MLS fans vote with their wallets, reject Leagues Cup

It was a stunning sight that unfolded on Saturday at Lumen Field. No, not the Seattle Sounders getting picked apart by LAFC. That’s become commonplace by now. However, the empty seats of fans aren’t regularly associated with one of the best-supported fanbases in MLS. It appears that MLS fans and the Leagues Cup do not […]

It was a stunning sight that unfolded on Saturday at Lumen Field. No, not the Seattle Sounders getting picked apart by LAFC. That’s become commonplace by now. However, the empty seats of fans aren’t regularly associated with one of the best-supported fanbases in MLS. It appears that MLS fans and the Leagues Cup do not mix well together.

Yet, there they were on camera. There were hundreds of empty seats in the Emerald City Supporters’ section and thousands more elsewhere in the stadium. It wasn’t a camera trick. The Sounders’ announced crowd for the quarterfinal with LAFC was 19,643, more than 10,000 people fewer than the Sounders’ usual average.

Philadelphia Union saw a different problem unfold: watching an opponent turn Subaru Park into enemy territory. Union’s attendance is down as it undergoes a poor season, but the Sons of Ben supporters group organized a Leagues Cup boycott and the rest of the Philadelphia fans followed. When the Union faced Cruz Azul, they saw a loud, boisterous stadium — filled with fans of the Mexican giant. When Union advanced to the knockout stages, its opponents didn’t bring anywhere near the same kind of crowd, which left Subaru Park almost empty. Even with Philadelphia still in the mix for a trophy, Union fans can’t be bothered.

And then there was the New England Revolution, where the Midnight Riders only put out a statement against the tournament, stopping short of an organized boycott. The fans got the message anyway: the Revs drew 7,267 against New York City FC. These are not the days when the Revs struggled to get 15,000 to come to Foxborough. New England now averages almost 28,000 fans during the MLS season.

That left one thing clear: the fans’ Leagues Cup boycott has had an impact on the tournament.

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Leagues Cup feels like a tournament created to target fans of Liga MX teams

No matter how much MLS commissioner Don Garber tries to push this tournament, the fans, and especially the supporters’ groups, aren’t buying it. Some have tried to say that the boycotts were ineffective because the attendance was an improvement over the U.S. Open Cup, but that’s the wrong comparison.

The U.S. Open Cup doesn’t compare because the league never shut down for it like it does for the Leagues Cup. When you chose to attend a U.S. Open Cup match, you were doing so in the middle of the week. There was usually another match to attend on Saturday, and if there wasn’t because your club was on the road, there would be one the next Saturday.

That’s not the case with the Leagues Cup. MLS goes dark for that entire period, leaving fans with the choice of going to matches they don’t want to attend or putting their support on hold for a month. The league also routinely plays on weekends as well as weeknights. And still, sizable amounts of fans chose to do something else at a time when little else was going on.

St. Louis City was a prime example. Even though it’s a young franchise with little history in the U.S. Open Cup, St. Louis is still a soccer city with an understanding of history. It drew about 5,000 fans fewer for Leagues Cup action than normal for the group stage. And after ending its formal boycott, little changed. St. Louis fans stayed away, and Club America took over the stadium, resulting in a sea of yellow.

League and fans at an impasse

MLS hasn’t shown any indication of giving an inch. Above all, the tournament remains a moneymaker for the league. Even though there are plenty of embarrassing numbers and the level of play isn’t impressing everyone, MLS still gets to make money off the Mexican fans, who are going to turn out to see their clubs in the United States. Liga MX remains very popular among Mexican expatriates in this country. When MLS fans don’t show, Liga MX rooters will.

The Leagues Cup boycott remains an issue that’s likely to pop up again in a year. The league can make players and coaches care with the Concacaf Champions League carrot, but it can’t make fans care.

If MLS insists on continuing to damage the U.S. Open Cup, it’s going to continue to fray its relationship with its most loyal fans.

PHOTOS: IMAGO