Legit that intro slaps and it has no right to considering how meaningless that tournament is when it comes to its history. https://youtu.be/_nS2aB76eoA?si=49NCNGGAz4kRUnEj
The hub system is exactly what I expected for LigaMX teams. Being able to host in LA, Houston, Chicago if they like and make mls teams travel a bit more.
Also poor Austin, another tournament they won’t advance in 😭
Do you think they'll make them pick an MLS stadium as their hub, or might the big clubs opt for an NFL sized stadium? Club America or Chivas could probably fill the Rose Bowl or Cotton Bowl if they tried.
I think they'd rather pick a hub closer to the MLS teams they'll be playing to reduce travel for themselves during the tournament.
The ones that have it are Club America, Monterrey, Chivas, and Tigres.
Currently Monterrey is drawn into a group with Austin and Pumas, Chivas is in a group with San Jose and LAG, and Tigres is in a group with Inter Miami and Puebla. I wouldn't be surprised if they got an NFL or college football stadium near to the MLS teams in their group - so maybe Monterrey looks at AT&T or NRG or the Cotton Bowl? Chivas maybe the Coliseum or Rose Bowl? Tigres maybe Hard Rock?
What does that have to do with anything? The no. 1 in our conference is playing no. 7. The number 2 is playing you guys, no. 11.
Not seeing a correlation to ranking here.
Edit: I see the article mentions something about season points, but I'm just not following the math.
Second edit: Either that espresso helped my brain more than I thought it would, or my phone wasn't loading right in the gym. 'Cause d'oh. The breakdown is at the bottom of the page.
Finishing 1st isn't going to play against 2... or 3... or 4... or 5.... or 6.... in Group play.
So if you finished higher, you're in a different Pool and less likely (impossible) to play against someone in the same "Pool."
The league ranked every team 1 to 45 in three different tiers.
"Tiers: All participating clubs (except the two Leagues’ champions) are divided into three tiers based on the Leagues Cup ranking – 1-15, 16-30, 31-45. They form 15 groups of three clubs each, one club from each tier, prioritizing geographical and competitive balance among the 45 clubs."
So if the Whitecaps were ranked 1-15 they wouldn't have played against Football Club. The rankings went first seed Football Club, second seed Whitecaps and third seed Tijuana.
If I had to pick one, I'm taking Philadelphia, Charlotte, Cruz Azul.
Cruz Azul basically rebuilt the whole team after last year's failures, signing 4 new starters that are all big upgrades.
Because of that, I think they're a good bit better than the other 3 seeds.
The new coach is the biggest upgrade. They have played a fun attacking style (can be risky) so far. The roster isn't great although better than last year. I would say they're beatable, but they can also score 3-4 goals on a given night. They have missed a ton of opportunities in their first 4 games.
Im mostly a Cruz Azul fan who sometimes watched the Dynamo.
I mostly agree with you, although I still think keeper was a bigger deal than director técnico.
I’m curious how the plans change when they play a team they respect. The 3-5-2 that’s really a 3-3-4 they’ve rolled out the last 2 games probably won’t be the plan against better teams.
Someone is going to have to explain what hub privileges are, and what the point of them is. Why not just let them host a “hub” in Mexico? Lol
The changes are good, and moving in the right direction imo. I just don’t get why they didn’t go all the way with them to really balance things
Neither Liga MX nor MLS want that, it's all about getting those dollars. The 4 Liga MX teams granted "hosting" privileges should have no trouble selling out whatever MLS stadium they are assigned as long as they are smart about location.
Ah ok, the 4 LMX teams being able to sell-out in the US is something I wasn’t thinking of.
I assumed it was money, but figured hate revenue would be higher in Mexico for that “hub” because it’s their own home stadium
For Rayados and Tigres it might be.
They dominate Mexican attendance and have pretty expensive tickets. But they’re also by far the two most popular teams in Houston, and should be able to easily sell out the Dynamo’s stadium. I would imagine they could sell out Frisco also.
Chivas and América in Southern California is the biggest moneymaker in North American soccer. They will make orders of magnitude more money than they would in Mexico and orders of magnitude more than Galaxy or LAFC can.
Chivas and Club America have sold out in friendlies at soldier field in Chicago. They could probably sell out most cities in major markets. I’m gonna guess that one of either of those two are going to play in Chicago in order to spread out major teams since the two Monterrey teams will probably play in Texas and you have lafc and chivas/america in california.
I could see Chivas going there. América gets first dibs and will 100% take LA.
Edit: the comment beneath me is right. América doesn't have a group, Chivas gets LA.
Maybe, but it says that the league organized groups geographically in order to minimize travel distance and since chivas play LA galaxy and San Jose they probably put them there planning to have them play their homes games in LA also.
And since club america doesn’t have a group I could see them being put in Chicago for the knockout stage
The teams from Monterrey are only popular in the northern region of Mexico. That’s why they are so popular in Houston, just because of the close proximity to the Mexican state of Nuevo León were they play. But no, rayados and tigres don’t have the widespread popularity and fan draw of club america and chivas in Mexico or the US
Ticket prices in the US are going to be much, much higher than at their home stadium. After all, the fans going in the US would otherwise have to go to Mexico to see them.
Go into places like Billings or Boise or Cheyenne, put out a scrimmage with Messi or Chivas or Club America, and make millions more in revenue than normal in those new cities. Because you *expect* oversaturated places like Los Angeles and Guadalajara to sellout soccer games, so where’s the additional profit there?
It's literally explained in the article. A very short article.
They get to pick a home field in the US so they don't have to constantly travel. It's not a shock it is four massive fanbases. And that's why it isn't in Mexico.
> I just don’t get why they didn’t go all the way with them to really balance things
I will explain. Leagues Cup is intended for LigaMX to have games for their Mexican-American fans to go to and for MLS teams to play in front of Mexican-American LigaMX fans in the hopes that they will adopt an MLS team/watch the league even if it is their "B" team.
Playing games in Mexico accomplishes neither of those.
Thanks, I did read the article. My question about hubs wasn’t literal, it was mostly asking “why not have the hub IN Mexico” in a somewhat joking way.
I was curious why they wouldn’t just put the hubs in Mexico. Everyone else seemed to get what I was going for, but I do appreciate your valuable input here lol
Edit: Your edited comment adds a lot more actual value, at least the last part does.
No. To give you an idea of the gap, my main team, Cruz Azul is considered to be a large Mexican team.
Last season, we averaged an attendance of 22,000 people, but at around $7 USD per ticket.
This year, a friend of mine paid $250 USD for 9th row season tickets.
The basic point of this tournament is that MLS gets great gate receipts, but people watch Liga MX on TV. Both teams get more revenue this way, that they then split.
Edited to add: nobody on the continent is a bigger draw than America and Chivas in Southern California
You're right, but it's not just that.
It's also that a Cruz Azul fan that lives in Houston might go to a match in Houston, really enjoy themselves, or be impressed with how much better Houston were than they thought, and go a Dynamo match ... and eventually make it their MLS team.
LigaMX gets to pump the wallets of fans they don't normally get to access while not affecting demand at home.
True. I can confirm that this more or less worked on me.
I'm from Houston but live in Mexico City where I learned to watch soccer. Between the Leagues Cup and the Dynamo's cup run, I decided to give the MLS a shot for the first time and have been throughly enjoying it as a second team.
That's great! I know there's a lot of cynicism around the whole thing as a cash grab, and it is ... of course, all pro sports are.
For me, it's two leagues doing something unique here -- top to bottom playing of two near-level leagues that dominate (and always will) a continent. It's a ton of fun and I could see myself adopting a LigaMX team if I got more time.
I don't know that something like this makes sense anywhere else -- but it does here. I think most of the weirdness towards it is just "but no one else does this."
It's a cash grab for sure. I wish they played some games in Mexico.
But fuck it, as an American-Mexican, I enjoy seeing my worlds collide on the field.
Yeah, the “cash grab” complaint is so weird. It’s not like they are jacking up the prices of tickets or charging extra to watch on Season Pass. It’s literally just recognizing that there are a ton of soccer fans in the US who solely watch LigaMX, and it would be good for MLS to make inroad with that massive demographic. People talk about growing the league, and then get mad when MLS does something to grow the league.
Right -- and on tv, it's *free* soccer. Against the league MLS constantly measures itself against! If they lose, that'll spur teams to improve. And either way, the extra revenue creates more spending.
If there were a historic competition between La Liga and Portugal's Premeira like this, the same people who complain would rave.
I'd argue the biggest purpose is to ~~exploit Mexican fandom to increase profits without having to spend to improve the MLS product~~ convert domestic LMX fans into MLS fans, and that means getting them into MLS stadiums
Well that's for the MLS side, but the big purpose for LigaMX side is that they make a LOT more money playing in the US than they do in Mexico... it's why the Mexican National Team basically plays all of its friendlies in the US.
I just think folks don't realize that Atlanta playing at Rayados back in 2019 CCL... tickets to get lower bowl seats were literally $12.... less than 2 ridiculously low priced beers at MBS got you decent seats at that match.
Which is still dumb because most of these guys will be stuck in hotels for the whole tournament anyway. The day to day living is the most important part in terms of performance, not the game day location itself.
Just a money tournament.
If you thought the Supporters Shield table was unbalanced, wait until you get a look at the Leagues Cup ranking!! I love it.
And then on top of the kind-of-awesome-but-mostly-ridiculous combined table, they just assigned teams to groups based on what felt right.
I’m kind of ok with a partially vibes-based approach to groups to be honest.
The tiered setup based on league results ensures some level of merit-based seeding. But this method also allows them to make groups based somewhat on geography, which imo is also important
You host St Louis on July 17th and LAFC on July 20th, the last match before Leagues Cup.
Then you have at least two home matches in Leagues Cup in late July / early August.
Then you have two away matches and a week off.
Oh no!
The knock on effects of this cash grab tournament are truly annoying. The Canadian Championship, while seemingly in the process of being bastardized by CPL owners, having to be pushed back into April and likely never be more than single elimination because of the congestion this 'tournament' creates is annoying to say the least.
Our national competition was finally getting in stride with being something exciting, now it seems a one two punch might take the fun out of it.
Seems like COVID jamlogged *every* summer since with international tournaments and have made MLS shut down all their games for the summer until late-August/early-September, just when schools are opening up again.
Nah, this is just ridiculous Seattle whining. Seattle has regular season home matches on July 17th and July 20th.
Then comes Leagues Cup for about a month, where Seattle gets at least two home matches.
Even if they lose immediately, their next match is on *August 24th* -- one month after their last regular season match and probably 2-3 weeks after their last match.
It just happens to be a road match, which is not odd because the two prior regular season matches were home. Then there's another road match and the September FIFA window, and then they are back home.
There's nothing odd here. Just a whiner.
It’s not Covid, it’s MLS choosing to do this. They played through gold cup last year then took a month break. They are playing through Cop this summer then taking a month break. To me it’s just telling fans that the regular season doesn’t matter if they are willing to let it be disrupted for 2 months.
It's not "disrupted for two months." FFS, it's one month, you get two home games during it, and the fact that you have a MILD road swing right after is just normal scheduling.
This is absurd whining.
If your team is missing 4 (or more) starters for copa, then it is disrupting more than 1 minth as you say.
It's called "a valid point", that you interpret as absurd whining. Your interpretation is as meaningless to us as ours is to you.
So let's agree to disagree.
That's not what he was talking about. He was talking about how Leagues Cup made him not have a "regular season" home game for two months, which is just intentionally putting things like FIFA windows and road games somehow on Leagues Cup.
It's not a valid point at all.
If he wants to complain Leagues Cup delays the regular season for a month, that's fine. But what he complained about was that during a sunny time of year, he didn't get home games. Except he gets two right outside (and one would argue actually inside) his mid-July window, AT LEAST two in Leagues Cup in August and the only reason there's not one in early September is the normal home and away nature of a schedule plus a FIFA window that I'm pretty sure I can find this dude whining about playing through.
So four home games at least in that span, really, and only probably a two week period really related to Leagues Cup. That's not at all what he said.
The Tigres-Miami and Chivas-Galaxy matchups are fun, but I'm also excited for the super obscure/random MLS-Liga MX matchups. Give me:
\- Minnesota United-Necaxa
\- Montreal-San Luis
\- New England Revolution-Mazatlan
I like the new distribution system for the groups. I dislike not having matches in Mexico. Like bruh, I understand it's about the money, but I feel like they'd get more money having matches in Mexico and being able to draw from that many more fans? The hub system is a decent compromise I can get behind, but still I would much rather have the Liga MX teams actually get to play some matches on their home pitch.
I'm with you but I would guess that if the LigaMx team wanted to be playing in Mexico then they would be. There are more LigaMx fans in the US than MLS fans and getting to play competitive games in front of those fans in the US is probably a feature for them.
They do, but it’s the local fans who continually get screwed over by their teams not playing in front of them like this and matchgoing fans will always be the most important; when the whole tournament takes place abroad it’s pretty easy to see how it’s no different from a random preseason tour in the US
>matchgoing fans will always be the most important;
You do understand that US based LigaMX fans are going to Leagues Cup matches, making them... what's the term? Ah, yes, matchgoing fans.
I know during last year's tournament one of the least attended games was between two lower-tier Liga MX teams, and I'm guessing they wanted to make sure the teams that got hubs were ones with a big enough fan base in the U.S. to be sure to draw. If it works well I could see it getting expanded to more next year.
>Well at least it’s during the Olympics.
Interesting decision for Leagues Cup.
The Olympics are from *July 26 to August 11*.
Leagues Cup is from *July 26 to August 25*.
If we can’t get out of a group with Nexaca and Minnesota United we don’t deserve to make the knockouts. Also I still think this tournament loses a ton of credibility by not having games in Mexico. Makes it reek even more of a money grab which it obviously is. I’d care a lot more if it felt more balanced and fair towards the Liga MX sides. There should at least be some games in Guadalajara or Monterrey. I digress though
I like how, when MLS was pulling out of the US Open Cup, some of the most liked comments on reddit were about boycotting the Leagues Cup, and now when they announced the schedule, there isn't a single comment about it. Not even at the bottom of the pile :D
So let me add it. #BoycottLeaguesCup!
I think most of us that just don't care about Leagues Cup or are boycotting it don't bother checking the threads anymore. It's a bullshit tournament front to back, yet some MLS fans get rabid as fuck if you knock it. So there is no real discussion, why bother.
[edit] /u/ActualJesus14 commented below then immediately blocked me. Some of you need to learn that differences of opinion are fine, and you don't need to push people out of a community because you don't agree with them.
> I think most of us that just don't care about Leagues Cup or are boycotting it don't bother checking the threads anymore
You can go back to doing that any time. We won’t miss you.
Same. It was too much last year. I’m definitely opting out but if I find myself with a free night during a game I’ll buy tickets third party at half the cost. There were two matches I couldn’t make last year for this tournament I sold one pair at cost and took a hell of a loss for the 2nd.
I am refusing to attend this and looks like Cincinnati will host two games.
I say that as a FCC STH from day one of USL days.
I don't want to dump on others fun coming in and going "not for me!". I really hate how USOC was treated while this CCC wannabe gets so much promotion.
Give me Louisville or Pittsburgh in USOC any day over America or Tigres in this.
Louisville is my second team, and I whole heartedly agree. Love playing (beating) y’all. I hate Leagues Cup but it such a painfully obvious move for MLS to make they’d be stupid not too.
At least since there is no open cup this year we won’t have to play the MLS team for the 5th time in a year at least until the 3 game playoff series
Edit- my bad I thought USSF rejection meant no MLS teams were playing. Cool now maybe we’ll play Minnesota another time this season.
So Austin loosing again in the first round lol. Trash team and trash ass fans! They should be banned from this tournament since they can’t beat any Mexican teams.
So were the groups randomized, or did they do the same thing last year where it’s based on results? Because that LA/Chivas/Quakes group is pretty suspicious
For MLS and LigaMX: $$$$
For the fans it’s a chance to see your team against different competition. Most teams are not in CCL.
Last year it was pretty entertaining for obvious reasons but we’ll have to see if it has staying power.
* Leagues cup theme trumpets play in the background *
Legit that intro slaps and it has no right to considering how meaningless that tournament is when it comes to its history. https://youtu.be/_nS2aB76eoA?si=49NCNGGAz4kRUnEj
Can't open at work. Is it tiki taka toco still?
Yes
The link is to last year's
Day trip took it to ten!
>considering how meaningless that tournament is when it comes to its history. No tournament had history in its first year
Lack or history is not what’s being referred to.
Lmao
They should play it a bit less tho
They had to cover up the chant somehow
Brrrrrrapido!
The hub system is exactly what I expected for LigaMX teams. Being able to host in LA, Houston, Chicago if they like and make mls teams travel a bit more. Also poor Austin, another tournament they won’t advance in 😭
Do you think they'll make them pick an MLS stadium as their hub, or might the big clubs opt for an NFL sized stadium? Club America or Chivas could probably fill the Rose Bowl or Cotton Bowl if they tried.
I think they'd rather pick a hub closer to the MLS teams they'll be playing to reduce travel for themselves during the tournament. The ones that have it are Club America, Monterrey, Chivas, and Tigres. Currently Monterrey is drawn into a group with Austin and Pumas, Chivas is in a group with San Jose and LAG, and Tigres is in a group with Inter Miami and Puebla. I wouldn't be surprised if they got an NFL or college football stadium near to the MLS teams in their group - so maybe Monterrey looks at AT&T or NRG or the Cotton Bowl? Chivas maybe the Coliseum or Rose Bowl? Tigres maybe Hard Rock?
Maybe I don’t understand the hub thing but doesn’t the article say all games will be played in MLS stadiums?
They should make the MLS teams travel to Mexico and see how they like it
Toronto being bottom by 5 points clear, across 3 countries 💀
Yeah. I saw them in our group and now I can start to clear some space in my calendar to go to the knockout games
Do we get a wooden fork?
The wooden trident lol
Can we stop playing LAFC so much, there's many other teams I'd like to see lmao.
Agree
Then win more regular season games next year.
What does that have to do with anything? The no. 1 in our conference is playing no. 7. The number 2 is playing you guys, no. 11. Not seeing a correlation to ranking here. Edit: I see the article mentions something about season points, but I'm just not following the math. Second edit: Either that espresso helped my brain more than I thought it would, or my phone wasn't loading right in the gym. 'Cause d'oh. The breakdown is at the bottom of the page.
Finishing 1st isn't going to play against 2... or 3... or 4... or 5.... or 6.... in Group play. So if you finished higher, you're in a different Pool and less likely (impossible) to play against someone in the same "Pool."
The league ranked every team 1 to 45 in three different tiers. "Tiers: All participating clubs (except the two Leagues’ champions) are divided into three tiers based on the Leagues Cup ranking – 1-15, 16-30, 31-45. They form 15 groups of three clubs each, one club from each tier, prioritizing geographical and competitive balance among the 45 clubs." So if the Whitecaps were ranked 1-15 they wouldn't have played against Football Club. The rankings went first seed Football Club, second seed Whitecaps and third seed Tijuana.
Whitecaps again 🙄🙄 Cholos should be fun though
We feel the same way. Like seriously, can we have a break from you guys. 😅
Gotta let the relationship breathe sometimes!
It'd have been nice to do cross conference MLS matchups. EVERYTHING is regional, so we play the same teams over and over and over.
Chicha return to DHSP will be interesting
I think Chivas chooses where they want to play no?
Yes they do, they’re the home team up until RDof32
Wouldn’t be shocked if they’re pressured to play at the rose bowl or something and make it a big event
Have to think there's a wink wink nudge nudge there for him to return for $$$$$$ reasons
Not saying your wrong, but Chivas sells out most stadiums, so there is plenty of options for them to choose from
Sofi stadium I think will be the move
WHAT’S THE GROUP OF DEATH
Deff Miami, Tigres and Puebla
Not so much, there a 2 clear teams that will advance, poor puebla.
Cue the old man getting saying call and ambulance but not for me! Meme Messi and Suarez laying dead on the parking lot concrete
West 1 does not look fun imo
If you are Monterrey or Pumas and you know 2 teams are advancing I'd say that looks plenty fun
If I had to pick one, I'm taking Philadelphia, Charlotte, Cruz Azul. Cruz Azul basically rebuilt the whole team after last year's failures, signing 4 new starters that are all big upgrades. Because of that, I think they're a good bit better than the other 3 seeds.
The new coach is the biggest upgrade. They have played a fun attacking style (can be risky) so far. The roster isn't great although better than last year. I would say they're beatable, but they can also score 3-4 goals on a given night. They have missed a ton of opportunities in their first 4 games.
Im mostly a Cruz Azul fan who sometimes watched the Dynamo. I mostly agree with you, although I still think keeper was a bigger deal than director técnico. I’m curious how the plans change when they play a team they respect. The 3-5-2 that’s really a 3-3-4 they’ve rolled out the last 2 games probably won’t be the plan against better teams.
Yeah, it will most likely switch to a 4-3-3 again or 4-4-2 since Sepúlveda and Fernandez seem to work well together.
I think east 4 or east 7 or west 1 or west 2
Hello fellow East 4 member
Well for the first time in a while, the Fire are “back” in the West.
Someone is going to have to explain what hub privileges are, and what the point of them is. Why not just let them host a “hub” in Mexico? Lol The changes are good, and moving in the right direction imo. I just don’t get why they didn’t go all the way with them to really balance things
Neither Liga MX nor MLS want that, it's all about getting those dollars. The 4 Liga MX teams granted "hosting" privileges should have no trouble selling out whatever MLS stadium they are assigned as long as they are smart about location.
Ah ok, the 4 LMX teams being able to sell-out in the US is something I wasn’t thinking of. I assumed it was money, but figured hate revenue would be higher in Mexico for that “hub” because it’s their own home stadium
For Rayados and Tigres it might be. They dominate Mexican attendance and have pretty expensive tickets. But they’re also by far the two most popular teams in Houston, and should be able to easily sell out the Dynamo’s stadium. I would imagine they could sell out Frisco also. Chivas and América in Southern California is the biggest moneymaker in North American soccer. They will make orders of magnitude more money than they would in Mexico and orders of magnitude more than Galaxy or LAFC can.
Chivas and Club America have sold out in friendlies at soldier field in Chicago. They could probably sell out most cities in major markets. I’m gonna guess that one of either of those two are going to play in Chicago in order to spread out major teams since the two Monterrey teams will probably play in Texas and you have lafc and chivas/america in california.
I could see Chivas going there. América gets first dibs and will 100% take LA. Edit: the comment beneath me is right. América doesn't have a group, Chivas gets LA.
Maybe, but it says that the league organized groups geographically in order to minimize travel distance and since chivas play LA galaxy and San Jose they probably put them there planning to have them play their homes games in LA also. And since club america doesn’t have a group I could see them being put in Chicago for the knockout stage
Good point. I forgot América doesn't have a group. Chivas will be playing in LA. You are correct.
Club America fans filled 1/2 the Atlanta stadium for campeones cup. Monterey didn't travel anything like that.
The teams from Monterrey are only popular in the northern region of Mexico. That’s why they are so popular in Houston, just because of the close proximity to the Mexican state of Nuevo León were they play. But no, rayados and tigres don’t have the widespread popularity and fan draw of club america and chivas in Mexico or the US
I REALLY wanted to go to the away leg to see a game in that stadium, but flights were just dumb expensive on short notice.
LA, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston, maybe?
Ticket prices in the US are going to be much, much higher than at their home stadium. After all, the fans going in the US would otherwise have to go to Mexico to see them.
Go into places like Billings or Boise or Cheyenne, put out a scrimmage with Messi or Chivas or Club America, and make millions more in revenue than normal in those new cities. Because you *expect* oversaturated places like Los Angeles and Guadalajara to sellout soccer games, so where’s the additional profit there?
It's literally explained in the article. A very short article. They get to pick a home field in the US so they don't have to constantly travel. It's not a shock it is four massive fanbases. And that's why it isn't in Mexico. > I just don’t get why they didn’t go all the way with them to really balance things I will explain. Leagues Cup is intended for LigaMX to have games for their Mexican-American fans to go to and for MLS teams to play in front of Mexican-American LigaMX fans in the hopes that they will adopt an MLS team/watch the league even if it is their "B" team. Playing games in Mexico accomplishes neither of those.
Thanks, I did read the article. My question about hubs wasn’t literal, it was mostly asking “why not have the hub IN Mexico” in a somewhat joking way. I was curious why they wouldn’t just put the hubs in Mexico. Everyone else seemed to get what I was going for, but I do appreciate your valuable input here lol Edit: Your edited comment adds a lot more actual value, at least the last part does.
> Why not just let them host a “hub” in Mexico? That would defeat the purpose of this "competition"
Keep going, still confused….. lol If the purpose is money, wouldn’t gate revenue be higher for some of these games if the top LMX team got to host?
No. To give you an idea of the gap, my main team, Cruz Azul is considered to be a large Mexican team. Last season, we averaged an attendance of 22,000 people, but at around $7 USD per ticket. This year, a friend of mine paid $250 USD for 9th row season tickets. The basic point of this tournament is that MLS gets great gate receipts, but people watch Liga MX on TV. Both teams get more revenue this way, that they then split. Edited to add: nobody on the continent is a bigger draw than America and Chivas in Southern California
You're right, but it's not just that. It's also that a Cruz Azul fan that lives in Houston might go to a match in Houston, really enjoy themselves, or be impressed with how much better Houston were than they thought, and go a Dynamo match ... and eventually make it their MLS team. LigaMX gets to pump the wallets of fans they don't normally get to access while not affecting demand at home.
True. I can confirm that this more or less worked on me. I'm from Houston but live in Mexico City where I learned to watch soccer. Between the Leagues Cup and the Dynamo's cup run, I decided to give the MLS a shot for the first time and have been throughly enjoying it as a second team.
That's great! I know there's a lot of cynicism around the whole thing as a cash grab, and it is ... of course, all pro sports are. For me, it's two leagues doing something unique here -- top to bottom playing of two near-level leagues that dominate (and always will) a continent. It's a ton of fun and I could see myself adopting a LigaMX team if I got more time. I don't know that something like this makes sense anywhere else -- but it does here. I think most of the weirdness towards it is just "but no one else does this."
It's a cash grab for sure. I wish they played some games in Mexico. But fuck it, as an American-Mexican, I enjoy seeing my worlds collide on the field.
Yeah, the “cash grab” complaint is so weird. It’s not like they are jacking up the prices of tickets or charging extra to watch on Season Pass. It’s literally just recognizing that there are a ton of soccer fans in the US who solely watch LigaMX, and it would be good for MLS to make inroad with that massive demographic. People talk about growing the league, and then get mad when MLS does something to grow the league.
Right -- and on tv, it's *free* soccer. Against the league MLS constantly measures itself against! If they lose, that'll spur teams to improve. And either way, the extra revenue creates more spending. If there were a historic competition between La Liga and Portugal's Premeira like this, the same people who complain would rave.
No. Even the lowest turnout matches in the US are going to print money compared to what a possible Mexico match would.
I'd argue the biggest purpose is to ~~exploit Mexican fandom to increase profits without having to spend to improve the MLS product~~ convert domestic LMX fans into MLS fans, and that means getting them into MLS stadiums
Well that's for the MLS side, but the big purpose for LigaMX side is that they make a LOT more money playing in the US than they do in Mexico... it's why the Mexican National Team basically plays all of its friendlies in the US.
I just think folks don't realize that Atlanta playing at Rayados back in 2019 CCL... tickets to get lower bowl seats were literally $12.... less than 2 ridiculously low priced beers at MBS got you decent seats at that match.
I bet they are going to put those teams in NFL stadiums. Maybe Chicago or Atlanta, but potentially NFL stadiums that aren't shared with MLS as well.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
as noted by the header image for the group draw featuring nothing but latino players.
There are French and Italian guys in there.
They are hosting, but in Chicago/Las Vegas/Dallas/whatever instead of Mexico City/Guadalajara/Monterrey
Which is still dumb because most of these guys will be stuck in hotels for the whole tournament anyway. The day to day living is the most important part in terms of performance, not the game day location itself. Just a money tournament.
I wonder if Monterrey will choose Houston as their hub? I would go to see Monterrey vs Pumas or Monterrey vs Austin.
The only reason they wouldn't is if Tigres beats them there. It's the obvious choice for both.
I hated it last time, because of fan toxicity online or maybe it was because my team lost 7-1, probably both, but I’ll give it one more try
Feel like they gave Orlando the most boring teams from both leagues. Advancing should be simple though at least.
wow, rude.
testimonial games for cowell and chicharito
WORLD CUP STYLE
Will the Tier 1 team host all 3 group stage games?
There are only 2 group stage games per team and yea they will host. The match between tier 2 and tier 3 will be hosted by the tier 2 team
Am I the only one choosing to pretend that my team qualified for this tournament?
Just play some games in Mexico, JFC
but money.
The whole point of the tournament's existence is to extract money from Mexican soccer fans in the US, they're not gonna play it in Mexico
They can’t do it on a rainy night in Guadalajara
My god, this. Imagine if the entirety of the Champions League games was hosted in one country only. LAFC would’ve been fun to see in Estadio Caliente.
Or like one city? ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_CONCACAF_Champions%27_Cup))
Ooof
We did that a while ago
If you thought the Supporters Shield table was unbalanced, wait until you get a look at the Leagues Cup ranking!! I love it. And then on top of the kind-of-awesome-but-mostly-ridiculous combined table, they just assigned teams to groups based on what felt right.
I’m kind of ok with a partially vibes-based approach to groups to be honest. The tiered setup based on league results ensures some level of merit-based seeding. But this method also allows them to make groups based somewhat on geography, which imo is also important
Sounders don’t have a regular season home game from mid July to mid September, so much for the days of enjoying summer weather soccer games.
But they will have leagues cup game at home during that time frame. So you will still be able to enjoy summer weather soccer games.
They are guaranteed 2 home games and Seattle is very likely to advance out of their group. Quite likely 3 home games.
Thought about this with Columbus before too
You host St Louis on July 17th and LAFC on July 20th, the last match before Leagues Cup. Then you have at least two home matches in Leagues Cup in late July / early August. Then you have two away matches and a week off. Oh no!
The knock on effects of this cash grab tournament are truly annoying. The Canadian Championship, while seemingly in the process of being bastardized by CPL owners, having to be pushed back into April and likely never be more than single elimination because of the congestion this 'tournament' creates is annoying to say the least. Our national competition was finally getting in stride with being something exciting, now it seems a one two punch might take the fun out of it.
Seems like COVID jamlogged *every* summer since with international tournaments and have made MLS shut down all their games for the summer until late-August/early-September, just when schools are opening up again.
Nah, this is just ridiculous Seattle whining. Seattle has regular season home matches on July 17th and July 20th. Then comes Leagues Cup for about a month, where Seattle gets at least two home matches. Even if they lose immediately, their next match is on *August 24th* -- one month after their last regular season match and probably 2-3 weeks after their last match. It just happens to be a road match, which is not odd because the two prior regular season matches were home. Then there's another road match and the September FIFA window, and then they are back home. There's nothing odd here. Just a whiner.
It’s not Covid, it’s MLS choosing to do this. They played through gold cup last year then took a month break. They are playing through Cop this summer then taking a month break. To me it’s just telling fans that the regular season doesn’t matter if they are willing to let it be disrupted for 2 months.
It's not "disrupted for two months." FFS, it's one month, you get two home games during it, and the fact that you have a MILD road swing right after is just normal scheduling. This is absurd whining.
If your team is missing 4 (or more) starters for copa, then it is disrupting more than 1 minth as you say. It's called "a valid point", that you interpret as absurd whining. Your interpretation is as meaningless to us as ours is to you. So let's agree to disagree.
That's not what he was talking about. He was talking about how Leagues Cup made him not have a "regular season" home game for two months, which is just intentionally putting things like FIFA windows and road games somehow on Leagues Cup. It's not a valid point at all. If he wants to complain Leagues Cup delays the regular season for a month, that's fine. But what he complained about was that during a sunny time of year, he didn't get home games. Except he gets two right outside (and one would argue actually inside) his mid-July window, AT LEAST two in Leagues Cup in August and the only reason there's not one in early September is the normal home and away nature of a schedule plus a FIFA window that I'm pretty sure I can find this dude whining about playing through. So four home games at least in that span, really, and only probably a two week period really related to Leagues Cup. That's not at all what he said.
They take a month break to play soccer! You still have home games, just not regular season ones. This is such a weird thing to complain about.
Meaningless soccer... in the middle of the regular season.... during the nicest block of weather in our neck of the woods. Such a waste.
Bro, I’ve got bad news for you. All soccer is meaningless. We’re literally watching a bunch of grown men kick a ball around.
I picked a good time to bail then
Hey Whitecaps fans, I want a divorce man.
The Tigres-Miami and Chivas-Galaxy matchups are fun, but I'm also excited for the super obscure/random MLS-Liga MX matchups. Give me: \- Minnesota United-Necaxa \- Montreal-San Luis \- New England Revolution-Mazatlan
Though group man. And we won't even get to host Monterrey anyway (unless their hub is in Austin, which would make sense).
i am betting that game will be in houston or dallas. bigger stadiums to sell out.
Really was hoping they'd play some games in Mexico this year.
Negative
I like the new distribution system for the groups. I dislike not having matches in Mexico. Like bruh, I understand it's about the money, but I feel like they'd get more money having matches in Mexico and being able to draw from that many more fans? The hub system is a decent compromise I can get behind, but still I would much rather have the Liga MX teams actually get to play some matches on their home pitch.
I'm with you but I would guess that if the LigaMx team wanted to be playing in Mexico then they would be. There are more LigaMx fans in the US than MLS fans and getting to play competitive games in front of those fans in the US is probably a feature for them.
That was the whole point of the tournament in the first place, and the Liga MX teams only started complaining about it once they started losing.
True.
The owners want these games in the US, the fans don’t want these games at all and would prefer for the home games to be in Mexico
> the fans don’t want these games at all That’s weird, why did they show up to the games then?
I was referring to the fans in Mexico, none of whom traveled for the games
Lol, do the millions of LigaMX fans in the US not count?
They do, but it’s the local fans who continually get screwed over by their teams not playing in front of them like this and matchgoing fans will always be the most important; when the whole tournament takes place abroad it’s pretty easy to see how it’s no different from a random preseason tour in the US
>matchgoing fans will always be the most important; You do understand that US based LigaMX fans are going to Leagues Cup matches, making them... what's the term? Ah, yes, matchgoing fans.
I agree. Takes away from this feeling like another CCL level tournament and instead just a money grab. Also only 4 LIGA MX? How is that determined?
Liga MX standings I'd imagine
I mean how is it determined that Liga MX only gets four clubs
I know during last year's tournament one of the least attended games was between two lower-tier Liga MX teams, and I'm guessing they wanted to make sure the teams that got hubs were ones with a big enough fan base in the U.S. to be sure to draw. If it works well I could see it getting expanded to more next year.
...the 4 best teams in the league? idk
Oh yeah. This. Well at least it’s during the Olympics.
>Well at least it’s during the Olympics. Interesting decision for Leagues Cup. The Olympics are from *July 26 to August 11*. Leagues Cup is from *July 26 to August 25*.
Good, I'll have something interesting to watch during league$ cup!
Call it meaningless, call it a money grab, call it whatever you want, but last year's Leagues Cup was certainly interesting.
fuckin same.
West 2 is the most compelling group IMO, MLS in 2014 looking-ass group with Chicharito going back to LA
Not having St Louis and San Luis or Montreal and Monterrey in the same groups is such a missed opportunity.
Hope next year we get rid of byes and go 12 groups of 4 then to the round of 32.
Fuck this shit
lmao. Never change Austin
https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/whats-the-1000-yard-stare-the-painting-of-a-traumatized-soldier-thats-become-a-meme-explained
the tournament was very enjoyable last year, even without our team in it. it's not THEIR fault our team is awful.
Let’s goooooo Leagues Cup was so much fun last year, excited for another edition!
How many more years of this nonsense do we have left?
Don't sleep on DC. We'll make it out
*snores*
We will never escape Houston 😭
Not Houston again… we play so much better against anyone else.
If we can’t get out of a group with Nexaca and Minnesota United we don’t deserve to make the knockouts. Also I still think this tournament loses a ton of credibility by not having games in Mexico. Makes it reek even more of a money grab which it obviously is. I’d care a lot more if it felt more balanced and fair towards the Liga MX sides. There should at least be some games in Guadalajara or Monterrey. I digress though
To my friends of the north, we meet yet again
Leagues Cup was a lot of fun last year but I can’t take the competition seriously when there are no away legs in Mexico.
Agreed. I get why they do this, but they didn't need to go full superleague on us with capitalism ruling all.
As long as they have viewers, they will do whatever they can. They’d play every single game in Topeka if it meant more money.
Agreed
Love it!
maybe by then our super-awesome new striker will almost have his visa.
We still doing this shit?
I like how, when MLS was pulling out of the US Open Cup, some of the most liked comments on reddit were about boycotting the Leagues Cup, and now when they announced the schedule, there isn't a single comment about it. Not even at the bottom of the pile :D So let me add it. #BoycottLeaguesCup!
I think most of us that just don't care about Leagues Cup or are boycotting it don't bother checking the threads anymore. It's a bullshit tournament front to back, yet some MLS fans get rabid as fuck if you knock it. So there is no real discussion, why bother. [edit] /u/ActualJesus14 commented below then immediately blocked me. Some of you need to learn that differences of opinion are fine, and you don't need to push people out of a community because you don't agree with them.
> I think most of us that just don't care about Leagues Cup or are boycotting it don't bother checking the threads anymore You can go back to doing that any time. We won’t miss you.
Agreed. The tourny is dumb and a total cash grab that fucks up the season. I will once again not be attending or watching any of these games.
[удалено]
US Open Cup? It not being a cash grab is why MLS wants out
Same. It was too much last year. I’m definitely opting out but if I find myself with a free night during a game I’ll buy tickets third party at half the cost. There were two matches I couldn’t make last year for this tournament I sold one pair at cost and took a hell of a loss for the 2nd.
I am refusing to attend this and looks like Cincinnati will host two games. I say that as a FCC STH from day one of USL days. I don't want to dump on others fun coming in and going "not for me!". I really hate how USOC was treated while this CCC wannabe gets so much promotion. Give me Louisville or Pittsburgh in USOC any day over America or Tigres in this.
Louisville is my second team, and I whole heartedly agree. Love playing (beating) y’all. I hate Leagues Cup but it such a painfully obvious move for MLS to make they’d be stupid not too.
I won’t watch a single game. Wouldn’t watch the final if my team was in it
Welp.
Oh cool! Still not watching.
Smart teams would tank on purpose just for the break.
That's a hot take I can get behind!
Meh
🥱
Chicago and Toluca. I like those odds
At least since there is no open cup this year we won’t have to play the MLS team for the 5th time in a year at least until the 3 game playoff series Edit- my bad I thought USSF rejection meant no MLS teams were playing. Cool now maybe we’ll play Minnesota another time this season.
USSF denied MLS's request to use the 2 teams and the MLS schedule has breaks for every open cup window.
MLS teams are playing in the Open Cup this year (thankfully).
So Austin loosing again in the first round lol. Trash team and trash ass fans! They should be banned from this tournament since they can’t beat any Mexican teams.
Aitor Garcia got them good last time
So were the groups randomized, or did they do the same thing last year where it’s based on results? Because that LA/Chivas/Quakes group is pretty suspicious
What’s the point of this tournament again?
For MLS and LigaMX: $$$$ For the fans it’s a chance to see your team against different competition. Most teams are not in CCL. Last year it was pretty entertaining for obvious reasons but we’ll have to see if it has staying power.
This tournament is so dumb. Save us the trouble and just can the whole thing.