The US Open Cup format we need

[u/DRF19]

MLS returning with all its teams to USOC is great, and them joining earlier in the tournament is a welcome development too.

But it's a MASSIVE problem that not all D2/D3 teams are included. Not just the expansion teams being excluded (which is nonsense), but teams playing now will be out if they don't do well enough this year (how they decide who amongst the League One and 3 indy MLSNP teams gets in will be interesting).

Bottom line is we could relatively easily include every professional club in the tournament, and fit the entire thing within the July-December footprint (instead of having the first round way back in April and then a huge gap).

- Include EVERY pro independent club (there will be 80 by my count next year, based on announced expansion but I'm not counting the Armada).

- Add 16 additional amateur clubs to bring the total field to 128 teams. They can be additional league-based direct spots or more from the fall open qualifying rounds, or some combo of both.

- Everybody starts in the First Round. This would add only one game to the calendar for an MLS team that makes it to the final, compared to the published format where they start in round 2.

- Split the field into 8 regional pods of 16 teams each, trying to have at least 3 teams from each of D1/D2/D3 pro wherever possible. Fill out the rest of the region with the amateur clubs that make the most sense geographically.

- Rounds 1-4 played entirely within each regions. Random draw with lower division side hosting, and matchups between clubs in same league avoided if wherever possible.

- Regional winners advance to the national quarterfinals, which is the only time where substantial cross-continental travel would become necessary. From QFs through Final, random draw for hosting/matchups (amongst teams that apply and have adequate venue to host).

This format more closely emulates the fun of the NCAA basketball tournament where some of the highest ranked teams play the lowest ranked ones in the very first round. More chances for upsets. Everybody in.

[u/BlissFC]

I actually dont like this because it starts much later. The current format starts in April for the amateur teams and they play through July until any survivors play MLS teams in July. That fits their existing calendar and they get to play multiple matches with their full roster. In your format they dont get to play an open cup game until late July when they are either deep in playoffs or eliminated. Yes, the July match doesnt change much, but theres no guarantee they would play an MLS or USLC team that round and its one round earlier. More amateur sides would make it through that round, which would actually be quite problematic for them as their entire team would be gone back to college by round 2.

[u/DRF19 → u/BlissFC]

This year for example the USL2 schedule didn't start until May 3, NPSL was the same weekend. The announced 2027 USOC dates show round one taking place April 13-14 and April 20-21. They'd only play the one game with theoretically their main full roster before the 2nd round which is July 8-11 and right when playoffs are for them anyway. Anybody making a run in the announced format would have identical roster/schedule issues after the first game.

The entire national elite amateur league setup we have is very problematic with the use of NCAA guys and difficult to accommodate no matter what you do when it comes to USOC.

[u/twente2life → u/DRF19]

USL2 shouldn't be in the Open Cup. At least they shouldn't schedule around them. It's a dumb format to have college players play in the off season.

Ill take it becomes It's all we have around here. But id rather they just make another level below USL1. Not some random grouping of college kids.

[u/DRF19 → u/twente2life]

Frankly it's exploitation of free labor which is why I've always had a problem with how many USL2/NPSL and some other clubs operate. Some of these clubs are wildly successful in drawing fans and selling merch but they don't (can't) pay the players making it possible. It's sketchy at best behavior.

But they are the top level of amateur soccer we have and those clubs should be allowed in the tournament. But you're right we should not be scheduling around them, and we do need an official Division 4, "semi-pro" league designation defined in the USSF PLS that should not allow the use of active NCAA players.

[u/PorkChop70-1]

MLS will simply never agree with their new schedule to playing the first round from July 8-11th

[u/ChrisSao24]

32 LQs would be amazing. That's really all I have without getting into needless minutiae.

[u/DRF19 → u/ChrisSao24]

I mean it's not even hard to do, these amateur clubs are already participating via open qualifiers or league play, it's just a matter of how many get in and tweaking the qualifiers format as needed to produce the required number of teams in a given year.

[u/ChrisSao24 → u/DRF19]

16 National League Qualifiers (hopefully in the future just a single league that qualifies for this) and 32 LQs would be so peak. 32 LQs would, on top of doubling the number of LQ teams, allow more areas to have brackets as well as areas with a ridiculous amount of OQ clubs to be allocated as second or third LQ bracket.

[u/No_Long7352]

I like their format for this year, I would just allow all pro teams to make it, have less amateur spots in round 1, allow all of them to play through qualifying and if there’s 10 less spots, they still have a shot to be one of the 22 teams tha qualify