Games of Jeopardy: How MLS Plans to Bottle World Cup Magic Without Promotion and Relegation

North America is still buzzing. Months after the World Cup swept across the United States, Mexico and Canada, the question dominating American soccer is simple: how do you keep this party going? According to Major League Soccer's new commissioner, Larry Berg, the answer isn't promotion and relegation — it's jeopardy. Fielding the obligatory question about adopting the European-style pyramid at his introductory press conference, Berg was candid about where he stands. "I don't think it's appropriate for our league," he said, "but I think there are other ways to create jeopardy during the regular season, [and] again in the playoffs." It's a telling choice of words. Rather than threatening clubs with the financial precipice of relegation, Berg wants to manufacture moments where everything is on the line — the kind of tension that made this summer's tournament unforgettable. The commissioner pointed directly to the World Cup as his blueprint. "Millions of people across North America experienced that passion firsthand," Berg explained. "They fell in love with the drama, the atmosphere, the supporter culture and the emotion that makes soccer unlike anything else." His key insight? The tournament's magic wasn't just the quality of play — it was the format. "In the World Cup, we all enjoyed knockout games after the group stage. I call those games of consequence or games of jeopardy." That philosophy puts a fresh spotlight on the US Open Cup, America's oldest and most storied knockout competition. While MLS has sometimes treated the tournament as an afterthought, the post-World Cup landscape demands otherwise. Here is a competition that already delivers exactly what Berg describes: single-elimination warfare where lower-division underdogs can topple giants, where every match carries the win-or-go-home stakes that captivated a continent this summer. The challenge now is execution. World Cup momentum is notoriously fleeting — the trick is converting casual converts into weekly supporters. If Berg is serious about "games of consequence," elevating the Open Cup's profile, scheduling, and prize incentives would be an obvious first step. Imagine packed stadiums, regional rivalries renewed, and Cinderella runs captured with the same broadcast polish the World Cup enjoyed. Soccer purists will continue to argue that only promotion and relegation delivers true jeopardy, where a bad season threatens a club's very existence. Berg's counterargument is that American audiences don't need existential risk — they need narrative stakes, and they need them regularly. One thing is certain: the World Cup handed American soccer a once-in-a-generation opportunity. What MLS does with that inheritance, starting with how it treats its own knockout competition, will define the next era of the sport in the United States.