But perhaps the better comparisons we should all be making is to the other Opens in which the American media already treat as serious events. These events also pit amateurs versus professionals on an open entry basis, and are also among numerous events within the specific sport. These events, of course, are the US Open tennis tournaments held annually in New York and the US Open golf championship held in a different location each year around the United States.

Each fall, the world’s best tennis players convene on the hard courts of the USTA’s Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, NY for the tour’s fourth and final major of what the sport considers the Grand Slam. Those top-flight professionals are joined by winners of an open playoff system that is comprised 16 sectionals and a national playoff event in which only USTA members may participate. In the end, 128 participants each take part in the men’s and women’s brackets (64 for doubles).

Last year, over 1,200 players took part in the USTA’s National Playoffs for a chance to compete in the singles events at the US Open. Unlike US Soccer’s Open Cup, only one male and one female earned qualification spots to compete against the world’s best in the tournament.

The Chicago Fire have won six majors, including four US Open Cup championships | Photo by Brian Kersey/Wireimage.com

The US Open golf tournament, held in June, is comparatively more open with approximately half the participants advancing from qualification play to join the world’s top players who are automatically in the field through 17 exemptions categories via such things as being tournament winners or holding a certain world ranking.

At the 2010 tournament, 75 of the 156 participants were non-exempted players who qualified through the two-stage process to reach the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links for the championship. The process begins with Local Qualifying, a series of over 100 18-hole tournaments held around the country. Many top players not already qualified through full exemption are, however, exempt from local qualifying and join the process at the Sectional Qualifying stage where they participate in one of several one-day, 36-hole tournaments in the United States. There is also a Sectional tournament in both Europe and Japan where 11 and 4 individuals qualified, respectively, in 2010.

The major difference between the US Open Cup and the US Open tennis and golf duo is that the US Soccer Federation event is the only one that is a championship tournament for Americans while the other two are open to foreign participants. The only clubs eligible for the US Open Cup are American-based teams that are affiliated through the USSF; however, for argument’s sake it does still feature a foreign component as teams are comprised, in part, of players that are not American.

The Los Angeles Galaxy have won eight majors, and are one of only two MLS clubs to win the CONCACAF Champions Cup (DC United). They won the Champions Cup in 2000 | Photo: Los Angeles Galaxy

Continuing on the golf tangent, another significant open tournament American media and sports fans are very familiar with and follow every July is the British Open (officially known as The Open Championship), which is the oldest of the four golf majors and is the only one held outside of the United States. Similar to the US Open, the majority of the 156 participants are automatic entrants through exemption with the remaining players advancing from a two-stage qualification process.

Through 2004, players from around the world were only able to qualify through 18-hole Local Qualifying events held around Britain and Ireland within two weeks of The British Open followed by 36-hole Local Final Qualifying tournaments a few days later. International Qualifying events, 36-hole tournaments, were added in 2004 to assist foreign professionals wishing to participate, holding qualifiers in Africa, Australia, Asia, America and Europe with more stringent entrance standards than Local Qualifying.

Packaging & Marketing US Soccer Majors

The golf and tennis tours are lengthy seasons that run from January to the fall with tournament events nearly every week, but it is the majors where media coverage amps up and fan viewership heightens. With the similarities of the American Open majors to the US Open Cup, perhaps there are other lessons to be learned from the golf and tennis tours, such as the incorporation US Soccer Majors as a marketing tool for the sports’ leading championship events for American clubs.

A matching structure of four championships already exists with the US Open Cup joined by the MLS Cup, MLS Supporters’ Shield (regular season championship) and the CONCACAF Champions League.  Currently, the MLS Cup is the leading championship, but by creating a platform that raises the perception of the other three events to a comparable level to the league’s championship playoff, it will increase awareness among the media and fans while also, hopefully, creating a greater sense of seriousness and urgency to win the other events among the clubs and coaches.

Bringing these four championships together into one packaged series allows for a greater ability to compare the success of clubs beyond just winning MLS Cup as though this was the NFL and the Super Bowl while clubs around the rest of the world are evaluated on all the various events in which they participate. It would be similar to how tennis players and golfers are measured by majors won.

DC United lead all MLS clubs with 11 majors, including the 1996 US Open Cup championship | Photo: DC United

For instance, the Los Angeles Galaxy and DC United are the only two clubs that have won all four majors (dating back to the CCL precursor CONCACAF Champions Cup). In fact, the two also hold the most total majors with DC boasting 11 (4 MLS Cups, 4 Supporters’ Shields, 2 Open Cups and a CCC) and the Galaxy having eight (2 MLS Cups, 3 Supporters’ Shields, 2 Open Cups and the CCC).

Only five clubs have won all three of the domestic majors with the Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew and Sporting Kansas City having won everything but a CONCACAF championship at least once. The Fire are third in total majors (6) and the Crew are fourth (5).

Only three American MLS clubs are without a major championship, excluding expansion Portland. The New York Red Bulls, Chivas USA and Philadelphia Union have yet to claim one of the big prizes.

In the last five years, the most successful clubs in the United States have been Columbus and DC, each having won three majors. The Crew have won the Supporters’ Shield twice and the MLS Cup once. DC also has two Supporters’ Shields, but has a US Open Cup championship to round things out. Houston and Seattle each have two titles with the Dynamo winning MLS Cup twice in a row and the Sounders taking the Open Cup title back-to-back. Five other teams each have one major as nine clubs have won the 15 possible domestic majors while coming up empty in the Champions League, which is completing its third run with Real Salt Lake still in the hunt for a second major in the same cycle in which it won the MLS Cup title and qualified for the event.

All-Time ‘US Soccer Majors’ Winners List

11 – DC United (4 MC, 4 SS, 2 OC, 1 CCC)
8 – Los Angeles Galaxy (2 MC, 3 SS, 2 OC, 1 CCC)
6 – Chicago Fire (1 MC, 1 SS, 4 OC)
5 – Columbus Crew (1 MC, 3 SS, 1 OC)
3 – San Jose Earthquakes (2 MC, 1 SS)
3 – Sporting Kansas City (1 MC, 1 SS, 1 OC)
2 – Houston Dynamo (2 MC)
2 – Seattle Sounders (2 OC)
1 – Colorado Rapids (MC), FC Dallas (OC), Real Salt Lake (MC), New England Revolution (OC), Rochester Rhinos (OC), Tampa Bay Mutiny (SS), Miami Fusion (SS)

(MC – MLS Cup, SS – Supporters’ Shield, OC – US Open Cup, CCC/CCL – CONCACAF Champions Cup/League)

Photo: Jane Gershovich | Prost Amerika Soccer

Writing editorials is not my thing. I tend to keep the material on TheCup.us to strictly reporting and keeping people informed about the tournament (someone has to) but I thought it was appropriate to write a kind of, “State of the Open Cup” piece. This is not the umpteenth “how to fix the open cup” article (although I have a couple suggestions), or a list of complaints (I think most of us are aware of the competition’s shortcomings) — but rather a statement of where I think we are.

The US Open Cup has a long history but 2010 might have proven that it has an even better future. The competition has admittedly gone through some stages of near dormancy, but as of 2010, it seems to be stronger than ever but still has a very long way to go.

The record crowd of over 30,000 at this year’s final in Seattle testified to a great degree of interest in that soccer-mad town and proved that with proper marketing, the competition can appeal to the soccer fans of this country. It is probably only fair to give due credit to the marketing folks in the Sounders front office who apparently threw all the skills and resources they could muster at selling tickets for the final and promoting their tournament games.

It has to be said that the City of Seattle and Sounders FC are at the forefront of this revival in the cup’s fortunes, and those of us who follow the tournament closely hope that this level of excitement isn’t limited to just the Emerald City. Since the Sounders entered MLS, they have won the Cup twice (2009, 2010), and prior to joining the league, the USL franchise of the same name earned back-to-back semifinal appearances in 2007 and 2008. The question becomes, was this purely a Seattle thing or does it take four straight semifinal appearances and a couple of championships to reach this level of enthusiasm and interest?

We won’t know if the crowds in Seattle got the attention of the casual soccer fan until next year’s tournament, but I would like to think that four-digit attendances for the championship game are a thing of the past. However, in reality, as long as the title game continues to be held midweek, that will continue to be an issue.

The only thing fans of the US Open Cup can hope is that the pro teams in this country, and most of all the United States Soccer Federation, were taking notes of Seattle’s marketing efforts. Will we see 30,000 on a Tuesday night for next year’s final at a non-Seattle venue next year? I hope so. But one game does not a tournament make. MLS, with their greater resources, should not be getting outdrawn by PDL teams in early round games. Sure, it’s hard to get MLS fans to get out to support their team against a lower division club they’ve never heard of. If that’s the case, maybe lower division teams, for the good of the tournament, need to get preference in hosting games? (The flawed bidding process is a whole other monster)

The fact that there are soccer fans in this country who are unaware of this tournament is really the biggest tragedy. Is it that hard to ’sell’ a tournament like this? Whenever I am interviewed about the Open Cup, the most popular question is, “How can the US Open Cup become more popular?” I believe the answer is simple. Tell the fans about it. Hell, I don’t even have trouble selling the tournament to non-soccer fans. I’ve had co-workers at my full-time job ask about the website that I run, and I tell them about the tournament. I usually put it in baseball terms and that does the trick. “Imagine if the Lansing Lugnuts (or insert any local minor league baseball team, or you can even use the local beer league team as an example) had a chance to play against the New York Yankees in a single elimination, March Madness-style tournament.” Sold.

But there are reasons for optimism.

We can point to the growing number of visitors to TheCup.us, and our social media accounts like Twitter (@USOpenCup – which, as of writing this, has over 2,400 followers) and Facebook which have seen increased numbers. Which is impressive considering we don’t have an advertising budget (or any kind of budget), so people are seeking out the tournament on their own.

The increase in viewers is also impressive considering the history section still hasn’t been fully moved over from the old USOpenCup.com website (USOpenCup.com now points to USSoccer.com — here’s the reason why, in case you missed it). This delay is due, in large part, to the fact that very few people work on this website, and all of our available time was making sure we covered the 2010 tournament. Real life gets in the way sometimes.

The goal for this off-season is to get most of it posted on the site before the 2011 tournament begins next Spring. Certainly, if you are passionate about the tournament and would like to contribute, we would love to hear from you. (EMAIL HERE)

Another reason for optimism is the press coverage that continues to improve with each passing year. The success of the Sounders, we saw a huge spike in interest out West, where there was unprecedented coverage in quantity as well as quality.

One of the websites that caught my eye was ProstAmerika.com, which is based in Seattle, but isn’t just a Sounders website. They certainly give the home team tremendous coverage, but they strive for impartiality in their work rather than reflecting a home team bias, all the while providing league-wide and local soccer coverage.

Since I wasn’t able to make the trip from Michigan to Seattle for the championship game, I needed someone to cover the final for me, so I contacted Prost Amerika editor and fellow North American Soccer Reporters member, Steve Clare, to write our Cup Final match report.

(Fun fact: As sad as it may be, it’s true … the guy who runs TheCup.us hasn’t been to an Open Cup Final since 2002 in Columbus)

The quality of his match reports is already recognized in Seattle, having won the Emerald City Supporters award for Sounders Match Report of the Year every year since the inception of the award beating out the mainstream press and the club itself. The site was covering the Open Cup the way it was meant to be covered, and after a well-written match report and other post-game coverage, we hope to work together with Prost Amerika in the future.

So the competition, one of the oldest in world soccer, begins qualification for the 2011 tournament this month. The Wisconsin state qualifier, unfortunately, only had one entry so Bavarian SC has punched their ticket to the Region II tournament.

The television rights for the tournament are up in the air for 2011, which could play a big role in the promotion of the Open Cup. Hopefully wherever it lands, it will include more than just the final. Anyone who follows the Cup, or any knockout competition, knows that the best drama happens in the early rounds.

There’s a lot to fix, we all know that. But if 31,311 can get together to watch an Open Cup game on a Tuesday night, maybe there’s some reason for optimism.

We’ve received a lot of emails (you can email us here!) asking where all the information is. USOpenCup.com was filled with historical information from every year, and it was (for the most part) easy to find, and TheCup.us doesn’t have that. Well, the truth is, the information is all here … it’s just not organized yet. As anyone who’s ever moved to a new website, there’s a lot of formatting issues and just a different way to display things.

When we announced that USOpenCup.com was going to become TheCup.us, we barely had enough time to put the website together, much less organize 95 years worth of historical information. So we weren’t able to transfer all the information over before the September 1 deadline. Some might wonder, then why did you launch on September 1 if you weren’t ready? Well, the truth is the number of people who visit the website, as you might expect, drops off after the tournament is over. We had to take advantage of the traffic spike that occurs for the Open Cup Final, and we felt that it was best to put out the site as it was on September 1 rather than waiting until after the tournament was over to launch the site.

We appreciate your patience as we continue this process of moving and organizing all of the old information. We assure you that when it is complete, the information will be even more organized and comprehensive than it was before.

Some features we’re working on:

** Video highlights for every Open Cup Final from 1995 – present … and beyond. As well as big games from the earlier rounds (Who wants to see how the Mid-Michigan Bucks beat the New England Revolution in 2000? Ok, don’t answer that Revs fans).

** Team pages for every team, so that fans can find all the info about their favorite team all in one place.

** More stats! Who is the Professional Era leader in assists? Who has the longest shutout streak? What is the Chicago Fire’s record against USL Second Division teams? How many goals have PDL teams scored against MLS teams?

Those are just a few … if you have any suggestions/ideas, be sure to drop us a line and let us know.

And for those of you who emailed us asking how they can support the site … you can do that pretty easily, by supporting the people who advertise on the website. Just takes a few clicks, you know how it works. Or if you know someone who was involved with the Open Cup before 1995, send them our way. We’re always trying to fill in gaps in our history section.

The small team of men, along with the staff at Demosphere International, who have helped build this website from a place to get a few scores and a rough-looking Open Cup bracket, to a place to get the latest news, historical and qualifying information and that same rough-looking bracket, that has seen some minor improvements over the years.

The traffic for USOpenCup.com has grown exponentially over the years. Every passing season has seen the previous traffic record shattered, and in the last few years, the attention the site has received has exceeded our expectations. In their December issue in 2006, Soccer America magazine called USOpenCup.com one of the top US Soccer websites. Anyone who follows and appreciates the US Open Cup knows that while the tournament has grown in popularity slowly but surely, there is still a long way to go until it receives it’s due as one of the most historic cup competitions in the world and we hope that the changes that we are announcing today will go a long way to facilitate that growth.

With a launch date of September 1st, 2009, one day before the US Open Cup Final between the Seattle Sounders and D.C. United, the website USOpenCup.com as we know it will be re-branded as TheCup.us. The new website, which is being designed by Coleraine Design in Philadelphia, will replace the current one. The new website will include all the features and information that fans and members of the media have come to know over the years, but will add elements such as video highlights, reader interactivity, content organization and a mobile version of the website available on web-enabled cell phones.

The change was brought about in large part due to legal and copyright issues with the USSF. The situation is best explained by telling the story of how the website came to be.

In 2003, Josh Hakala was approached by Demosphere International about helping to manage a website that they had just created under the domain name USOpenCup.com. At the time, Hakala was co-hosting an online radio show out of Lansing, Mich., called the “Soccer Fanatics Radio Show.” The show spent a lot of time focusing on coverage of the US Open Cup, and Demosphere felt that it would be a win/win – Hakala could use the site to promote his radio show and help cover a tournament that he was obviously passionate about and Demosphere had a website to show off some of the great work they do for soccer clubs, organizations and tournaments worldwide.

The radio show came to a close in December 2003 after Hakala moved to Philadelphia, but he continued to operate the website. After recruiting Chuck Nolan Jr. to run the website with him, the site, due in large part to Nolan’s research, added a vast amount of historical information.

Every year, the site grew, and for Hakala and Nolan, it became a hobby. As the years moved on, the work on the site was nearly a full-time commitment and was done in addition to full-time jobs, school and family commitments. With that, they inquired about the possibility of inserting advertisements into the site in an effort to compensate the two of them for all the time and money they were spending. It had also become increasingly difficult to recruit people to help with the site when there was no way to pay them.

It was learned at that point that Demosphere, who owned the domain name USOpenCup.com, were unable to authorize that because the USSF had informed them that they had a right to the domain name due to the fact that they own the copyright and trademark for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

The USSF was more than pleased with the work that was being done on USOpenCup.com, but if it was determined that money was being made on a domain name that they had a legal right to, that was going to cause a problem.

In an effort to avoid future conflicts, Demosphere signed the domain name over to the USSF, making them the rightful owners. All parties involved agreed that the website would not change as a result of the official change in ownership of the domain name.

This created a difficult situation for Hakala and Nolan, since they were spending hours keeping the website updated with the latest news and information and continuing to build the site’s historical section, yet it was impossible for them to be compensated for their time. Since advertisements and donations were out of the question, the only logical step was for Hakala and Nolan to be paid by the USSF. They created a proposal and negotiations began at that point. Those discussions ended with the USSF determining that they were unable to find money in the budget to fund the website.

Having exhausted all other options, Hakala and Nolan began to explore other ways to continue to provide the high-quality coverage that fans and media members have come to expect from USOpenCup.com. An important first step was finding a domain name that did not conflict with USSF’s copyrights and trademarks.

With that, the domain name TheCup.us was purchased and a new website is currently in the works. The staff at TheCup.us invites you to join them on September 1 as they enter a new era of US Open Cup coverage, continuing to help shine a light on one of this country’s most historic and underrated sporting events.

TheCup.us would also like to take an opportunity to thank Ben Jones, Miles Baker and all of the great people at Demosphere who helped us make USOpenCup.com an exceptional website for the last six years. We would definitely recommend them to any soccer organization looking for a high-quality website. Also, they would like to acknowledge that while they were unable to come to a compromise, their relationship with the USSF remains strong, and they have committed to helping us any way they can in the future and TheCup.us looks forward to working with them.

TheCup.us, the only website providing comprehensive coverage to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, is now on Twitter! Now you can keep track of everything that’s going on with the tournament by following us @usopencup. You’ll find updates on qualifying, tournament games, Open Cup stories from around the web and fun historical information about the Cup’s great history.

This site was created in 2003 to bridge the media coverage void that exists for this great tournament, and Twitter is another great way for us to help soccer fans from around the country follow the Open Cup. You’ll find tons of information on the Twitter feed that you won’t find on the website, including links to other media outlets who are covering the tournament.

Fans looking to follow the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup can add Facebook to their list of online tools. Facebook members can search for “TheCup.us” or just go to www.facebook.com/thecup.us to join to get updates, share photos, and take part in message board discussion.

With the change to the new website, the old Facebook page under the name “USOpenCup.com” is closed.

Fans can also contribute to the site through our Flickr page, where you can share your US Open Cup photos. Whether you were among the handful of people attending a state qualifying match, or among the thousands at the Open Cup final, we would love to see and share your photos.