Is Leagues Cup Really Worth Protesting?

By Phil West | August 1, 2024 | 10:20am

Photo by Maciek Gudrymowicz/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Sports Leagues Cup

On its face, the idea of soccer fans protesting more soccer and more opportunities to see their favorite teams tested by good competition seems ridiculous, but that is the reality of the situation. The 2024 edition of Leagues Cup started Friday, featuring all 29 MLS teams and all 18 Liga MX teams in a tournament that pauses both soccer leagues’ regular season schedules for a month.

But for some, the Leagues Cup is regarded as an affront to How Soccer Should Be. There is a serious issue at stake, even if one only held by a small, fervent group of American soccer fans. It is the ongoing saga around one man’s vision to supplant a 110-year-old tournament at the heart of U.S. soccer history, in favor of this new creation.

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The U.S. Open Cup, launched in 1914 and technically overseen by U.S. Soccer, has evolved into a competition that features the top-tier North American soccer league, Major League Soccer, as well as all three levels of United Soccer League (the Championship, League One, and League Two, owing to the nonsensical English naming system), as well as other lower tiers of the American soccer pyramid.

Enter MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Garber touted the Leagues Cup as “a smashing success on every measure” in his annual pre-MLS Cup State of the League address last December, promising that “This is a tournament that will continue to grow in scale, in scope, and in reach in the years ahead.”

To enable that, he rolled out a plan at the start of the 2024 MLS season to limit teams’ involvement in the Open Cup. It exempted the teams engaged in the Concacaf Champions League, involving top teams from the North American, Central American, and Caribbean federations, and let in the next tier of clubs. The rest were represented by developmental teams of predominantly 18-to-23-year-olds in MLS Next Pro, depriving fans of the chance to see their teams in the historic competition.

While it seems the two tournaments could co-exist — the Open Cup wedges into midweek slots, mostly through the early parts of the season, and MLS pauses for an entire month starting in late July to accommodate Leagues Cup — coaches and players are concerned about multiple tournaments wearing on players. Though one season is a small sample size, it’s notable that 2023 Leagues Cup finalist Nashville SC and third-place finishers Philadelphia Union struggled in the playoffs.

Some fans reason that if there are already too many games, why add Leagues Cup to the mix? Garber’s counter, reinforced by comments he made last week, is that Open Cup is the lesser tournament despite its history.

“The question really is, are rosters big enough and are we developed enough to have our teams play in 50 games a season?” Garber said last week in comments carried by CBS News among others. “I believe we need to get to the point where we do but I also don’t think we should be playing in tournaments that are not driving value for our players, for our teams, and for our fans. It was part of the very controversial decision that we made about limiting our participation in the U.S. Open Cup.”

Some fans aren’t happy. Several supporters’ groups are checking out of the tournament and trying to sound an alarm, but so far, it’s not quite going to plan.

Austin Anthem, the original supporters’ group for Austin FC, declared a boycott that threatened to keep its 200 members away from the stadium. Some of those fans ended up attending Friday’s insane 3-2 win over Mexico City-based Pumas regardless, and it had some of the chaotic hallmarks of last year’s tournament — a first-half sending off of new designated player Osman Bukari in just his second appearance from Austin since coming over from Red Star Belgrade, and substitute goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland saving a Guillermo Martinez penalty in the match’s dying movements to preserve the win.

Though the supporters’ section was noticeably missing fans, it had plenty of energy, leading one fan to quip on social media, “This can only mean that Austin Anthem has like 5 members total.”

In Philadelphia, capos affiliated with Union supporters’ group Sons of Ben staged a walkout on Saturday after singing a traditional song in the 21st minute, inviting other fans to join them as they saw fit — perhaps an approach of limited efficacy, if they even bought the tickets to begin with. According to Jonathan Tannenwald, veteran soccer reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer, rival group Keystone State Ultras commandeered the abandoned capo stands and led cheers from there to keep the support going.

“A lot of people joined not knowing any better,” Tannenwald noted. Of course, the walkout may have had limited reach regardless: “The place was only half full to start.”

Numerous supporters’ groups in St. Louis, a city with deep soccer traditions, talked boycott several months in advance of Leagues Cup’s launch. St. Louis City SC personnel are acutely aware of the duality their fans were inhabiting: Some wanting to stand on principle, others wanting to support their team regardless of the situation.

“Look, this is St. Louis,” St. Louis City SC head coach John Hackworth told local media Friday, “and if there’s a place in this country where the Open Cup is more important, I certainly don’t know about it. And I think there has to be a reference to the historical importance of what the Open Cup has meant to our fan base and our club.”

Following Saturday’s 2-1 win over FC Dallas, veteran midfielder Chris Durkin said, “The club stance, we still want to be part of the Open Cup. Me personally, I love the Open Cup. It’s where I made my professional debut with D.C. United. That cup has a special place in my heart. I know there will still be a lot of people in the stands and they’ll still be supporting us. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about all of the supporters that have come..”

Though it’s hard to gauge how this year’s Leagues Cup will compare to last year’s, there’s already one marked difference. Last year, Lionel Messi had just joined Inter Miami from Paris Saint-Germain, and he was electric in his Leagues Cup matches. This year, he’s sidelined with an ankle injury for at least the group stages; tickets for Miami’s match on Saturday against top Liga MX team Tigres can now be had on Ticketmaster for as little as $30.

The Leagues Cup field winnows to 32 teams after this week, and it becomes a knockout tournament capable of delivering the delicious matchups and decisive penalty shootouts that partially defined last year. But it’s a different tournament now, given how the lines have been drawn. It might be even more reviled next year if Garber continues his efforts to downshift on Open Cup — and in 2026, when an MLS official has already indicated Leagues Cup will continue. That year, of course, will have even more of a congested soccer schedule than usual: The World Cup will be in town.