US Open Cup Already Offers the Drama MLS Wants

The drama is already there

The beauty of the Open Cup is not hard to find.

• El Farolito has become a symbol of its charm, an amateur club capable of making genuine noise.
• Sacramento Republic showed the ceiling for an underdog run by reaching the final as a lower-division side.
• An amateur or second-tier team facing an established MLS name remains one of the rarest and best sights in American sport.

This is not manufactured tension. It is real elimination football, with all the danger and emotion that comes from one bad night ending a campaign.

Why MLS risks losing something valuable

That is why the recent participation squeeze has felt so counterproductive. If the report is accurate, only 16 of 27 US-based MLS clubs entered in 2025, a striking reduction for a tournament that depends on top-flight presence as much as underdog romance.

The Open Cup needs minnows, but it also needs heavyweights. It matters more when big clubs can be knocked out, when star players are available, and when winning the trophy carries real prestige rather than looking like a side route around the main season.

A route back to relevance

There may still be a way to restore its weight. A move to a fall-to-spring calendar could give early-season Open Cup ties sharper meaning. And as Paul McDonough put it, “When Open Cup qualification is on the line, more matches matter, and more clubs have something to play for throughout the season.”

That is the next storyline to watch: whether American soccer finally leans into the knockout competition it already has, instead of searching elsewhere for drama that has been sitting in plain sight for more than a century.