The 1917 American Cup was the annual open cup held by the American Football Association. Thirty-six teams entered the competition however none of the major Massachusetts teams entered. A new rule that season made by the Southern New England FA forbade their clubs from entering more than one tournament other than the State Cup. This being the case most of the teams opted for the National Cup instead. Bethlehem Steel brought home the trophy for the third time with a convincing 7-0 final win against the West Hudsons.
| Second round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| November 26 - New York | ||||||||||||||
| New Yorks F.C. | 3 | |||||||||||||
| January 28 - New York | ||||||||||||||
| Bridgeport City | 1 | |||||||||||||
| New York F.C. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| December 9 - Bethlehem | ||||||||||||||
| Bethlehem Steel | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Bethlehem Steel | 2 | |||||||||||||
| March 11 - Newark | ||||||||||||||
| Henry Disston F.C. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Bethlehem Steel | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Clan MacDonald | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Clan MacDonald | w/o | |||||||||||||
| January 21 - New York | ||||||||||||||
| Chicopee Rovers | ||||||||||||||
| Clan MacDonald | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Continentals F.C. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Continentals F.C. | 2 | |||||||||||||
| May 13 - Newark | ||||||||||||||
| General Electric F.C. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Bethlehem Steel | 7 | |||||||||||||
| January 14 - Bayonne | ||||||||||||||
| West Hudson A.A. | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Babcock & Wilcox | 2 | |||||||||||||
| April 1 - Bayonne | ||||||||||||||
| Scottish Americans | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Babcock & Wilcox | 1-0 | |||||||||||||
| West Hudson A.A. | 1-4 | |||||||||||||
| West Hudson A.A. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| April 22 - Newark | ||||||||||||||
| Bay Ridge | 0 | |||||||||||||
| West Hudson A.A. | 1 | |||||||||||||
| December 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Brooklyn Celtic | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Brooklyn Celtic | 6 | |||||||||||||
| January 14 | ||||||||||||||
| Falls F.C. | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Brooklyn Celtic | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Jersey A.C. | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Alley Boys | 2-1 | |||||||||||||
| Jersey A.C. | 2-2 | |||||||||||||
| West Hudson A.A. (NJ) | 0–7 | Bethlehem Steel (PA) |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) [1] | 17' George McKelvey 19' Jimmy Easton Fred Pepper Fred Pepper(McKelvey) Jimmy Easton(Fleming) Paddy Butler 80' Tommy Fleming |