No NYRB II in 2016 US Open Cup

Josh Hakala of TheCup.us has noticed an important change to the rules governing US Open Cup:

Any Outdoor Professional League Team that is majority owned by a higher-level Outdoor Professional League Team shall be ineligible to participate in the Open Cup.

Oh.

One the one hand, this amendment does conclusively settle the question of whether clubs fielding two or more teams in the Cup can be trusted to let them compete against each other without interference. On the other, it means no NYRB II in next year's competition - which is sad for New York Red Bulls fans, because it was fun having another RBNY team in the draw in 2015.

Of course, the Red Bulls' U-23 team - an amateur squad that competes in the Premier Development League (and was the 2015 runner-up in that competition) - will be in the 2016 USOC. So there will still be more than one RBNY team to cheer for in next year's Cup.

But no NYRB II.