But yet Seattle played at home last week in the U.S. Open Cup and will play at home this week in the Cup. Okay, Seattle "bought" the rights to do so. A legit question is then: How fair is that? A note to Schmid (who knows this perfectly well already): There are teams in Europe who advance to their respective cup finals and don't have a home match the whole way. In fact, in ties with lower leagues it is a no-exceptions requirement that the match is hosted by the lower club. (So that would rule out last week's and this week's home Seattle cup matches for the Sounders.) U.S. Soccer could eliminate any guesswork, speculation, rumors, and suspected favoritism if they televised live a cup draw format where the fixtures are set - just like we see at major FIFA and other world federation draws. Why not? Might make for some interesting TV/internet viewing. And the media might latch onto it, yes? Sponsors, too. After all, is this kind of single elimination cup format done in any other major US team sport? No. So capitalize on it.