Well ladies and gentleman, you got your way at last. Granted that only MLS & USL First Division clubs will be given automatic bids to enter the 2nd round thru the 4th round, but think about it for a minute. While this is the first step and it’s a huge step to see the former A-League US Soccer 2nd Division sides getting the chance to enter the US Open Cup with no qualification matches, how long will this good thing last?
I’m not saying that there should always be regular season matches doubling as US Open Cup Qualfiying matches, but for now this is the best thing that US Soccer can do for the sport as well as the United Soccer Leagues. Everyone on the internet is screaming for more rounds to be played so every single club involved from MLS all the way down to PDL & US Adult Soccer Association gets a fair chance, but the honest truth is that there are too many clubs in the PDL for this to work.
This argument for the US Open Cup also involves the question of the usage for promotion & relegation between all clubs inside US Soccer. Mirror the English FA & all divisions of English Football. The only way to get 80 clubs in four divisions (20 clubs per division) is to reduce the PDL division. About 50 or more clubs in the PDL range from former D3 & A-League clubs that just couldn’t handle the finances. With those problems USL 1st division has three Canadian clubs and one Puerto Rican club. And we all know that those clubs can’t get involved with the US Open Cup. Remember 8 of the 12 clubs in USL 1st division are American while there are only nine in the USL 2nd division and they are from the east coast till the central part of our country.
One thing that must balance all the problems with allowing all clubs to play in the US Open Cup as well as promotion/relegation, it’s called “Financial Stability”. Without this phrase everything that has been built and worked so hard for will all fall down and everything surrounding it will collapse like a house of cards.
And when I mean everything, I am also talking about the US Men’s National Team. If MLS falls apart, that could mean the USL can go with it and the US Open Cup that we all love so much will once again be used as the cup competition for the US Adult Soccer Association and any other amateur sides.
While MLS clubs are looking to build their own grounds like Columbus, Carson/LA & Frisco/Dallas, you have to ask yourself, what about the other clubs in the USL? So far only Charleston has their own Soccer Specific Stadium, while the Rochester Rhinos are finally building their new park after so much political red tape in that small upstate NY town. But the Rhinos like the Portland Timbers who share a Baseball Stadium to play their matches and the Seattle Sounders playing and paying rent to the NFL’s Seahawks. The Richmond Kickers probably are playing in the stadium that is owned by the University of Richmond.
Some of the clubs in the USL 2nd Division like the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have their own grounds, but the majority of the clubs in the PDL are renting either high school fields or small college fields. They don’t have the finances to make their own grounds to play in. When the USL use to be the U.S.I.S.L the defunct New Jersey Imperials use to play at Farleigh Dickenson University’s Teaneck/Hackensack Campus on their soccer field. I saw two former MetroStars players sent down to them to get some match time before their home match in Giants Stadium. D/M Chris DaSilva & back playing in MLS & the Chicago Fire was GK Zach Thornton. At that time including me there was only 20 to 25 people at the match that was played along the banks of the Hackensack River.
So if you can understand what I am telling you. All elements of US Soccer must come together, and when every single club either big or little gets their own stadium, then we can start talking about everything that all US Soccer Supporters want. Including all clubs being eligible for the US Open Cup and have rounds one thru ten, with brackets from the quarters to the final. Please don’t misunderstand me, I want the same things as everyone else does, but we can’t rush some of these things. We have to be patient and we have to be diligent about all this. Money is what makes everything go round. Can the US win the World Cup and boost the cash flow? Of course it can and when the corporate sponsors truly start flowing in like they have done for the European & South American leagues of football, then the US Open Cup will be a healthier competition and that’s what we should all want.
