U.S. Open Cup best chance for America to build on the World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup was an unprecedented viewership success in the United States, and many wonder how leagues in the U.S. can build on that momentum. But the U.S. Open Cup may be best suited to carry domestic soccer into the mainstream.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest ongoing soccer competition in the country, dating to 1913. The single-elimination tournament features teams from different levels of soccer in the United States, including professional leagues like MLS and the USL Championship, and amateur leagues like USL League Two and the National Premier Soccer League.

In the United States, the vast majority of top-level professional leagues don’t face any serious competition, and the closest thing to rival leagues overseas don’t seriously chase American audiences. Soccer seems to be the exception. La Liga, Liga MX and especially the Premier League already target U.S. fans, as NBC’s broadcast coverage of the Premier League averaged 1.2 million viewers this past season, its best mark ever, and that’s before accounting for the gap in talent between those leagues and MLS. Real Madrid and Arsenal are simply better than anything MLS is fielding, and the World Cup just spent a month reminding everyone of that. MLS copying the NBA or NFL playbook was never going to work when the sport’s biggest stars play somewhere else.

Therefore, those hoping for a rise in support for domestic soccer in the United States shouldn’t expect MLS to follow the same playbook as the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL. European leagues have a much deeper talent pool, and leagues like the Premier League have far more lucrative television contracts. Soccer needs a different approach.

The U.S. Open Cup seems like the best answer because it can uniquely create local underdog stories. A draw could see Lionel Messi face off against a Sunday league club from California. That’s not something that could happen during the MLS regular season.

This would seem to be the model that helps make March Madness so successful. While regular-season college basketball viewership is solid — games on ESPN averaged 1.1 million viewers during the 2025-26 season — it pales in comparison to the viewership of March Madness. 18.3 million viewers watched the UConn-Michigan national championship. Underdogs against top teams are also viewership draws. Siena-Duke in the first round of the tournament, for example, was watched by 5.4 million people.

If the World Cup is any indication, underdog stories can work for American soccer fans. Cape Verde gained national attention in the United States after it drew with Spain and went to extra time against Argentina. That’s similar to the attention March Madness Cinderellas like Oakland received in 2024.

The U.S. Open Cup could also easily emulate other things that make March Madness work. The tournament is already single-elimination, which makes things like brackets and office pools work just as well.

One major difference, and benefit, of the U.S. Open Cup is that these are teams, not colleges. That makes it extremely easy for someone in Des Moines, for example, to support their local USL team against an MLS club. They might not build the same connection with Drake University, which is based in Des Moines but doesn’t have the city’s name.

The U.S. Open Cup is far from perfect, to be clear, and needs to make some major changes before it can really be compared to March Madness. The gap between the quarterfinals and the semifinals, for example, makes it really tough to build momentum. In 2026, the quarterfinals were played on May 19 and 20, but the semifinals won’t be held until Sept. 16.

The tournament has also had issues convincing MLS clubs to participate. MLS announced it wouldn’t send teams at all in 2023, a move that U.S. Soccer, which runs the competition, denied. Instead, since 2025, only 16 MLS teams have participated each season.

The U.S. Open Cup would also likely need better national television coverage. Both March Madness and the FIFA World Cup feature multiple games a day on over-the-air television, making them very easy to watch. The U.S. Open Cup currently airs the majority of its games on Paramount+, with some earlier-round games on YouTube and some later games simulcast on CBS Sports Network and CBS Golazo Network. The tournament does not currently feature any over-the-air coverage, which would likely need to change to raise its profile.

Improving the U.S. Open Cup would benefit domestic soccer across the United States. National coverage of the tournament could increase soccer participation across the country, with even small local clubs receiving national recognition.

With so many domestic and international leagues fighting for attention in the United States—the USL is expected to launch a direct competitor to MLS in 2028 featuring promotion and relegation—it is worth trying something different to support domestic teams. The United States already has the blueprint in the U.S. Open Cup and, with the right small changes, could turn it into an annual event similar to March Madness.