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Modern Era renamed "Professional Era"
1995 returned to the current era, not included in stats
In 1995, the U.S. Open Cup was changed forever when the very first professional teams joined the tournament.
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1995
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1996 - 2006
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MLS
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APSL
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USL-1
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USISL Pro
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USL-2
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USISL Premier
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PDL
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USASA
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USASA
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While the 1995 tournament is certainly part of the Cup’s history and kick starts the "Professional Era", there really isn’t a satisfactory way to compare this tournament with the ones that followed. With that in mind, we have decided to remove 1995 from our statistics, but will keep it within the "Professional Era" as a matter of historical record. After all, it was, in fact, the debut of pro teams in the Open Cup.
In 1995, the only participants came from the APSL (four teams), USISL Pro (seven teams) and Premier (one team) leagues and the USASA (four teams). With four, rather then the current five, levels of play, there just is not a good way to compare the accomplishments of a team in 1995 against a team from 1996 and beyond. Fans could debate what level you would place the APSL on, and what level the USISL Pro was forever, so eliminating 1995 from the equation was the easiest way to avoid that.
Since USOpenCup.com was created, we had referred to this current generation of tournaments as the "Modern Era." However, during our history section makeover that is currently underway, we have realized that the term "Modern Era" isn’t the best way to describe it. When you hear "Modern Era" in terms of sports, most people think of when boxing started requiring the use of gloves, or when basketball stopped using a peach basket. "Professional Era", in our opinion, is a much more appropriate title.
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