After U.S. Open Cup Announces Second-Round Hosts, Clubs Wonder Whether They’ll Break Even

The United States Soccer Federation announced the second-round pairings for the 2022 U.S. Open Cup today, giving lower-level teams the opportunity to host a match in the United States’ premier domestic soccer tournament.

Hosting a U.S. Open Cup match sounds ideal, right? The premier domestic men’s soccer tournament in the United States allows for teams from all levels to compete for a cash prize and potentially host top-level competition for a round. However, many lower-level professional clubs are acknowledging the reality that hosting an early-round match isn’t necessarily a money-making endeavor. 

Despite the excitement that surrounds hosting one of these matches, making money isn’t entirely practical for clubs in the early portion of the tournament especially as they deal with roster-crunches and potential travel needs.

“The early-round games often are break-even type of games,” said Curt Johnson, president and general manager of North Carolina FC from USL League One. “Really it’s more about getting the tournament launched, if you will, in our home marketplace.”

North Carolina FC and the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage are the primary tenants in their stadium in Cary, North Carolina, subverting the stadium rental costs that many lower-level clubs endure. They, and all USL League One, NISA and MLS Next clubs, enter the tournament in the second round when they will host Rio Grande Valley FC Toros on April 6. 

No, it’s not a MLS opponent for North Carolina FC in round two. But there is the opportunity to generate excitement for its club in early-round action in order to reap the financial rewards on the back-end.

“To get to the events that are going to drive a significant amount of revenue, you gotta win those early round games. So the investment in hosting those early round games and promoting them is important to build into it. If you looked at some of our runs in the past in the Open Cup, it’s built upon hosting and winning early round games. So when you get to the later round games, oftentimes playing MLS teams, the excitement is risen. The awareness in the marketplace is risen.”

Clubs have utilized the U.S. Open Cup as launch-points for their brands on a national scale, Detroit City FC did so in 2018 when taking then-USL Championship team FC Cincinnati to extra time while Detroit was still in the NPSL. Detroit City has since moved from the NPSL to NISA and will compete in the USL Championship in 2022. 

Despite the excitement around the team’s jump in the American soccer world, ticket sales for this tournament are not expected to be overly popular even though they are hosting local competition in NISA’s Michigan Stars FC on April 5. 

“It’s probably the hardest ticket to sell,” said Sean Mann, co-owner and CEO of Detroit City. “And we haven’t had the fortune of playing [as a professional team]. We’ve only hosted other amateur teams and it’s usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and you’ve only got a week or two turnaround. It’s usually in the school year. It’s some of our smaller crowds but our best memories. It’s great, but in terms of casual fans it’s a tough draw.”

USL League One clubs will enter the tournament between their first two matches of the regular season, testing roster depth earlier than most clubs would like. Forward Madison SC from Madison, Wisconsin is one of those clubs, who will have their U.S. Open Cup match between their season opener in Tennessee and their home opener when they host the winner of the first round tie between Cleveland SC and Chicago United on April 6. 

“To go from simply the preseason to potentially playing three games in your first competitive week of the season, it’s a challenge,” said Conor Caloia, COO of Forward Madison SC. “Playing three games in a week can give us a chance to get most of our roster a chance to get in and play and see what they can do in live action. And we gotta make sure that when we open the season we have a roster deep enough to play three games in a week.”

Forward Madison is no stranger to the U.S. Open Cup, advancing to the third round in 2019 before being defeated by St. Louis FC. The travel burden of their second round match against second-tier El Paso Switchbacks still hangs over the franchise despite Madison triumphing over the USL Championship side . As one can imagine, traveling from Madison to El Paso wasn’t the easiest of endeavors.

“Our guys acted like it was a World Cup match when on one week’s notice we had to fly to El Paso. I think our guys took three flights to get there and they were on two separate planes because travel accommodations, they’re on such short notice that you couldn’t even get everybody on the same plane.”

NISA’s Chattanooga FC sees the U.S. Open Cup as the ultimate win-win for them, especially given that they will be hosting their second round match against the USL Championship’s Memphis 901 FC on April 7. 

“If you get an extra home game in your budget that you weren’t banking on in a knockout competition, that’s like a playoff game at the end of the year, right?” said Jeremy Alumbaugh, managing director of Chattanooga FC. “Of course there’s the prize money. That’s something and as we start talking about that competition, it’s something that has to be shared with the players. And say ‘hey look, here’s an opportunity not only for the club, but also for you as individual players.’ Guys read twitter. They read outlines and guidelines and they know that there’s some financial opportunities for everybody with this competition. And it’s like that all the way around the world, right?”

Regardless of prize money, the U.S. Open Cup still presents one of the greatest opportunities for growing soccer in the United States. As Chatanooga FC’s Jeremy Alumbaugh said to me, “A lower level club getting to the end stages does nothing but help this sport in our country.”