American Pyramid
  • Home
  • Standings
    • Regional Leagues >
      • Gulf Coast Premier League
      • Northeast Elite Soccer League
    • East Region >
      • Connecticut >
        • Amateur Soccer League of CT
        • Connecticut Adult Soccer League
        • Connecticut Soccer League
        • Shoreline Adult Soccer League
        • Southern New England Adult Soccer League
      • Maryland >
        • Maryland Major Soccer League
        • Mason-Dixon Soccer League
        • Washington Premier League
      • Massachusetts >
        • Bay State Soccer League
        • EMWSL
        • FA 1
        • Mass State Soccer League
        • USAfrica Soccer League
      • New Hampshire >
        • New Hampshire Soccer Conference
      • New Jersey >
        • Garden State Soccer League
        • Medford Soccer Association
        • North Jersey Soccer League
      • New York >
        • Buffalo District Soccer League
        • Caribbean Cup Soccer
        • Central New York State Soccer League
        • Cosmopolitan Soccer League
        • Eastern District Soccer League
        • Long Island Soccer Football League
        • Rochester District Soccer League
        • Syracuse Soccer Association
      • Pennsylvania >
        • American Soccer League
        • Capital Area Soccer League
        • Casa Soccer League
        • Erie Soccer League
        • Harrisburg Area Women's Soccer League
        • PA West Adult Soccer
        • Philadelphia Premier Soccer League
        • USL - Pennsylvania
      • Vermont >
        • Vermont Amateur Soccer League
      • Virginia >
        • Commonwealth Soccer League
        • CVA Soccer
        • Northern Virginia Adult Soccer Association
        • Richmond Adult Soccer Association
        • Soccer Organization Charlottesville Area
    • South Region >
      • Alabama >
        • Southern Alabama Soccer Association
      • Florida >
        • APSL
        • Beaches Adult Soccer League
        • Coral Springs Men's Soccer League
        • Central Florida Soccer League
        • Florida Suncoast Soccer League
        • Gold Coast Soccer Premier League
        • Lakeland Adult Soccer Association
        • Miami Soccer League
        • NE Florida Soccer League
        • South Florida Leagues
        • Spring Gulf Coast
      • Georgia >
        • Atlanta District Adult Soccer League
      • Kentucky >
        • Mockingbird Soccer
      • North Carolina >
        • ABASA
      • Tennessee >
        • Middle Tennessee Soccer Alliance
      • Texas >
        • Austin Men's Soccer Association
        • Fort Worth Premier League
        • North Texas Premier Soccer Association
        • Texas Collegiate Soccer League
    • Midwest Region >
      • Illinois >
        • Central Illinois Soccer League
        • CLASA Soccer League
        • Metropolitan Soccer League
        • National Soccer League of Chicago
        • Premier Soccer League Chicagoland
        • Tri-County Soccer League
      • Kansas >
        • Emporia Soccer League
        • KCK Soccer League
        • Lawrence Adult Soccer League
      • Michigan >
        • Blossomland Soccer League
        • Michigan Premier Soccer League
        • Michigan United Soccer League
      • Minnesota >
        • Duluth Amateur Soccer League
        • Minnesota Adult Soccer League
        • Minnesota Recreational Soccer League
        • Southern Minnesota Adult Soccer League
      • Ohio >
        • Cincinnati Premier League
        • Columbus Premier League
        • Dayton Amateur Soccer League
        • Lake Erie Soccer League
        • Northeast Ohio Amateur Soccer Association
      • Wisconsin >
        • Northern Wisconsin Soccer League
        • Wisconsin Soccer Leagues
    • West Region >
      • Arizona >
        • Arizona Champions League
        • State United Amateur Soccer League
      • California >
        • California International Soccer Club
        • NorCal Leagues >
          • Liga Eastbay
          • Liga South Bay
          • Liga Valley
        • Peninsula Soccer League
        • San Francisco Soccer Football League
        • So Cal Premier
        • South Bay Sports
      • Colorado >
        • Colorado Premier League
      • Hawaii >
        • Major Island Soccer Association >
          • Division 1
          • Division 2
          • Division 3
      • Montana >
        • Bozeman Adult Soccer League
        • Helena Adult Soccer Association
      • New Mexico >
        • Albuquerque Soccer League
        • Mesilla Valley Soccer League
        • Santa Fe Adult Soccer League
      • Oregon >
        • Greater Portland Soccer District
        • Oregon Premier League
        • Southern Oregon Adult Soccer
      • Utah >
        • Greater Salt Lake Soccer League
        • Premier Club Soccer League
      • Washington >
        • Evergreen Premier League
        • Greater Seattle Soccer League
        • Snohomish County Adult Soccer League
        • Western Washington Premier League
    • National Leagues >
      • National Premier Soccer League
      • Premier Development League
      • United Premier Soccer League
  • Patreon
  • Patrons
  • The Network
    • Politithink
    • Ramble Sport
  • Contact AP

Top 5: Fixing the US Open Cup

6/19/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Hello everyone, and welcome back to American Pyramid! Currently I'm on the second of four articles focusing on fixing things in lower league soccer in the United States. As voted on by you, the readers, the first piece came out last week, Let The Conflict End, and you can read it by clicking Here.​

Before we go any further, I'd also like to encourage you to check out my other site for the National Amateur Cup. I'm trying to help generate more interest in, and put more eyeballs on, a competition run exclusively for amateur teams in the United States. Not only will you be able to see how the tournament progressed this year, but you can review all kinds of history, too. You can check that website out by clicking Here.

Today's article will focus on something that seems to be endlessly debated. Fixing the US Open Cup. There are a lot of things wrong with it, but for the sake of keeping things moving, I'm only going to discuss the five changes that I believe need to be made. Before we get started, here's an interesting point of comparison for a Cup competition in another country with a, for now, closed system, Australia. 
​
A comparison of the Round of 32 for the US Open Cup & Australia's FFA Cup.

A-League teams in Round of 32: 10. Only 7 can advance, 3 all A-League games in the Round of 32, 9 teams from lower leagues can advance to the Round of 16. In the Round of 32, 3 teams are from what Australia considers Tier 3, 1 from Tier 4, 18 are from Tier 2.

MLS teams in Round of 32: 21. 5 all MLS games, 14 advanced to Round of 16, only 2 teams from lower leagues advanced, only 11 teams from the lower leagues competed in the Round of 32, 10 from USL Championship, 1 from the NPSL. The Round of 8 features 6 MLS teams, 2 USL Championship teams, and 2 all MLS games.

Granted, the A-League is smaller than MLS, but this will still give you a good idea of what level of imbalance exists in the US Open Cup.
  1. The entire Cup happens in one year. Currently, qualifying for the 2020 US Open Cup will begin a couple of weeks after the final of the 2019 US Open Cup. This is an issue for amateur sides, as the players they use in qualifying in the fall, are the players they have to use in the spring/summer of the next year. Because of roster turnover, this severely reduces an amateur team's ability to compete should they make the cup proper.
  2. Streamline how amateur teams get in. Right now, it takes something akin to an Associates Degree to understand how USSF divides Amateur slots between teams in the NPSL and UPSL, and amateur sides looking to qualify on their own.  Ideally, I would say use the USASA Region's map and divide all the Pro and Amateur teams between them, and hopefully fill the Regions in with Amateur teams to create even numbers in each region. Currently, I would say only let NPSL & UPSL Conference winners in, along with league champions from top Amateur leagues like Bay State, Cosmopolitan, Buffalo, Evergreen, and Gulf Coast leagues, and yes, close off letting random Amateur teams enter. Funnel them to the US National Amateur Cup. 
  3. Everyone enters at the same time where possible. I qualify this with where possible because some regions of the country have way more pro and amateur teams than others. Cups flow best when it's an even number of teams. In some places that means Amateur teams might play each other first before the pros come in. That's just the way it is right now.
  4. Alternate host and travel. With everyone starting at the same time, you alternate who hosts and who travels via a broadcast, best 2 out of 3 draw. If you host one game, you travel to the next if that home team won, otherwise it's another broadcast draw. This makes sure you don't see an MLS team hosting 3 of 4 games en route to the finals, and everyone gets a fair shake to host a game. On that note...
  5. Make sure ESPN broadcasts every game, no matter who's hosting. This deal with ESPN is worthless if they aren't broadcasting from the home of a hosting amateur team, giving all of the game exposure, regardless of what level the team is playing at. 
What do you think? How would you do it differently? Where did I go wrong? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, and until next time, support your local team!
Comments

Let The Conflict End!

6/3/2019

Comments

 
Picture

Special thanks to Jessica Do, the graphic designer for Black Bear FC, for the picture.

Hello again everyone! Thanks for your participation, if you voted, on my Twitter poll to help determine the publishing order for the next series of articles. This article idea won the poll by far. So let's get into it!

I would also like to note that the regional league logos are here to suit the picture, not because I have any beef with these leagues.

Read More
Comments

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Dan Roberts
    General
    Guest Post
    Interviews
    Media Partners
    MLS
    Nik Myles
    NPSL
    PDL
    Power Rankings
    Soccer And Design
    The Soccer Heel
    TWITP
    UPSL
    US Open Cup 2016
    Women

    Partners

    Soccer Elf
    Non League America
    For the Love of Futbol
    ​Rabble.tv 
    ​
    Michael Taylor
    ​MeritFit.co
    LeagueApps

    Archives

    February 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Standings
    • Regional Leagues >
      • Gulf Coast Premier League
      • Northeast Elite Soccer League
    • East Region >
      • Connecticut >
        • Amateur Soccer League of CT
        • Connecticut Adult Soccer League
        • Connecticut Soccer League
        • Shoreline Adult Soccer League
        • Southern New England Adult Soccer League
      • Maryland >
        • Maryland Major Soccer League
        • Mason-Dixon Soccer League
        • Washington Premier League
      • Massachusetts >
        • Bay State Soccer League
        • EMWSL
        • FA 1
        • Mass State Soccer League
        • USAfrica Soccer League
      • New Hampshire >
        • New Hampshire Soccer Conference
      • New Jersey >
        • Garden State Soccer League
        • Medford Soccer Association
        • North Jersey Soccer League
      • New York >
        • Buffalo District Soccer League
        • Caribbean Cup Soccer
        • Central New York State Soccer League
        • Cosmopolitan Soccer League
        • Eastern District Soccer League
        • Long Island Soccer Football League
        • Rochester District Soccer League
        • Syracuse Soccer Association
      • Pennsylvania >
        • American Soccer League
        • Capital Area Soccer League
        • Casa Soccer League
        • Erie Soccer League
        • Harrisburg Area Women's Soccer League
        • PA West Adult Soccer
        • Philadelphia Premier Soccer League
        • USL - Pennsylvania
      • Vermont >
        • Vermont Amateur Soccer League
      • Virginia >
        • Commonwealth Soccer League
        • CVA Soccer
        • Northern Virginia Adult Soccer Association
        • Richmond Adult Soccer Association
        • Soccer Organization Charlottesville Area
    • South Region >
      • Alabama >
        • Southern Alabama Soccer Association
      • Florida >
        • APSL
        • Beaches Adult Soccer League
        • Coral Springs Men's Soccer League
        • Central Florida Soccer League
        • Florida Suncoast Soccer League
        • Gold Coast Soccer Premier League
        • Lakeland Adult Soccer Association
        • Miami Soccer League
        • NE Florida Soccer League
        • South Florida Leagues
        • Spring Gulf Coast
      • Georgia >
        • Atlanta District Adult Soccer League
      • Kentucky >
        • Mockingbird Soccer
      • North Carolina >
        • ABASA
      • Tennessee >
        • Middle Tennessee Soccer Alliance
      • Texas >
        • Austin Men's Soccer Association
        • Fort Worth Premier League
        • North Texas Premier Soccer Association
        • Texas Collegiate Soccer League
    • Midwest Region >
      • Illinois >
        • Central Illinois Soccer League
        • CLASA Soccer League
        • Metropolitan Soccer League
        • National Soccer League of Chicago
        • Premier Soccer League Chicagoland
        • Tri-County Soccer League
      • Kansas >
        • Emporia Soccer League
        • KCK Soccer League
        • Lawrence Adult Soccer League
      • Michigan >
        • Blossomland Soccer League
        • Michigan Premier Soccer League
        • Michigan United Soccer League
      • Minnesota >
        • Duluth Amateur Soccer League
        • Minnesota Adult Soccer League
        • Minnesota Recreational Soccer League
        • Southern Minnesota Adult Soccer League
      • Ohio >
        • Cincinnati Premier League
        • Columbus Premier League
        • Dayton Amateur Soccer League
        • Lake Erie Soccer League
        • Northeast Ohio Amateur Soccer Association
      • Wisconsin >
        • Northern Wisconsin Soccer League
        • Wisconsin Soccer Leagues
    • West Region >
      • Arizona >
        • Arizona Champions League
        • State United Amateur Soccer League
      • California >
        • California International Soccer Club
        • NorCal Leagues >
          • Liga Eastbay
          • Liga South Bay
          • Liga Valley
        • Peninsula Soccer League
        • San Francisco Soccer Football League
        • So Cal Premier
        • South Bay Sports
      • Colorado >
        • Colorado Premier League
      • Hawaii >
        • Major Island Soccer Association >
          • Division 1
          • Division 2
          • Division 3
      • Montana >
        • Bozeman Adult Soccer League
        • Helena Adult Soccer Association
      • New Mexico >
        • Albuquerque Soccer League
        • Mesilla Valley Soccer League
        • Santa Fe Adult Soccer League
      • Oregon >
        • Greater Portland Soccer District
        • Oregon Premier League
        • Southern Oregon Adult Soccer
      • Utah >
        • Greater Salt Lake Soccer League
        • Premier Club Soccer League
      • Washington >
        • Evergreen Premier League
        • Greater Seattle Soccer League
        • Snohomish County Adult Soccer League
        • Western Washington Premier League
    • National Leagues >
      • National Premier Soccer League
      • Premier Development League
      • United Premier Soccer League
  • Patreon
  • Patrons
  • The Network
    • Politithink
    • Ramble Sport
  • Contact AP