$10,000 flights and personal credit: How the US Open Cup cripples smaller clubs

For the US Open Cup, 2017 was the year of the underdog. The hype started early when Christos FC – an amateur club out of Maryland named after a local liquor store – upset two fourth-division sides and a USL team before going out to MLS’s DC United. Upsets continued to prevail, as the USL’s FC Cincinnati beat the Columbus Crew and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s Chicago Fire en route to a quarter-final showdown with then-NASL side Miami FC. Cincinnati won, serving as the tournament’s first non-MLS semi-finalist since 2011.

“For these lower-division clubs, the Open Cup is a one-off opportunity to prove themselves,” according to Peter Wilt, who launched Chicago Fire, NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars, and NASL/USL’s Indy Eleven. “That dream of beating the bigger clubs is very fleeting. It’s the one opportunity that you have whenever you qualify, and it’s usually gone after two or three matches.”

But that dream can cripple smaller clubs. While the US Open Cup is often compared to England’s famous FA Cup, America’s vast spaces make it a much different proposition. A non-league English club’s away trip may involve a coach trip of a few hours. Teams in the US Open Cup, however, may have to pay for flights across a continent.

Meet Minneapolis City SC, known colloquially as the Crows. The team operates on a very small budget (the club spent $46,000 in 2017) and relies entirely on sponsorships and memberships all over the globe at $50 a share. Most of its players are college kids back home for the summer, able to retain amateur status in the offseason. During qualification for the 2018 tournament they played under their club operations name of Stegman’s Soccer Club. In qualification, the team was drawn to Kansas’ Santa Fe Wanderers, a $6,000 trip for Minneapolis. When Santa Fe forfeited, the draw pitted Minneapolis against Aurora Borealis Soccer Club in Illinois, another $4,000 trip via coach buses and hotel to Chicago. When the team won that round, they were in for an even longer trip.

“It was a surprise when we were drawn to Rochester, New York” Minneapolis City chairman Dan Hoedeman told the Guardian. “It required a multi-leg flight [it would take 16 hours to drive between from Minneapolis to Rochester non-stop] and they had an awful middle school stadium with limited availability. A lot of our players work 9-5 jobs on weekdays, and Rochester only offered to play on that Sunday afternoon. We were at the point where if our game in Rochester had made it to penalties, we would’ve had to leave to catch our flight.”

Stegman’s ended up losing 2-1, conceding deep into the second half. It was a tough result to swallow, and was only made more difficult by the logistics.

“If we hadn’t gotten $12,000 in donations, we would’ve had nothing,” club business director Sarah Schreier remarked. “The Rochester flights alone were $10,000 for 20 players. We could barely make it happen, and we both put club expenses on our personal credit cards. We still spent $3,000 on top of the donations.”

It’s a regular plight for amateur teams in the States. For those looking to get a crack at the national spotlight – Hoedeman referenced Harpos FC and Christos FC’s magical runs – it requires funding beyond the usual operating budget. Minneapolis City nearly had to stop streaming its games this year to cut costs, but a recent sponsorship allowed those funds to resurface.

“I think, to [United Soccer president] Carlos Cordeiro’s credit, he set up a platform that says he’ll invest some of the surplus into growing the Open Cup,” Wilt says. “It’s an area where the investment of US Soccer funding into prize money and promotional efforts can make the tournament more important to more clubs. In turn, it would provide more money to participating teams in terms of ticket sales and ultimately TV deals.”

At the moment, the prize money is scant for the US Open Cup. The 2018 champion will win $300,000. The tournament runner-up will receive $100,000 and the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will earn $25,000 (up from $15,000 last year). While it may seem like a good bounty for an amateur side, travel costs completely wipe out the potential payout.

“It would’ve cost us $10,000 a game across three games to qualify for the Open Cup,” Hoedeman clarified. “For Christos, that prize probably moved the needle because they didn’t have to travel like we did – they hosted DC United. For us, it was all about travel. People want to see the Open Cup, but $15,000 wouldn’t have even covered our last qualifier.”

And so, the money has to come from somewhere. Minneapolis charges $8 per match ticket to non-members, and often gives tickets away for free to local YMCA chapters. Compared to the rising ticket prices across MLS and USL, it’s a pittance of a return. It may be time for US Soccer (operating with a nine-figure surplus at the moment) to look after its smallest teams.

“When the specific cases come up that require financial help, it’s the responsibility of US Soccer to come up with a solution,” Wilt upheld. “Whether that’s level across the board with a pre-planned increase of funds or if it’s a fungible pool of money that committee votes on in unusual circumstances, these clubs should be taken care of. The tournament needs to be inclusive, not exclusive.”

That inclusivity may be time sensitive. For now, amateur sides are beginning to write off the tournament as a dream too costly to come true, the most expensive adrenaline hit in US soccer. Minneapolis’ players have all expressed interest in giving it another go this fall. “The magic of the cup is a real thing if you’re a player trying to get noticed,” Hoedeman remarked. Still, time will tell if the magic is within reach.

“I think the idea of the tournament is really respectable,” Schreier defended. “It gives a nod to players and clubs that are under wraps and are trying to make a go of it. It has the potential to be really awesome. If US Soccer can figure out how to execute what it’s trying to achieve, it could be really special.”