For so many years before the beginning of Major League Soccer, the new structure of the United Soccer Leagues, and so many other moments and events for the game in our country, the U.S. Soccer Federation (Originally the U.S. Football Association) has been fighting for relevance not just across the world, but within its own backyard. So many leagues have come and gone, like the ASL, ASL II, NASL, and then nothing. While there were great clubs back in the day, most have either ended their professional status or been reduced to amateur status.
Not until that great miracle goal by Paul Caligiuri down at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, did the chain reaction start of putting this sport back on the map: the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and then two years later MLS came and stayed for 30 years. But one competition that has been around longer than all the leagues combined was called, back in the day, the U.S. Challenge Cup is now known as the U.S. Open Cup. A trophy donated by Sir Thomas R. Dewar of Scottish Dewar’s Whisky stood the test of time.
For many years, this trophy was fought for by so many clubs across the country, and many clubs have won it either once or several times to forge a dynasty, like Bethlehem Steel, the multiple clubs from St. Louis, Greek Americans, NY Pancyprian Freedoms, and, of course, Macabee of Los Angeles and, in the modern era, DC United and the Seattle Sounders. But there was a time during the original North American Soccer League when they scoffed at the notion of participating in that tournament and said no.
While there was hope of making this tournament special, there were those inside U.S. Soccer who also didn’t give it a chance. Just put out the dates and make sure it’s working smoothly. But once MLS came into the picture, they said yes, and so began a new era of the competition and the new Division One League that began in 1996. DC United was the first Double Champion representing the MLS. As the years went by, there was some new excitement for the Cup, but the same issues continued to pop up.
U.S. Soccer had to show more care and more belief in the tournament. While they tried, it wasn’t good enough. Even in the days of Sunil Gulati, who became USSF President, he was able to bring everyone together and keep the waters calm. Yes, we know of the issues he ignored during the NWSL, with bad coaches taking advantage of their players, and his partnership with MLS handing over the youth soccer tournaments and the referee assignments that became MLS Next and PRO Referees.
We’ve had great players involved with the Open Cup, like David Beckham, Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, and Lionel Messi, who finally got a match in the 2023 Edition of the Semi-Finals. But once that edition came to an end, crowning the Houston Dynamo with their second Open Cup title, the underhandedness of MLS substituting all their Division I clubs for their Next Pro Division III clubs sounded the alarm for the American Soccer Community.
For these last three seasons, we have seen MLS reduce their number of clubs from eight, then double it to 16, and nothing more till we got the news during this current week, as everything was getting worked out, and finally it all came to an end as everyone shook hands and celebrated restoring the Open Cup to what it should be about. Celebrating the game at all levels, from the professionals to the amateurs and the grassroots. One man and one man alone put his thoughts and care into making this happen: CEO and General Secretary of U.S. Soccer, J.T. Batson.
Seeing him discussing during a video presentation of searching for a new head coach after firing Gregg Berhalter and bringing in Maurico Pochettino was the first positive step I saw, then he made an appearance on Landon Donovan & Tim Howard’s Podcast Unfiltered Soccer about the state of the game, and hearing great things from colleagues during an event at the new headquarters of MLS as he was invited to speak and spoke to the media afterwards.
With him trying to fix the problems and make the sport work well. First were the college soccer issues; now the Youth Soccer integration and reformatting of the State Soccer Associations; and now the U.S. Open Cup. Instead of arguing, screaming, fighting, and calling others names, he wanted to sit down and listen to all members of each professional and amateur league to make sure they got this right and fix whatever narrative was being broken.
Reading his X/Twitter posts about what they are trying to do to make sure the Open Cup is special and has that excitement within it, he conveyed his thoughts on why this finally came to fruition.
“A few years ago, there was real disagreement about the future of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Going forward, all 27 U.S.-based MLS clubs are committed to playing in the 2027 tournament, alongside USL and independent MLS NEXT Pro clubs — while a record 155 amateur clubs have entered qualifying, looking to join the16 teams that have already punched their ticket. I want to unpack that journey.
When the disagreement surfaced, it would have been easy for everyone to retreat to their corners. Instead, we listened. MLS, USL, our amateur soccer community, and others across the game came together with U.S. Soccer and did the hard work of understanding the issues and finding a better path forward. A huge amount of credit goes to leaders across the soccer landscape, and to Michael Lazar and the U.S. Soccer team for helping drive that work.
That reflects something fundamental about the U.S. Soccer we are working to build. We listen. We learn. And we get better together. Our job is to be In Service to Soccer – the whole game, not one part of it. American soccer will achieve far more when the different parts of our ecosystem are moving in the same direction.
Few things bring that belief to life better than the U.S. Open Cup. A local amateur club can start this journey in September with the dream of eventually sharing a field with the biggest professional clubs in America.
Every league, club, and community matters. The U.S. Open Cup is the oldest-running soccer competition in the country, and should be where all of men’s American soccer meets.
And getting everyone into the competition is only part of the job. Our next step is turning the U.S. Open Cup into the celebration of American soccer that it should be, by continuing to improve and invest in its future. That requires clubs, leagues, players, fans, media, sponsors, and partners all leaning in.
We should have packed stadiums, local rivalries, Cinderella runs, and stars playing in communities that rarely get to see them. These stories capture the imagination of the country. There is a LOT more work ahead, and we know that we’ll have tradeoffs to weigh, but U.S. Soccer has a responsibility to help lead it.
Just like we have done with USYS and the future of youth soccer, you’re going to see more of this approach from us across American soccer: Listen. Learn. Align. Act. We will bring people together, be willing to change, find the shared interest, and then (most importantly) get to work. The future of soccer in this country belongs to all of us, and we will build something much greater if we build it together.”
For the first time in a long time, we are seeing this Soccer Federation having a new direction and finally bringing things back to normal. It all got started by ending their partnership with MLS Marketing arm Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and taking back their commercial properties and abilities to negotiate television deals, sponsorship opportunities, and once again getting those three new sponsors for the Open Cup, like Marriott Bonvoy, New York Life Insurance, Michelob Ultra, and getting more sponsorship money from Nike.
Having dialog and a calm conversation is the right thing to do. Listen to them, and then they will listen to you. Batson understands that he wants everything to work out for everyone. If everyone is happy, then U.S. Soccer is happy. While this has been a positive start, more changes must be made, and the dialog must continue to be friendly, happy, and positive. We all know what the true goal is: to make the sport strong at every level and corner of the country, on the mainland of the 48 states and what happens in Alaska and Hawai’i. While there are still issues in front of us, I believe J.T. Batson has already started to tackle them, and so far his solution findings have been positive. I’m rooting for him to continue on that trajectory.