MLS's rejection of the U. S. Open Cup shuns American soccer heritage

On Dec. 15, Major League Soccer made a startling announcement: That next season, for the first time since the league's founding in 1996, MLS would not send any teams to the U. S. Open Cup tournament.

The U. S. Open Cup is the longest-running soccer tournament in America — and one of the longest-running soccer tournaments in the world. 

Founded in 1914 and run annually with just a short pause for COVID protocols, it predates even the FIFA World Cup by a full 16 years. The Cup encompasses the entire American soccer pyramid and involves 100 teams from eight different professional and semi-professional leagues.

MLS's withdrawal from the tournament would be like the Premier League withdrawing from the FA Cup or top national teams withdrawing from the World Cup.

It's a shocking decision and one whose aftershocks rattled the U. S. soccer community.

"MLS's withdrawal of their first teams from the Cup is not only a disservice to the fans, but also to the sport itself," the Independent Supporter's Council, a collective representing American soccer fans, said in a statement. "It undermines the inclusive nature of American soccer ... the decision threatens to erode the very foundations of the sport's heritage and its connection to communities."

Soccer began in America as a way to bring communities together during the Industrial Revolution, and community has played a vital role in the survival of the game ever since. 

When the U. S. had no professional soccer between the dissolution of the NASL in 1984 and the founding of MLS in 1996, it was local community teams who came together and competed annually in the U. S. Open Cup to keep the proverbial lights on for the sport in the States. 

During that era, the Cup was the only way for soccer fans across the nation to see one another and keep in touch, and it kept smaller teams alive in the absence of a true top league.

Those smaller teams will be the ones destroyed by MLS's short-sighted decision to withdraw. U. S. Open Cup games against big-ticket MLS teams are crucial for smaller teams. They provide excitement, of course, but also thousands of dollars in ticket sales and television air rights. 

Nations across the world use tournaments like the U. S. Open Cup to help lower-division teams make money; just look at how excited French lower league side Revel was to learn it'd face Paris Saint-Germain in France's cup: