The campaign has ended but if anyone wishes to give a donation to TheCup.us, they can do so using the button below.
Trying to keep the US Open Cup alive for another 100 years
Prior to 2003, there was no website available to give the US Open Cup the full coverage it deserved. That year, Josh Hakala and Chuck Nolan Jr. partnered with Demosphere International to create USOpenCup.com. Hakala, a professional journalist/broadcaster and Nolan, someone who specializes in historical research, initially treated the site as a hobby, but as the years went on, they realized how important their role was in helping cover and promote one of the most underrated competitions in American sports.
As the lone source of comprehensive coverage, it became more and more challenging for the two men, who had full-time jobs and family obligations, so they recruited volunteers to help with the work. Due to a legal issue with the US Soccer Federation involving the site's URL, Hakala and Nolan were barred from bringing in any money to the site with advertisements or donations. As the years moved on, the workload and time commitment increased dramatically and an offer was made to USSF to allow USOpenCup.com to become, at the very least, a business that breaks even. That offer was declined, which meant, the only way for the site to generate any income was if the URL was changed and the site was moved elsewhere. On September 1, 2009, the day before the Open Cup Final between DC United and the Seattle Sounders, TheCup.us was launched.
The impact of TheCup.us
Since the original site was launched in 2003, TheCup.us has played a vital role in raising awareness of this great tournament. Where would the tournament be? Traffic for the site has risen nearly every year since it launched and we're confident that by giving the site a thorough makeover, the already in-depth coverage can be expanded, giving fans and media a comprehensive, one-stop resource of the tournament's history and the latest news.
The future of TheCup.us (Where the money is going)
Here are just some of the improvements we plan to make to TheCup.us :
- Make information easier to find with improved layout/design
- Create a database for all the statistics to make historical information easier to track down for fans and media members alike.
- Donations will be used to help fund historical research so that we can continue to gather information to help the legacy of this tournament available to the public for the next 100 years.
- Funding the collection and editing of video of past Open Cup games to give fans more of a visual history of the competition.
- Live coverage and stats for every game
- Creation of a mobile app for TheCup.us to follow and keep up with the latest news about the tournament from anywhere.
If you can't contribute financially, there are other ways to help ...
Volunteers have been the backbone of this website from the beginning and there's plenty of ways to help. If you can contribute, or know someone who can contribute in any of the following areas:
SHARE: The easiest way to contribute is just to spread the word about this campaign, about this website and, most of all, the tournament itself. Indiegogo has share tools you can use, and there's always the 'old fashioned' way by posting to your favorite social media sites.
AD SALES: Those of us who work on the site are journalists and website managers and not salesmen, so we need someone who speaks the language to attract advertisers who would find value in a site that attracts die-hard soccer fans from all over the country.
WRITING: If you're passionate about the US Open Cup and have some solid writing skills, then drop us a line. We're looking for people to cover games, do feature stories, or help with historical articles.
RESEARCH: Do you love digging in archives looking for historical info? You've come to the right place then. In addition to looking through various publication archives (or coordinating with local libraries to have them help with it), a lot of our research involves tracking down players/coaches/administrators to find some of this info.
WEBSITE WORK: TheCup.us is a Wordpress-based website, and if you have some website or graphics skills, then we could use your help as well.
Anyone interested in contributing to the site in any of the areas listed above, use this email form: http://www.thecup.us/contact-us/
