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American soccer leaders are at odds over the future of the sport’s oldest ongoing U.S. tournament.
The United States Soccer Federation has denied a request from Major League Soccer to allow its developmental teams from the MLS Next Pro league to represent MLS clubs in the annual U.S. Open Cup (America’s equivalent of the FA Cup), which was first held in 1914.
All 26 American MLS clubs competed in the 2023 edition of the single-elimination tournament, which was won by the Houston Dynamo. The entire field featured 99 teams with additional participation from the second-division USL, other lower-tier leagues and amateur clubs. MLS Next Pro is classified as part of the third tier of American soccer.
MLS cited “several essential goals and concerns that must be addressed in connection with the tournament,” including reducing schedule congestion for MLS and enhanced investment from U.S. Soccer. In May, MLS commissioner Don Garber bemoaned the tournament’s status: “It’s just not the proper reflection of what soccer in America at the professional level needs to be.”
Media Rights at Play?
Like MLS, the 2023 U.S. Open Cup received a major attention boost from Lionel Messi. But the tournament is one of the only opportunities for broadcasters other than Apple to show MLS games. While no major deals for 2024 have been announced, a source tells Front Office Sports that CBS Sports is discussing its return as one of the tournament’s broadcasters.
The Inter Miami-FC Cincinnati semifinal on the CBS Sports Golazo Network provided the streaming channel with its most successful day ever in terms of households reached. Although viewership isn’t available for the Miami-Houston final, which Messi sat out due to injury, on the CBS Sports Network cable channel, the match’s Spanish-language broadcast generated 1.2 million viewers across Telemundo, Universo and Peacock.
Other early tournament matches aired on Golazo, the Bleacher Report app and B/R Football’s and U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channels.
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