Major League Soccer will not send its first teams to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2024, instead opting to enter teams from MLS Next Pro, the league's two-year-old development league, to participate in the country's oldest soccer tournament, the league announced Friday.
The decision comes after MLS commissioner Don Garber was critical of the state of the tournament during the open session of the U.S. Soccer Federation board of directors meeting in May, calling it "a very poor reflection on what it is that we're trying to do with soccer at the highest level.