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Boycott or no boycott, what does Leagues Cup competition do for Orlando City SC?

• Leagues Cup hones team’s MLS skills
• Boycott and Olympics aren’t damaging attendance
• Squad keeps eyes on the prize

By Chuck Wharton

Jul 26, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Fans wait for players to leave the pitch after the game between Orlando City and CF Montreal during the second half at INTER&CO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 26, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Fans wait for players to leave the pitch after the game between Orlando City and CF Montreal during the second half at INTER&CO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
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Orlando City SC has focused on the business of winning in this 2024 Leagues Cup. The collateral noise around the league hasn’t phased the team.

Orlando City SC marches on through the 2024 Leagues Cup competition. Calls for boycott or no-boycott through the league make no difference in the squad’s mission. They intend to keep working on their drills until it ends.

Then they get back to their goal of making the MLS post-season. That means staying well above the MLS Eastern Conference playoff line.

But – boycott or no boycott – what does this competition do for Orlando City SC? It’s not automatically understood. This is only the second edition of the Leagues Cup. It’s not more than a century old like the U.S. Open Cup, whose supporters started the boycott talk in the first place.

The Leagues Cup lasts for four weeks involving MLS and Liga MX. It’s the first two-league tournament sanctioned by Concacaf.

The ultimate goal is to finish in the top three. That earns those squads a spot in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup. But there’s only one Leagues Cup champion. Last year’s is Inter Miami CF.

As Orlando City players work their drills on the pitch, the most important measuring stick for success is fighting for the Leagues Cup champion spot. That measures their success on the tournament pitch and will translate to the MLS pitch.

The calls to avoid attending these games haven’t had an effect. Orlando’s first-match attendance was 16,033, more than last year’s average for the tournament – 15,159.

Notably, not all MLS supporter groups joined the Leagues Cup boycott. Orlando City group Ruckus tweeted that over half their members voted to observe normal attendance during the tournament.

The biggest problem with a boycott of a sporting event is that proponents have to make their point elsewhere – in this case mostly in social media. They are boycotting attendance at the stadium, where message-bearing shirts and allowable signs would more powerfully communicate the point in favor of the U.S. Open Cup.

As a result, so far, the boycott has had no more effect on League Cup attendance than Olympics coverage. And that hasn’t appeared to be much.