Open Cup Bombshell Wakes Up American Soccer
By Peter Wilt
Chicago House AC Managing Partner
Last week’s attempt by MLS to withdraw its first teams from the US Open Cup and today’s denial by US Soccer is an inflexion point in the sport in this country. The MLS attempt to withdraw and subsequent denial lit a fuse among the masses that want something better.
That fuse, lit under the cloak of late Friday darkness right before the holidays, is leading to an explosion of frustrated, disillusioned and upset fans who are the bomb that represents the anger of American soccer’s massive and passionate soccer community. As Peter Finch’s character Howard Beale screamed in the 1976 film “Network”, I’M AS MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!
MLS’ attempt to withdraw from their co-founder’s eponymous Lamar Hunt US Open Cup was not only a slap in the face of Chicago House, which recently qualified as an open division club for the second straight year, and an affront to all lower division professional and amateur soccer clubs in the U.S. It was also an insult to every person connected to the sport past and present in this country.
I am certainly more sensitive to the impact of this callous move than most are. I love the US Open Cup and the tournament has been good to me. I have been fortunate to win four US Open Cup Championship rings as a former President and GM of the Chicago Fire. I have also been on the other end of Chicago Fire US Open Cup success by losing matches while leading Indy Eleven and Chicago House. Though my teams lost to the higher division team on those occasions, my open division Chicago House and my third division Forward Madison clubs each punched above their weight and beat higher division pro teams in the tournament. These contests, win or lose, were the most exciting, drama filled and meaningful contests for our players, coaches, staff and fans.
MLS trying to withdraw their 1st teams from the tournament aggrieved Chicago House as a team that spent precious financial and human resources qualifying for the 2024 tournament. We did so under the auspices that, if successful, we would have the opportunity to face an MLS team. We, along with hundreds of other clubs throughout the United States, were led to believe this based on our very real and successful experiences as recently as earlier this year. We were led to believe this due to the statement in page nine of US Soccer’s Pro League Standards that says sanctioning is limited to “US based teams that must participate in all representative U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF competitions for which they are eligible.” Kudos to US Soccer for standing up to MLS and threatening them with removal of its sanctioning.
US Soccer leadership, specifically, President Cindy Cone and Executive Director JT Baston, had been eerily silent on the news since the MLS announcement. It had been five days and they had not publicly commented on the biggest, most concerning news to hit their membership in a very long time. The statement this morning spoke volumes in a very good way.
Many, including me, feared that their silence was tied to the fact that their power is tied to MLS. Tied to Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank’s $50 million check subsidizing US Soccer’s relocation to Atlanta and development of a new soccer complex in Georgia. While leaving office in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned America of an impending military-industrial complex. The great WWII General proved prescient. And now US Soccer, after many years of being tied to a MLS/SUM/US Soccer complex, they have publicly shown that the ties are broken in favor of embracing its entire membership, including MLS.
Instead of US Soccer being beholden only to 29 billionaires, US Soccer has demonstrated that it is beholden to the tens of millions of American soccer players, coaches, referees, administrators and fans.
US Soccer’s own five pillar Strategic Vision posted less than 100 days ago, seems to categorically defend US Soccer’s decision to deny the MLS request to withdraw its first teams from the US Open Cup. MLS’ withdrawal from the oldest national soccer cup competition in the U.S. was counter to each of US Soccer’s five pillars.
September 13, 2023:
U.S. SOCCER - STRATEGIC VISION
We are embarking on the most exciting era in the history of American soccer. Together, we have an extraordinary opportunity to inspire and impact millions of players, coaches, referees and fans of all ages. To guide this important work, U.S. Soccer has outlined a strategy built around five ambitious pillars that will be imperative to our success moving forward:
Grow the game.
Foster the best playing environments.
Develop winning teams.
Grow the soccer economy to fuel reinvestment.
Create a world-class organization.
We are committed to transparency and will continue to communicate updates as we execute our five key pillars. Working together, we are confident in our strategy and our ability to come together as a soccer family to make the most of this transformational moment.
Let’s consider how MLS withdrawing from the US Open Cup would have impacted each one of these pillars for US Soccer’s strategic vision. Would the MLS 1st team US Open Cup withdrawal:
Grow the game. PJW: A hard and emphatic NO. Self evident, but i’ll just say that taking aspirational competitive matches away for lower division clubs stunts the growth of the game at all levels and with all people connected with the game.
Foster the best playing environments. PJW: Again, NO. US Open Cup matches are all win or go home. Like the NCAA Basketball March Madness games, they produce the most excitement and passion of any American club soccer matches all year. When those matches are between two lower professional or amateur division clubs for the right to move on to potentially play a 1st Division club, the reward for players, coaches, staff and fans is tangible. When those matches are between a lower division pro or amateur team and an MLS team, the environment is often iconic and memorable.
Develop winning teams. PJW: NO again. Tough competition for lower division teams develops winners. Win or go home opportunities for MLS teams are cutthroat and produce winning mentalities. MLS teams are used to playing dozens of relatively meaningless regular season games where win or lose, they still have a good chance to make the playoffs in a League where more than half their teams qualify for the playoffs. US Open Cup games help develop winning mentalities for MLS players and teams as well as non-MLS players and teams.
Grow the soccer economy to fuel reinvestment. PJW: NO again. MLS’ withdrawal takes away and reduces revenue opportunities for every lower pro division and amateur team in the tournament. Lower and open division clubs have been lobbying for a change in policy to allow lower seeds to host Open Cup matches to fuel reinvestment in the soccer economy. MLS’ withdrawal would have poured water on the tournament to reduce the soccer economy.
Create a world-class organization. PJW: Hahaha! NO again. Becoming one of, if not THE only 1st Division leagues in the world NOT to participate in its national “open” cup competition is the opposite of being world-class.
These events signal that now is time for the masses to commend US Soccer and support the federation to take back control of the game in this country. It is time for policy reform that leads to a TRUE open system pro league sanctioned by US Soccer. It is time for an alliance of like-minded and like-valued clubs and leagues to come together and build an authentic organization that is affordable, equitable, inclusive and truly OPEN, reflecting the structure used successfully around the globe.
Open system clubs rarely fold globally. In the United States, however, soccer clubs often go bankrupt, cease operation and hurt its players, coaches, administrators, fans and the game itself. As @reformussoccer on X recently noted, the United States has lost 70% of its pro teams since 1992 in what he calls the US Soccer “Murder Pyramid”. The masses supporting open system soccer in the US exist. We need to unite and not let small differences separate us. We need to be aligned and push in the same direction. Whether state associations, professional or amateur players and clubs, national or regional amateur leagues, referees, administrators or fans, it is time to unite and take our sport back.
To quote Charles E. Weller, “Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country.”
And quoting Howard Beale again:
CLICK HERE >>>>> “I AM AS MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
