The dispute between Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation over MLS’ participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup brought negotiations for a broadcast deal for the tournament to a standstill last month, according to parties involved in the negotiation.
MLS’ request to replace its teams in the U.S. Open Cup with teams from MLS Next Pro, its developmental league, was denied by U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body.
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The parties began discussions in August to address competitive, economic, brand and scheduling issues, and there are ongoing conversations to define the league’s participation in the tournament.
Meanwhile, talks with broadcasters, including Warner Brothers, Telemundo and CBS, have rekindled, according to one source, who asked to remain anonymous as the matter is private and still ongoing. U.S. Soccer declined to comment on broadcast talks.
“MLS is committed to working with U.S. Soccer to establish a plan for the League’s participation in the 2024 tournament that addresses our goals and concerns,” MLS said in an email statement to Sportico. MLS and U.S. Soccer are in active discussions to address several objectives, the statement said, including “providing young players with more opportunities to compete in meaningful matches in a tournament environment, ensuring player health and safety, reducing fixture congestion for MLS clubs, and increased investment from U.S. Soccer in the Open Cup.”
The news arrives amid a structural power struggle within American soccer. In 2021, U.S. Soccer ended a 17-year exclusive marketing pact with MLS-owned Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and took its commercial rights in-house. This included the sale of television and other media rights for the U.S. Open Cup.
MLS negotiated its own media contract, which resulted in a 10-year, $2.5 billion streaming deal with Apple and a boom in interest thanks to Inter Miami’s signing of Lionel Messi, whose contract reportedly gives him a stake in Apple’s MLS subscription revenue.
Since U.S. Soccer took over negotiating broadcast and marketing deals, MLS is not in control of many aspects of the U.S. Open Cup, including broadcast rights, marketing and competition standards. U.S. Open Cup benefited from Messi’s presence last year, with Inter Miami making it to the final, but MLS gets little direct return from the tournament. Indeed, the semifinals and finals of the tournament were on CBS Sports Golazo network and…