A solution to the MLS and U.S. Open Cup situation, and other thoughts on the debacle

It seems unthinkable that the U.S.'s top soccer league won't participate in its long-running tournament — but maybe the NBA's got an answer.

You may have heard already: On Friday afternoon, MLS declared that its teams wouldn’t participate in the 2024 edition of the U.S. Open Cup. That tournament dates back to 1914 and is currently named for Lamar Hunt, one of the MLS’s multiple-team owners who helped bail the league out during some lows in its first comparatively lean decade.

Instead, MLS Ne…