Major League Soccer confirmed on Friday that it will not send its first teams to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2024. Instead, the league will send teams from its two-year-old development league, MLS Next Pro, to the nation’s oldest soccer tournament. This comes after MLS commissioner Don Garber criticized the state of the tournament during a U.S. Soccer Federation board of directors meeting in May.
Calling it “a very poor reflection on what it is that we’re trying to do with soccer at the highest level”, Garber addressed his accusation during Friday’s announcement. “I made those comments because I believe that if we’re going to have our professional teams competing in a tournament that is the oldest tournament of its type anywhere in the country, we all need to embrace it.” This comes after negative feedback from the club level given increased fixture congestion in recent seasons.
Following the introduction of the expanded Leagues Cup competition involving the MLS and the Liga MX, there has been a growing belief that the prestige of the U.S. Open Cup has diminished. An MLS spokesperson stated that the league will make a final determination after the 2024 season regarding its first teams’ participation in the tournament.
