The L.A. TIMES goes with, "MLS made a colossal mistake to drop U.S. Open Cup. How does the league not get that?" MLS said that its decision to replace first-team rosters with MLS Next Pro teams in the U.S. Open was an "attempt to develop young professional players" and to "reduce schedule congestion." But MLS’ developmental teams had that opportunity when they played in the second-tier USL Championship, but the league "pulled out of that and formed the third-tier MLS Next Pro, over which it has control, in 2022." As for the schedule congestion, that is "wholly a product of the league’s hubris and overreach." But the Open Cup is "part of U.S. soccer’s architecture, whether anybody goes to the games or not."
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