U.S. Open Cup gets a new home on CBS Sports and Paramount+ | OneFootball

The U.S. Open Cup has a new home for TV and streaming viewers.

U.S. Soccer and CBS Sports announced Wednesday the sides had reached a rights agreement for the tournament for 2025 and 2026, with every match from the third round onwards to be shown on the Paramount+ streaming service and select games to be simulcast on CBS Sports Network and the CBS Sports Golazo Network.

In the current format, the third round is when 16 sides from the second-tier USL Championship begin play, joining eight USL teams that already began play in the tournament in the first round. Those games are scheduled tentatively for April 15-16.

The 16 MLS teams in the tournament year begin play in the next round, which is the round of 32 teams total, set tentatively for May 6-7.

The first round of the tournament was completed earlier this month, and the second round will be played next week. Those games will continue to be shown on USSF's YouTube channel.

The deal continues a steady progression of CBS Sports and Paramount+ as a major player in the American soccer television space.

Their biggest properties are every match in UEFA Champions League, a competition CBS Sports has rights to through 2030, and approximately 250 matches from English Football League, the second through fourth tiers of the English pro game.

The network is also one of USL's broadcast and streaming partners, and has been the home of English-language broadcasts for the Concacaf Nations League. It was that coverage on Paramount+ which led to some of the most memorable moments of this year's competition, including Panama's goal celebration with Thierry Henry and Clint Dempsey's takedown of the U.S. men's national team's lackluster performances over two games.

The next major opportunity to grow CBS' portfolio could come after the World Cup, when the MLS' current simulcast agreement with Fox Sports expires. But that could be less appealing since the majority of CBS Sports' match coverage comes via the Paramount+ streaming service, and MLS will only be looking for a lineal broadcaster, given that its exclusive streaming rights will still belong to Apple TV+.