Interesting ... apparently more details to come today, as there's really nothing listed yet. Loaned players maybe?. From this link...
Interseting. I wonder if this will coincide with MLS announcing a partnership with USL. Great news none the less. I'm assuming this relationship will include loaning players which would be a good step in player development for reserves who aren't seeing enough minutes. The reserve league as is just isn't good enough. Loaning players to the USL would be a major step in the right direction.
If this turns out to be the partnership between MLS and USL, I think it is a big step. It will probably take a few years to develop into something meanful, so I hope they give it the time it needs. There are 13 teams in USL-Pro this year, including 2 expansion teams (Phoenix and Tampa Bay) and one Carribean team (Antigua). Twelve MLS teams will have to share. I look forward to hearing more details on how this is going to work.
It would be nice if the USL clubs were a little closer to their MLS partner; however, I guess that's just not reasonable given the structure of both leagues. It would be nice if players could go between both clubs fairly easily, and if fans of MLS teams could occassionally catch a game or two of their USL partner.
I would have assumed that the Revs' USLPRO affiliate would have at least been in New England (meaning, since there aren't any USLPRO teams in NE, I would have expected them to be one of the clubs that would create their own separate entity team to compete in the league).
Don't the Revs have an academy affiliate in Western New York? I think that provides some link to Rochester. Would academy players be eligible to play for the Rhinos without losing college eligibility? I'm guessing not, but one could dream.
Yeah, I was really hoping there would be a Revs USL team out of this deal (playing on a Boston collegiate field as a test for their viability in the city), but oh well. Question - if the 2nd round/Supplemental picks, for example, immediately get loaned out to the Rhinos for the full season, do they count against our roster spots?
I wonder how the USL clubs feel about this. These clubs have been independent for years and have established their own means of acquiring players, so how will they feel about bringining in players that aren't good enough to play for MLS clubs? Will they be pressured into playing these MLS rejects or youngsters even if these guys may not be good enough to start for a USL club?
Nobody is putting a gun to their head and forcing USL to make this agreement with MLS. And also, it is likely that this affiliation is the result of a negotiation between the Revs and Rochester and these very questions have been hashed out already. We'll need to wait until the details to see what the framework is. I suspect that any USL team that doesn't want to affiliate with an MLS club isn't being forced to do so.
and from mlsoccer.com: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/01/23/mls-usl-pro-reach-deal-restructured-reserve-league
So this means the Revs will send at least 4 players on a long term loan to Rochester, but will not have their own reserve team?
That's what it sounds like. I'll be the first to say it. I don't like it. If we had our own USL reserve team closer to home, that would be better. We could have our academy kids train (and potentially play for) the reserve side. Heaps would be closer to the reserves. The affiliation with Rochester just seems like a way to save money.
That's not my interpretation at all. It sounds like the MLS reserve league will continue to exist, and MLS reserve teams will play a home and away series against a select USL Pro team each year (these games will count towards the standings of both USL Pro and MLS Reserve League). In addition to all of these things, teams may also have an affiliation with one USL Pro team, enabling at least four players to go out on long-term loans. I could be wrong, but that's how I read it. EDIT: Ignore this post, I should have finished reading the entire article first...
This is my first impression as well, though most soccer writers seem to think this is a great idea. Personally I think having MLS staff coaching/training young talents is a better idea than USL-Pro staff, at least until there is more infrastructure.
Unfortunately it is an either/or thing. From mlssoccer.com article: So an affiliation pretty much is a way to save money from fielding a full reserve team. Which frankly sounds like a downgrade to me.
Yeah, I had to edit my post. I didn't read the entire article before posting. I actually think this is a pretty disappointing development from a Revs perspective.
I think we should wait for all the details before we rail on the FO. KC is affiliating with Orlando, and they're a well run team. If we can send 5 or 6 players on loan AND there's some sort of exchange philosophies or ideas between the coaching staffs AND there's a way to get academy players PT at a higher level, then I might be in favor. We need a deep connection between these organizations as well as Revolution Empire (or whatever they're called) for this to really work.
That was my initial reaction, too (now we know why they haven't hired a reserve team coach yet). But the more I think about it, it might not be so bad. Looking at the players that played somewhat regularly for the reserves last year, only Barnes, Fagundez and Shuttleworth parlayed that into first team minutes. Most of the others (Roach, Purdie, Lozano, Cardenas, Brettschneider, White, Lechner) are gone. The leader in minutes was Polak. Wouldn't he have been better served playing 24 games for the USL instead of 10 for the reserves?
Agreed. I think younger players need more games. Someone told me that this will end up with the reserve teams incorporating into USL-Pro in the coming seasons(similar to Bundesliga). That would be ideal. I'd rather our players were still being coach by Rev staff(as there's much bigger incentive to develop our own), but I suppose given the option of one or the other, playing minutes are more important. Hopefully this is just the first step.
I probably should have read some things first before I posted in the PDL thread. Anyway, there has been some talk around Ludlow that the Pioneers and Revs may have some partnership coming up this year.
Since it's not clear exactly what the proposed relationship would entail it is hard to judge the Revs decision to join the Rhinos. The team in Rochester has been around for a long time and has a very professional infrastructure that could benefit some younger players with no real hopes of first team time in Foxboro. The limited "reserve league" wasn't really meeting these player's needs anyways. Ideally, the Revs would enter their own stand alone squad based in an small stadium urban setting to build up cache in that area. They would also enter this team into USL Pro and it would function very much like the Bundesliga as stated above. Perhaps this was a bit too ambititous to hope for and it really hasn't said if the MLS is going to completely replace their Reserve league. I would love for a way to bring in other local clubs and get Revs back-end-roster talent on those teams. I guess, in closing, this just seems like a let off.