With no official announcement yet on the setup for 2008, Real Salt Lake may have let some information slip on their schedule posting. April 30th they will play San Jose in a qualifier to see who plays Columbus. The winner of the Columbus and RSL/SJ winner would play Chicago. It also states 8 MLS teams will qualify. Appears that Chicago and Kansas City will play in with Houston, New England, Dallas, Chivas USA, New York and DC United automatically qualifying. If that is the case then LA and Colorado would play to see who faces Kansas City for the last spot.

I assume all 8 from USL 1 are in and top 8 with Harrisburg as an automatic from USL 2 - probably still with the percentage to a certain date being the criteria. Add the 2 USASA teams from each Region and 8 PDL teams and that would be the format again (much like last year).

I wish US Soccer would get someone to promote the event. To them it seems like an afterthought (and unfortunately it probably is).

So that's THREE layers of qualifying? So it's the team that finished #12 last year (of 12 American MLS clubs) playing the newcomer, and the winner playing #9, and that winner playing #7.

Wouldn't it be easier to say that the top 3 American clubs automatically make it, and the other 10 play one match to advance the other five?

I guess if you are actually making money on the match at the MLS level - why not play a couple of games early when the schedule is not so congested. They mean something (it is still US Open Cup - at least as a qualifier), can get decent crowds maybe. I wonder if the extra money goes to MLS or US Open Cup or is split.

I wish they would just add all the MLS teams, it really isn't helping their schedule congestion problem that much by adding ADDITIONAL play-in games.

But adding additional play in games in April and May at an MLS home with 10,000-15,000 fans instead of playing in a USL-1 or USL-2 stadium with 5,000 fans in July or August does make a big difference.

That being said, I too wish they would add all the MLS teams, all the USL-1 and USL-2 teams. I also wish that USSF would actually promote the events and at least act like they care about it. It could be such a great thing, but they have almost no information on their web-site about it, promote it very little and treat like a series of exhibitions. This is a great tournament with great history - they are really missing the opportunity here.

Daniel, how much would it cost them to promote this tournament the way you envision?

I also think that the grand prize of 50k is not much of an enticement, for the MLS-the actual trophy is worth more to a club wanting silverware. A USL team or D2, D3 could do more with that grand prize than an MLS team could. I say lengthen the season for MLS so it doesn't cram their schedule(largely due to travelling the distances during the mid-week) so tightly, look into upping the ante a bit...and I agree with the promotion of the tournament, it's a great tournament with the smallest clubs having an opportunity to win...Do the teams that make it to quarterfinals get some money for that?

My understanding is that the top USASA, top PDL, top USL 2, top USL 1 teams get $10,000 - top meaning the one that advances the farthest. If teams tie the pot is split. Then I believe the winner and runner up get some funds. I think they give $150K out to the teams in rewards.

I am sure they could get some cable TV money (FSC or something) to promote this and put a little more money on the line. Even today after qualifying has started there is absolutely no information on USsoccer.com for this year - still all last years information. What we do know comes from MLS individual team sites, uslsoccer.com and usopencup.com. I assume they have told the leagues how many teams they will be getting - but they haven't bothered to put that on the USSoccer site. I mean how long does it take to write up the format and tell the dates - 10-15 minutes? I would volunteer my time to write up their information so they could post it on their website - it would cost them nothing but they could care less. I'll come down off my soap box - not because I feel better, but just because no one at us soccer is likely to care. You could probably buy the rights to the tournament off them for cheaper than you could purchase a new USL Div 1 expansion team.

Two things:

1. MLS can't really lengthen their schedule. They already have very dicey weather in many MLS cities at the beginning and end of the season.

2. Higher ranked MLS teams already have non-MLS commitments outside of the USOC. I doubt they want more games even though I, too, really like the USOC.

Realistically they could add the rest of the MLS teams to lower rounds and keep the current ones entering at the current 3rd round and the top MLS temas wouldn't see any increase in games. Sure maybe one of those low teams is top of the league this year but that doesnt affect this seasons international tourneys.

But its all a pipe dream until it is worth money. Once that happens fans will start to think of the open cup as a real prize and teams will like the reward. At that point and unfortunatly only at that point will the USOC big what we all want it to be. Now just have to figure out how to get someone to spend the money on the tourney for a few years untill it catches on...