The Draw for the Third Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will take place at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 3. The Draw will be broadcast live on CBS Golazo Network, which can be viewed for free via the CBS Sports App and Pluto TV.
Thursday’s draw will set matchups and hosts for the Third Round, taking place from April 15-16. Eight hosts and eight away teams from the Division II USL Championship have been predetermined by seeding – a seeding that only impacts the Third Round.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup CBS broadcast partnership begins in our Third Round. A selection of specific matches will be aired on the CBS Sports and Golazo Networks. All other matches will air be streamed on Paramount+.
After the Second Round is complete, the teams in the Third Round will be pooled geographically into groups of four. Each team entering will be drawn against a team advancing from the Second Round. Further, the eight seeded USL Championship teams (4 east, 4 west) entering will be pre-designated as hosts, while the eight lowest seeded USL Championship teams entering will be pre-designated as away teams.
Teams that did not apply to host will be placed automatically into away slots and instances where a logical geographic fit doesn’t exist will be resolved by random selection.
Groups will be formed to avoid league schedule conflicts and allow two rest days between league and Cup matches. If three or more teams/pairings are from the same proximity, pairings for these teams will be made by random selection. Any teams who are precluded from playing each other until the Final will not be paired.
Finally, the Round of 32 will be a new Draw on April 17. That draw will determine matches for both the Round of 32 and Round of 16. Any seeding in place for the Third Round will not factor into the Round of 32 draw.