Supporters groups have urged members to avoid Orlando City SC matches in the Leagues Cup.
The boycott talk isn’t limited to Orlando City SC groups in the Leagues Cup. They range through supporter groups of the 18 MLS teams matched against Liga MX squads and each other. Most of these groups asked members not to attend the games.
The disagreement is MLS's withdrawal of most support for the U.S. Open Cup competition this year. The league committed eight MLS teams to the U.S. Open.
The supporters groups oppose the elimination of the historic U.S. Open Cup competition from the affected teams. At the same time, MLS has reviewed U.S. Open attendance in occupied seats and questions whether support for the tournament is strong enough.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest soccer cup competition in the United States and among the oldest worldwide. It debuted in 1913.
Any qualifying team may compete in the early stages, including amateur squads. So supporters of strong amateur teams get to see their clubs compete against pro squads. Sometimes the amateurs win.
In the 2006 Open Cup, amateur entry Dallas Roma FC beat former MLS team Chivas USA, winning a match-ending shootout 4-2. Chivas USA ended its operation in 2014. The last non-MLS team to win the Cup since the league began play is the Rochester Rhinos in 1996. The last to make it to the final is Sacramento Republic FC in 2022.
But curiosity isn’t what prompted the MLS to move to reduce support for the Open Cup. The complaint there is attendance.
The largest attendance at a U.S. Open Cup final was 31,311 in 2010 when Seattle Sounders FC hosted. The 2023 attendance ranged from a high of 22,423 at St. Louis City SC to 1,240 at Colorado Rapids.
Total 2023 attendance at 38 matches at 22 MLS stadiums was 169,325. That’s an average of 4,456.
In their first match in the 2024 Leagues Cup tournament, Orlando City SC had 16,033 attendance at home for their 4-1 win over CF Montreal.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said he realizes the decision how controversial it is to reduce MLS participation in the U.S. Open Cup.
But he said the cost for full participation is to raise MLS team schedules to 50 games in a season. At this time, he said the Open Cup isn’t driving value for the players, teams, and fans. He expects that, as it develops, the Leagues Cup will drive that value.
Liga MX eagerly sent teams to the Leagues Cup as they had ended their version of the Open Cup over player load concerns, Garber said. But he added that supporters shouldn’t consider the issue closed.
The league isn’t developed enough at this time to handle the load of full participation in the U.S. Open Cup. But Garber said long-range plans for MLS include development that the league will handle such a load and could return to full participation then.
Until then, Garber expects the Leagues Cup to capture supporters’ imagination as fully as the U.S. Open Cup did.
Time will tell.
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