The 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 108th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, the knockout domestic cup competition of American soccer.[1]Orlando City SC were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the Round of 32 by Charlotte FC.[2] The 2023 field features 99 teams, including a modern-era record 71 professional sides.[3]
Professional teams that are majority-owned or controlled by higher-division professional clubs are barred from entering the competition. On March 10, 2023, Rochester New York FC announced they would not compete in the 2023 MLS Next Pro season, and were in fact ceasing operations.[5]
States without a team in the Open Cup: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Open Cup debuts
21 teams made their Open Cup debuts in the 2023 tournament.
Note: Game rescheduled from its original date of April 4 due to expected inclement weather.[12]
Third round
The 30 second round winners and the 18 new teams from the MLS were pooled into 11 geographic regions for the third round draw that was conducted on April 6, 2023. All new MLS entrants were drawn to face a second round winner and no MLS vs. MLS match-ups were allowed in the third round. The 24 resulting matches were played on April 25 and 26.[13]
Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 11,639 Referee: Olvin Oliva
Round of 32
The winners of the Third Round and the new entrants to the tournament were grouped geographically into groups of four (eight groups). Each group had one of the MLS teams entering this round. Random selection for each group determined the pairs. Instances where geographical fit did not exist when creating groups was resolved by random selection.[14] The draw for the Round of 32 took place on April 27.
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports holds the rights to broadcast the Open Cup from 2023 to 2030, as part of a larger media rights agreement with U.S. Soccer.[15][16] Select matches from the first three rounds were broadcast for free on the Bleacher Report app or via the B/R Football YouTube channel.[17] Select matches are sublicensed to stream live on an involved team's YouTube channel, Eleven Sports or the CBS Sports Golazo Network.[18] The Round of 32 would see a majority of games featured on the Bleacher Report app and B/R Football YouTube channel, with four games on CBS Sports Golazo Network and four on the U.S. Soccer YouTube channel.[19] The Round of 16 and Quarterfinals had games split between Bleacher Report and CBS Sports Golazo Network.[20][21] The semifinals are planned to be streamed on both CBS Sports Golazo Network and Paramount+ in the United States as well as 20 international broadcasters due to Lionel Messi's signing with semifinalist Inter Miami CF, with the final airing on CBS Sports Network as well as streaming on Paramount+.[22] Spanish-language rights in the United States for the semifinals and final would belong to Telemundo and Universo, with both being streamed on Peacock.[23] In Argentina, it will be broadcast by TyC Sports only for Lionel Messi's Inter Miami matches.
MLS
USLC
Division 3 (NISA/USL1)
Open Division (NPSL/USL2)
