The revamped 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament will look far different from years past, with just eight teams from Major League Soccer competing in the century-old competition this year, MLS and the U.S. Soccer Federation announced on Friday.
The participating MLS clubs are Atlanta United, FC Dallas, LAFC, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City and the defending U.S. Open Cup champion Houston Dynamo. Those clubs were selected based on their finish in the 2023 MLS regular season standings. MLS teams competing in the Concacaf Champions Cup were exempt except the Dynamo, which wanted the opportunity to defend the title.
It's the first time since MLS's inaugural season in 1996 that most of the country's first division clubs won't be involved in the knockout tournament, which is open to teams at all levels of soccer in the United States, from the amateur ranks to the pros. MLS, which has 26 U.S.-based clubs, has won the tourney every year since 2000. Just one lower division side has hoisted the trophy since MLS debuted almost three decades ago: the Rochester (New York) Rhinos in 1999. The second-tier Sacremento Republic reached the 2022 final, where the USL Championship side lost to MLS's Orlando City.
The decision ends months of wrangling over the future of the U.S. Open Cup, which began in 1914. In December, MLS announced its intention to send its development teams from the third-tier MLS Next Pro to represent the top flight in the 2024 tournament. U.S. Soccer, whose rules for the competition require that every MLS team compete, initially denied the request.
That seemed to end the matter. Things changed last month, though, when the federation realized that it might not be able legally to compel all MLS teams to participate if it came to that, sources told FOX Sports. That ultimately led to the sides reaching a compromise that kept some MLS first teams involved and allowed 11 MLS Next Pro clubs to enter the Open Cup for the first time.
Friday's news wasn't unexpected. The likelihood of MLS's drastically reduced participation was reported by multiple outlets last week, and MLS commissioner Don Garber has made it clear on multiple occasions over the last year that he didn't value the league's continued involvement in the Open Cup under the status quo. According to Garber, the competition has long been a financial black hole for MLS clubs who are dealing with an ever more congested match calendar. In addition to the regular season, the joint MLS-Liga MX Leagues Cup and the playoffs, many MLS players will represent their national teams in the Copa América and Paris Olympics this summer.
In a press release, the USSF said it will make "its largest-ever investment in the tournament in 2024." No actual dollar amount was made public, but MLS VP Nelson Rodriguez told reporters on a Friday Zoom call that the federation would underwrite most if not all travel expenses for each of the 96 teams involved this year.
The deal still probably won't satisfy a vocal segment of American soccer fans, both of MLS teams and their minor league brethren. Because MLS doesn't have promotion and relegation, the Open Cup is the only real opportunity for lower-tier clubs and players to test themselves against the country's top professional teams. While no lower division entrant has won the Open Cup this century, they have routinely "Cupset" reserve-heavy MLS teams in the earlier rounds. Many of those matchups have been contested in intimate venues controlled by those smaller clubs, for which they are a significant source of revenue.
Despite featuring just a handful of MLS teams this year, the 2024 Open Cup will lean hard into the David versus Goliath narrative: No MLS team can face another unless or until results make keeping them apart impossible.
"I definitely agree with the David and Goliath part," said Dynamo GM Pat Onstad, a member of that triumphant Rochester squad way back when. "That was always a big tournament for us, and a great opportunity."
The changes are just for the 2024 tourney. It's possible that more than eight MLS teams will compete in future versions of the Open Cup as U.S. Soccer tries to incentivize them to do so with increased economic support.
"This is a good fix in the short term," SKC coach Peter Vermes said. "But I believe in the long term you'll probably see more teams participating."
The first round of the 2024 U.S. Open Cup kicks off on March 19.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports who has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
