Club Leon FC

that type of success isn't allowed in the US.

the US way is local team who has been part of the community folds because billionaire NFL owner gets a tax write off to purchase into a ponzi scheme.
NFL owner hires buddies to run both their nfl and soccer team in the ground. Yes the billionaire owner does wonders for the community, but at the same destroys any chance to have a true based community soccer team.

I had high hopes, especially being in contact with many of the original staff -- sorry, i'll stop now. Let me go back to twitter and complain more, since that is what twitter is for....

The Martinez have been very successful at running their soccer clubs, Martinez Sr runs Pachuca and Martinez Jr runs Leon.

Martinez Sr. developed a whole infrastructure around Pachuca Club, they grow from a small club to winning the Copa Sudamericana, from there they exploded, built the Soccer University, they bought teams in Spain (2nd division), South America (Chile and Uruguay) and in Mexico (Leon and recently a 2nd division team), that is how the funnel in and out top talent.

They have a dark side too (bribes and local government deals), but I think at this moment they are the best Mexican soccer clubs regarding developing young talent (like Chucky Lozano). Their business model is recruiting or develop soccer players at low cost, and then selling those for a good profit, for example this week they made around $20 million just for selling 3 Pachuca players.

Also, I think the success of Leon this season is due Coach Larcamon, their teams are very dynamic, they maintain high pressure, and are fun to watch. Larcamon managed to drive his preview soccer club to playoffs for 3 seasons in a row, that soccer club has a fraction of Leon budget, so I expect that he will do great at Leon. It would not be a surprise if Larcamon ends up managing Mexico National team in the near future.