US Soccer has announced that Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC of USL Championship will receive a 1-0 forfeit win over Rochester NY FC of MLS NEXT Pro. This is after the club formerly named the Raging Rhinos has suspended all operations and will not be playing a 2023 season in the league.
This is a first for a professional team in the Modern Era (1995 to present), with a possible exception for when Colorado Rapids of MLS replaced the Colorado Foxes of the A-League in the 1996 tournament after the Foxes did not have enough players to compete due to World Cup qualifying at the same time as the match. At the time of this article’s publication, we have not confirmed if the Foxes withdrawal officially went down as a forfeit.
All forfeits are referred to the Open Cup Adjudication and Discipline Panel. Section 307 of the US Open Cup policy states: If a team forfeits or fails to appear timely for a match, the team forfeits the match and must pay a fine that is at least equal to 3 times the entry fee of that team. The Adjudication and Discipline Panel shall determine the amount of the fine.
Division III teams like Rochester NY FC pay a $400 entry fee, making it a minimum fine of $1200. The separate $1500 performance bond all teams must post will not be returned to Rochester as well. The Panel also has the power to enforce penalties that are not monetary.
In the past, professional teams will decide before US Soccer finalizes the competition team list and format whether they are operating for the upcoming year. This announcement of Rochester’s withdrawal from MLS NEXT Pro comes after US Soccer had already decided the final format and announced the first and second round schedule on Feb. 3 and Feb. 16, respectively. These announcements were delayed from their planned January 2023 releases. Round 1 is scheduled to be played March 21-23 and Round 2 is scheduled to be played April 4-6.
Had this been decided in a more timely manner before US Soccer had to finalize the competition, the current format would have resulted in 30 Open Division slots instead of 28 for Round 1. This is because Rochester NY FC was a second round entrant, which means their place in the second round needs to be filled by a winner of a first round match, thus requiring two more teams. By rule, these two extra slots would be allocated to the two Open Division National Leagues, NPSL and USL League Two, with each league receiving one additional slot.
According to TheCup.us records regarding the NPSL here, the next team that would have qualified for the 2023 US Open Cup is Med City FC of Rochester, Minnesota. We have confirmed with the club that they were fully intending on participating in the competition had they been invited.
According to TheCup.us records regarding USL League Two here, the next team that would have qualified for the 2023 US Open Cup is Kalamazoo FC of Michigan. At the time of this article’s publication, we have not confirmed with them or any other club who would have accepted an invitation had they been invited. If Kalamazoo FC did not want to participate, the invitation may have gone to Long Island Rough Riders or Western Mass Pioneers as the next two best teams.
Adding specifically Med City FC to the tournament would have changed how the Round 1 draw and schedule panned out. Instead of Des Moines Menace traveling to Murfreesboro, TN to play Beaman United, the Menace would have had a much shorter trip up to Rochester, MN. Round 1 and Round 2 matches are paired up with geography in mind as best as possible.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds become the beneficiaries of this forfeit, making it one fewer game they have to play on the schedule and one game closer to the $25,000 prize as the furthest advancing Division II team. While their fellow league members in Division II USL Championship will be playing a second round match as scheduled. As Sacramento Republic did last season, they are also one game closer to the champion prize of $300,000 or the finalist prize of $100,000.