MLS pulls first teams out of 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Major League Soccer announced a monumental decision for soccer in the United States on Friday. The league announced that at its recent Board of Governors meeting, its clubs voted to have MLS Next Pro teams represent the organization in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The MLS Next Pro Teams would take the place of the MLS first teams.

“This decision will provide emerging professional players with additional opportunities for meaningful competition,” the league announced in a media release on Friday. “…The inclusion of MLS Next Pro clubs in the Open Cup follows the involvement of dozens of MLS Next Pro players in the 2023 tournament, where they were called up to MLS first teams.”

MLS Next Pro is a soccer league launched by Major League Soccer in 2022. It is a developmental league comprised of 27 teams with direct affiliation to their MLS counterparts. Pretty much, it is the developmental reserve league for the MLS, the first since the MLS Reserve League folded in 2014. It is classified as part of the third tier of the United States soccer league system.

While, as the organization explained in its release, the U.S. Open Cup provided an opportunity last year for many Next Pro players, it is being taken a step further this year. MLS Next Pro will be the sole representative from the MLS in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, foregoing a long tradition of American soccer.

The U.S. Open Cup is the oldest-running sports competition in the states, dating back to the 1913-14 season. It is a knockout tournament open to a litany of professional and amateur teams across the spectrum of U.S. soccer. The winner is awarded a berth to the Concacaf Champions Cup, formerly known as the Concacaf Champions League. The MLS has dominated the competition, winning in all but one year since the league’s inception.

Now that will change, with the league opting not to participate in the U.S. Open Cup for the first time. Alongside the said benefits for the MLS Next Pro players, the scheduling benefits for the MLS were also touted in the media release. It will free up scheduling, which is especially important considering the MLS’ involvement in the Leagues Cup alongside Liga MX midway through the season. The competition was expanded to include all MLS teams last year and include a month break from the regular season.

Fan reaction to the news was overwhelmingly negative from both fans of the MLS and lower-level teams alike, and from those teams as well. The U.S. Open Cup is a special chance for teams from leagues such as the USL to compete against the best in the country, and now that chance is gone.

It will be interesting to see how, if at all, this decision impacts the league moving forward.