take a backseat to finalizing its 2024 involvement.
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