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Post by fanatic21 on Apr 15, 2020 22:58:32 GMT -5
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Post by soccerlegacy on Apr 15, 2020 23:16:50 GMT -5
Short enough article I thought I'd just copy and paste... sounds like ECNL won't be the only answer, at least for the boys teams!
Wonder how long before they could get this up and running??
Major League Soccer launches new elite competition for youth academies
Major League Soccer announced the launch of a new elite youth competition platform intended to provide year-round high-level matches for MLS club academy teams and non-MLS academy teams that previously participated in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy which ceased operations.
The new platform will provide elite competition against domestic and international teams. MLS is also evaluating expanding participation to include clubs beyond the former U.S. Soccer Development Academy, in addition to future potential competition opportunities for girls.
“Major League Soccer is deeply committed to developing world-class players through an elite competitive pathway, from our academy teams through the professional game,” said Todd Durbin, MLS EVP of Competition & Player Relations in a league statement. “As we look ahead to the 2026 FIFA MLS World Cup here in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, now more than ever it is incumbent on us to establish a competition that sets a new standard for elite youth play and allows athletes to achieve their full potential.”
“We are seeing significant contribution to the quality of play in MLS from homegrown talent,” said Jeff Agoos, MLS Senior VP of Competition, Operations, and Medical Administration. “As we currently have 2,500 elite players and 250 top youth coaches in our academies, MLS is uniquely positioned to provide a new and enhanced platform that will include high quality coaching, professionalized environments and enhanced player identification.”
The competition will include league season matches and both regional and national tournaments with international teams. It will also expand coaching education and improve the approach to player identification to ensure top players have the opportunity to participate in a high-level development environment.
“Participating in high quality, competitive matches on a consistent basis is essential to the development of our young players,” said Fred Lipka, VP and Technical Director of MLS Player Development. “Launching this new competition will allow us to consistently challenge players, staffs and teams, optimizing the potential of every player on the field.”
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 16, 2020 0:02:36 GMT -5
The end of DA could be a major step forward for the creation of academies for all MLS/USL clubs.
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Post by infoguy on Apr 16, 2020 6:41:35 GMT -5
So although ECNL is going to absorb a lot of teams, MLS teams would attract the top youth players? USL clubs (as opposed to MLS teams that also field USL teams) don’t seem to have youth teams?
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Apr 16, 2020 7:13:58 GMT -5
As of about this time last year, across the USL, there were about 32 teams with Youth Academies(think Tampa Bay Rowdies)...
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Post by GameOfThrow-ins on Apr 16, 2020 7:35:29 GMT -5
What non-mls club in their right mind would agree to this? Will be VERY expensive for parents with huge travel distances, few games, and second-class citizen status. On top of that, most MLS clubs are either hemorrhaging cash or have little cash laying around to make horrible “Investments” in a bunch of teams with infinitesimal chances of seeing ROI. MLS could drop lower age groups and offset some of the bad money spent for the rest by increasing pay programs, RDS, & camps. ECNL is the smart play.
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Post by footyfan on Apr 16, 2020 7:45:12 GMT -5
So although ECNL is going to absorb a lot of teams, MLS teams would attract the top youth players? USL clubs (as opposed to MLS teams that also field USL teams) don’t seem to have youth teams? This post touches on USL teams. Some USL clubs top teams where DA, Some ECNL, Some NPL/EDP/USYS NL. Some were just starting to tie in to their local youth market. Should be interesting to see what happens Examples: Tampa Bay Rowdies, Tormenta both have youth clubs. TB's top teams were DA, Tormenta's are NPL. gasoccerforum.freeforums.net/thread/3805/usl-academy-league |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 16, 2020 8:06:47 GMT -5
I'm not sure how many USL clubs survive after this -- I think most struggle as is. If they do survive, not sure how viable an academy system would be either, very very few can offer fully funded academies - Tormenta, San Antonio and maybe a few others.
Right now -- Most top boys clubs will jump to ecnl, NCFC showed that-- they need a guaranteed known place for their top teams to play, the MLS thing is an unknown commodity -- not worth the risk right now for non-mls clubs. It's unknown from the sense - whose in it, how many teams, how many age groups, what is the schedule expectation, travel costs.
My guess is in the future some might make a jump to the league or try to complement ecnl with "something" else, but for right now -- the top boys clubs are headed to ecnl. the 10 month platform will and is the pitch.
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Post by footyfan on Apr 16, 2020 11:03:12 GMT -5
I'm not sure how many USL clubs survive after this -- I think most struggle as is. If they do survive, not sure how viable an academy system would be either, very very few can offer fully funded academies - Tormenta, San Antonio and maybe a few others. Right now -- Most top boys clubs will jump to ecnl, NCFC showed that-- they need a guaranteed known place for their top teams to play, the MLS thing is an unknown commodity -- not worth the risk right now for non-mls clubs. It's unknown from the sense - whose in it, how many teams, how many age groups, what is the schedule expectation, travel costs. My guess is in the future some might make a jump to the league or try to complement ecnl with "something" else, but for right now -- the top boys clubs are headed to ecnl. the 10 month platform will and is the pitch. Good notes on a Q&A this week with Jake Edward's of USL in which he talks about continued expansion, USL Academy, Pro/Rel and some other stuff: |
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Post by atv on Apr 16, 2020 11:22:07 GMT -5
Looks like MLS Academies will be focusing on 2 age groups, U15 and U17 but possibly regionally with U19s.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 16, 2020 13:32:21 GMT -5
yea, that is what is alluded to here also: www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/85429/mlss-todd-durbin-on-launching-new-development-lea.htmlSA: Who will be the age groups of the league? TODD DURBIN: "That is an issue we are still trying to finalize, to be perfectly candid with you. What I think is reasonable to say is that we're going to be participating in two age groups, the most likely being the U-17s and U-15s, but we're also considering whether to also participate regionally with the U-19s as well. A lot of that at some level will become a function of how the geography lays out and the ability to move and travel, which I think will have an impact on the total number of teams. Our current thinking and current plan is we have competition and programming for those three age groups." |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 16, 2020 14:02:43 GMT -5
So the million dollar question:
Do MLS teams that have them drop <u15 Teams.
SCCL will probably remain the top u12 spot.
ECNL starts at u13
What do MLS teams do with their 13s/14s and 16s....
I can't fathom ecnl allowing just a club to enter with 13s and 14s and 16s for example.
If I'm calling the shots --which i'm not, I wouldn't even bother with anything less 15. Our local clubs are doing a fine job pushing kids forwards.
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Post by socceristhebest on Apr 16, 2020 15:00:36 GMT -5
So the million dollar question: Do MLS teams that have them drop <u15 Teams. SCCL will probably remain the top u12 spot. ECNL starts at u13 What do MLS teams do with their 13s/14s and 16s.... I can't fathom ecnl allowing just a club to enter with 13s and 14s and 16s for example. If I'm calling the shots --which i'm not, I wouldn't even bother with anything less 15. Our local clubs are doing a fine job pushing kids forwards. I think mls academies will slip into obscurity and off the radar -- now that local clubs won't be playing them, most won't even pay attention to their league/standings/games. Local academies for the most part enjoy going to atlanta united's training facility for games etc. Not anymore - my family for example probably will never have a reason to step foot on the training grounds. Similar to DA back in the day when it was just GA united and Concorde -- most people didn't even know what DA was, nor did it trully impact their soccer pathway. It was kind of off the beat and path a bit. Only about ~40 kids in an agegroup across the city even were impacted at all. Clubs didn't promote the DA teams at all, nor did they encourage young teams to watch them play or train. It was like some secret society that they kept quiet. Maybe concorde was different, but GA United was very isolated and the directors didn't want their members to really know how much time they spent on GA United. Kids now pay attention to because they play them and know the kids well -- the more distance they develop the more they will slip off everyone's radar. |
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Post by krazykickers on Apr 16, 2020 15:27:43 GMT -5
I'm not sure how many USL clubs survive after this -- I think most struggle as is. If they do survive, not sure how viable an academy system would be either, very very few can offer fully funded academies - Tormenta, San Antonio and maybe a few others. Right now -- Most top boys clubs will jump to ecnl, NCFC showed that-- they need a guaranteed known place for their top teams to play, the MLS thing is an unknown commodity -- not worth the risk right now for non-mls clubs. It's unknown from the sense - whose in it, how many teams, how many age groups, what is the schedule expectation, travel costs. My guess is in the future some might make a jump to the league or try to complement ecnl with "something" else, but for right now -- the top boys clubs are headed to ecnl. the 10 month platform will and is the pitch. Yes, NCFC had to hurry to announce the "jump to ECNL" (even though NCFC had boys ecnl the last two years) in order to 1. keep the talent and/or 2. save face I did think there would be a NCFC USL team but with their quick announcement about 2 teams per age group in ECNL, I guess no USL. They made it a point to say those 2 teams are their TOP teams. Edited to add: the NCFC USL men's team attendance was miniscule. At best there may be 200 fans at a game. Yes, the ticket sales say something entirely different but no fans were in the stands. |
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Post by footyfan on Apr 16, 2020 16:41:53 GMT -5
I'm not sure how many USL clubs survive after this -- I think most struggle as is. If they do survive, not sure how viable an academy system would be either, very very few can offer fully funded academies - Tormenta, San Antonio and maybe a few others. Right now -- Most top boys clubs will jump to ecnl, NCFC showed that-- they need a guaranteed known place for their top teams to play, the MLS thing is an unknown commodity -- not worth the risk right now for non-mls clubs. It's unknown from the sense - whose in it, how many teams, how many age groups, what is the schedule expectation, travel costs. My guess is in the future some might make a jump to the league or try to complement ecnl with "something" else, but for right now -- the top boys clubs are headed to ecnl. the 10 month platform will and is the pitch. Yes, NCFC had to hurry to announce the "jump to ECNL" (even though NCFC had boys ecnl the last two years) in order to 1. keep the talent and/or 2. save face I did think there would be a NCFC USL team but with their quick announcement about 2 teams per age group in ECNL, I guess no USL. They made it a point to say those 2 teams are their TOP teams. Edited to add: the NCFC USL men's team attendance was miniscule. At best there may be 200 fans at a game. Yes, the ticket sales say something entirely different but no fans were in the stands. Ticket sales are what count when you are talking about survival. They averaged 4,000 in 2019 and 4,700 in 2018. And baseline franchise fees for a USL Championship spot are $10M. What on earth are you opining about here? That they will leave USL? |
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Post by krazykickers on Apr 16, 2020 17:13:56 GMT -5
Yes, NCFC had to hurry to announce the "jump to ECNL" (even though NCFC had boys ecnl the last two years) in order to 1. keep the talent and/or 2. save face I did think there would be a NCFC USL team but with their quick announcement about 2 teams per age group in ECNL, I guess no USL. They made it a point to say those 2 teams are their TOP teams. Edited to add: the NCFC USL men's team attendance was miniscule. At best there may be 200 fans at a game. Yes, the ticket sales say something entirely different but no fans were in the stands. Ticket sales are what count when you are talking about survival. They averaged 4,000 in 2019 and 4,700 in 2018. And baseline franchise fees for a USL Championship spot are $10M. What on earth are you opining about here? That they will leave USL? Nope, this thread was talking about youth MLS and USL leagues to which I replied that NCFC has already announced they will focus on ECNL with no mention of any youth USL team. My last sentence was just to point out that the men's team at NCFC has become more and more and more of an afterthought in the area. |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 16, 2020 18:35:30 GMT -5
NCFC I believe had some group of kids competing in an additional usl league in the fall. Was more of a supplemental league I believe similar to mls generation adidas cup
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Post by footyfan on Apr 16, 2020 18:43:14 GMT -5
NCFC I believe had some group of kids competing in an additional usl league in the fall. Was more of a supplemental league I believe similar to mls generation adidas cup It was the USL Academy cup and some friendlies. Likely NCFC will be in the USL Academy league and ECNL. USL Academy may be an adjunct league for this upcoming year(like it was this year) and then we'll see what happens. |
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Post by hateallthesechanges on Apr 17, 2020 10:38:31 GMT -5
Am I missing something? I thought one of the main reasons cited for MLS wanting to pull out of DA in recent years was the lack of meaningful competition, wanting more international travel... So now they are looking to add USL teams (big unknown) and the leftover DA clubs that ECNL isn't willing to add??? I know there were other control issues too but seems that will water down their new ultra competitive league.
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Post by footyfan on Apr 17, 2020 17:37:52 GMT -5
Am I missing something? I thought one of the main reasons cited for MLS wanting to pull out of DA in recent years was the lack of meaningful competition, wanting more international travel... So now they are looking to add USL teams (big unknown) and the leftover DA clubs that ECNL isn't willing to add??? I know there were other control issues too but seems that will water down their new ultra competitive league. Some USL Academies were DA |
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