The United States Soccer Federation announced today that the 100th championship game of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will be hosted in a state that has never crowned a tournament champion. After a coin flip at the US Soccer headquarters in Chicago, it was determined that the winner of the semifinal match-up between the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake will be the host of the 2013 US Open Cup Final.
Both semifinal matches are scheduled to be played on Aug. 7. If Real Salt Lake is victorious, they will host the Final on Oct. 1 at Rio Tinto Stadium. If the Portland Timbers prevail, they will host the title game at Jeld-Wen Field on Sept. 24.
The Timbers/RSL game will be broadcast locally in Portland on Root Sports, while Chicago will be providing a live webcast of their game against DC United.
Neither Real Salt Lake or the Timbers have ever reached the championship game, but there’s added significance because neither the state of Utah or the state of Oregon has ever hosted the US Open Cup Final in the 99 previous years of the tournament.
The championship game will be broadcast live on GolTV.
Note: According to a report by Steven Goff, DC United did not apply to host, “citing logistics involving non-soccer events on the RFK Stadium campus during the hosting window.”