How Do Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Venues and Home Games Get Decided?

It’s a question I often get asked. It’s also a question I had myself for several years. Over time I’ve received a few answers from those that are involved with the process.

The US Open Cup has a committee who sets the tournament format and puts the policies in place prior to each year’s competition, however it has no active involvement or input in the actual choosing of the hosts in any round of the competition. The committee consists of Todd Durbin – Co-Chair and Division I Representative, Tim Holt – Co-Chair and Division II / III Representative, Marcelo Balboa – Athlete Representative, Werner Fricker, Jr. – Amateur Representative, Tom King – Committee Liaison and Paul Marstaller – Committee Liaison.

Selecting the match-ups and host teams for each of the rounds is administered by staff from US Soccer. Marstaller heads up the tournament  staff at US Soccer. There is a full time administrator assigned to the tournament with other members of the US Soccer staff assisting. As you would suspect, a number of factors go into this process which I will try to detail.

Deadlines
Before I explain some of those criteria an important point should be noted. US Soccer sets an overall calendar of when the different rounds of the tournament will be played. In the early stages of the tournament US Soccer has to wait to see who qualifies from the lower groups like USL-PDL, USASA or NPSL. Once those teams have qualified they have little time to plan for the next round. For instance, last week on June 15th, 16 games were played involving 32-teams. Just one week later on June 22, 8-games will be played between 16-teams. In that brief period of time between the 2nd and 3rd round games on June 29th, (when the qualified MLS teams step in) the schedule needs to be tentatively planned. It happens quickly and time is of the essence when it comes to planning and securing venues. Currently US Soccer is working tentatively on the myriad  of possibilities for the July 6th and 7th games with any of the 16 remaining remaining teams being involved along with the 8 MLS teams that will join the tournament on June 29.

The bidding process
While the bid is not the only thing that is considered it is an important part of the how the US Soccer comes to its decision. Each team is given an allowance by US Soccer for plane fare, hotel and a food stipend. Teams that want the home game can make a bid but as pointed out previously, they have very little time to prepare and submit that bid. US Soccer allows the home team to keep all profits from the game up to a certain dollar amount. Once that figure is reached US Soccer takes a percentage of the profits. A bid could be made to pay the visiting team’s hotel bill or perhaps to lower the kick-in stage for US Soccer to start taking their profit. Or perhaps to raise the percentage of money US Soccer receives from the gate. Any bid is considered that helps US Soccer save money on a tournament that has no major sponsor.

Venues
Another factor is availability of stadiums and the understanding from US Soccer that the game may draw better (better gates = reduced costs) at a Division 2 team when playing an MLS team than vice versa. It’s not unusual for an MLS team to hold their first round Open Cup game at a college stadium for a lower venue fee than their normal home stadium since the draw will be nominal at best. Where an MLS team coming to a USL-2 or D-2 team will mean much better crowds and a bigger gate. It’s also possible that a team cannot get their regular venue for a particular game and it might default to a team that has no problem hosting the game and securing their venue. All these things are taken into account on a very tight timeline.

As always, your best place to get information on the US Open Cup is The Cup.us.