MLS Returns to U.S. Open Cup with Hosting Rights
MLS clubs are heading back to the U.S. Open Cup — and this time, they’re all in.
After sitting out the tournament in 2023, MLS teams will rejoin the competition in the round of 64, scheduled for mid-July, with a significant advantage: hosting rights. Every tie at that stage will be played in an MLS stadium, sending lower-division and amateur sides on the road in search of an upset under the big lights.
For many supporters, this is the correction they’ve been waiting for.
MLS reverses course
Last year, MLS walked away from the Open Cup, pointing to fixture congestion as the league ballooned its summer calendar with the expanded Leagues Cup. The league tried to send its MLS Next Pro teams instead — effectively reserve sides — but that idea was rejected, leaving a gaping hole in a tournament that has been part of the American game for more than a century.
The backlash was immediate and loud. Supporters accused MLS of turning its back on the country’s oldest cup competition in favor of a made-for-TV, closed-shop tournament that they believed delivered more money and control to the league.
Seattle Sounders fans, in particular, led the charge. In a city that has embraced the Open Cup as part of its identity, some supporters boycotted Leagues Cup matches and accused MLS of abandoning tradition for a shinier, more lucrative product. The message from the terraces was clear: the U.S. Open Cup still matters.
Now, with MLS first teams back in the bracket, the league has moved to repair that fracture.
A boost for USL and the amateur game
The decision doesn’t just reshape MLS’s summer. It sends a jolt through the rest of the American pyramid.
USL, which is already bracing for major structural changes of its own, stands to gain. The league is set to become a Division I competition in 2028 and plans to introduce promotion and relegation that same year — a model MLS has consistently refused to adopt. In that context, a fully stocked Open Cup, with MLS clubs returning to the field, becomes an even more valuable proving ground and showcase.
Then there are the amateurs.
Thirty-two amateur teams enter the U.S. Open Cup every year. For them, the tournament has always been a golden ticket: a chance to test themselves against professionals, to play in front of larger crowds, to step into venues they usually only see on television. With MLS teams guaranteed to host in the round of 64, those dream away days become more likely, even if the competitive balance tilts toward the top flight.
The gap in resources will be obvious. The opportunity will be, too.
A century-old competition still standing
For all the noise of the past year, the U.S. Open Cup itself has kept moving. The 2026 edition is deep into its business end, with four semifinalists — all MLS clubs — set to battle for a place in the final on September 14.
It’s a familiar sight: the country’s biggest teams closing in on a trophy that has been contested, in one form or another, since 1914. The tournament has survived world wars, league collapses, and the constant reinvention of the American game. It has outlasted formats, brands, and business plans.
Now it welcomes MLS back into the fold at full strength, just as USL prepares to redraw its own map and amateur teams ready themselves for another shot at the upset of a lifetime.
The question isn’t whether the U.S. Open Cup will endure. It already has. The question is how this new era — with MLS back on board, USL on the rise, and the lower tiers still swinging up at the giants — will reshape who ends up lifting that old trophy next.
