Gum in the works here is that in order to maintain college eligibility via NCAA rules does not allow for a HG system where MLS retain transfer fee rights to their academy players per FIFA rulings. Unless they sign an MLS contract. That's why European teams can sign away our top talent in HG without compensating MLS. Look at Will Trapp right now deciding between between Crew/MLS contract and several options in Europe.
It be interesting if NFL and NBA were allowed to sign High School but they could only be paid $30,000 or nothing like a European Academy if they would still go pro over college
True although I remember reading an article how Barca was one of the worst la liga academy in producing la liga players and at the time Espanyol had twice as many academy players playing in la liga than Barca did and the argument was Espanyol created better every day players than Barca did.
The "market rate" is probably around $100K-$150K for your average McDonald's All-Americans, with some LeBron types fetching mega-millions. But this is one of the reasons the NBA went with the D-League format while the MLB and the NHL have long had dual minor league + college options. This doesn't work quite the same way in Europe because the high education is free while the admission standards are much stricter.
Well I take $100-$150K to sit on the bench any day my bachelor and graduate degree hasn't got me close to there yet
You are talking about the NBA? The minimum rookie salary for roster guys is $473,000 this year. D-League salaries are WORSE than the minimum salary in MLS. Yes worse! They range from $12,500 to $25,000
The D-League is largely a failure and an afterthought unless someone desperately wants a chance to get in the league or a NBA team is committed to actually use it give players playing time like Houston has done recently. There is talent there, but those players would be much better off in Europe. The NBA is ********ing things up some with their pay structure and age/experience requirements. They're missing on better international players because those guys are making more immediately in Europe and other places and they won't get Americans who have established themselves in Europe because those guys aren't taking a pay cut. I'm still somewhat surprised more high school kids don't go straight to Europe although there bus trips in interesting areas are a step down from nice flights for high school basketball.
If your going to continue to compare MLS to these other sports and pay etc. You will have to take on the Socio- Economic class of where these players come from. I have no intention of jumping into that hole, but that would point to MLB and NHL models as closer matches to MLS for developing talent.
I agree. MLS has taken a slow and steady approach to building academies, reserves and such. But even that approach is light years ahead of the NBA approach. They already have such small roster size, one would think it would behoove them to invest in D-League as a transitional point for talent that has the upside, but not quite there. Well, that is the concept minus the investment. The more players drafted from Europe each year . . . the more likely these guys will head to Europe and bypass the NBA completely unless they are guaranteed a contract. Bringing it back to MLS and GA, this is what the league is trying to avoid WITH the condition they cannot simply spread boatloads of cash around. At least with GA contracts (whether they all work out or not) they can offer competitive salaries to the top handful of prospects. Of course the elite that might be worthy of 500k plus are still going overseas but how many of those do we have at age 18-19 in the US system?
The age limit isn't that bad for the NBA. You need to be one year removed from high school. That doesn't apply to international players though. The Euro based NBA prospects aren't playing in high school anyway, they're in sports academies playing for their club teams, and then come over when 19 or 20. The other thing which the NBA allows which we don't have in MLS which is common, is to draft the rights to a young Euro prospect at 18, then let him continue playing for his club team for a couple years before bringing him over. A guy like Rubio was drafted by Minn at 18, but then stayed at Barcelona for two years playing, and the Minn coaches would go over there and tell him what to concentrate on. The reason college works so well for basketball development and why it won't for soccer is that D1 college basketball, especially the top 25 programs are better than most Euro leagues still. The Spanish ACB league, where Rubio, the Gasol brothers and Rudy Fernandez/Navaro came from is better than most college programs, but D1 basketball here is still as good or better than many teams outside of Spain, the upper half of France and a few clubs in Serbia/Russia. Basically, for college soccer to do the same here it would have to be on par with the Ered at the least, and most likely above that, which in reality MLS itself won't reach that level for a decade or more at the minimum. If you were to look at basketball and rank the league like we do soccer, the top college conferences here would be on par with the top 4 league talk in soccer. That's why the D-League is a failure, because college basketball is already a top 4-5 league in the world. And yet the D-League still helps for rookies who aren't playing or guys coming back from injury. But the age limits don't hurt the NBA that much. Top high school prospects simply go to college for a year, take 4 easy classes per semester and play in the equivalent of a top 4-5 league world wide. It wouldn't make sense to go to Europe over Duke, Kentucky, NC, Syracuse, UCLA, USC, Kansas among many others as they're on par with the best clubs in Europe. Then you factor in Europe plays a completely different style of basketball than the NBA, and the better college teams run systems which better prepare you for the NBA, and it makes complete sense to go to college. Only problem is if you're too stupid to qualify academically for college like Brandon Jennings, who then went to Italy for a year. The other aspect is Euro teams don't want to develop Americans who'll return to the NBA in a year or two. They only want players committed for the long haul, unless you're an outright NBA star like Deron Williams who immediately boosts interest and ticket sales, as well as making the team more competitive when going to Istanbul for 6 months. But that's why so few rumors even popped up during the lockout of NBA stars signing in Europe, as Euro clubs weren't willing to do short term deals. China is more open to that. Europe is not in the business of developing college aged Americans for the NBA. Not at all. That isn't much of an option. Plus, you''ll be on the bench until you can help your Euro club win playing their style which is different. Brandon Jennings wasn't even a starter during his time in Italy. Many asked well who the hell was starting in front on him? Welcome to Europe. They do it differently, and individual talent doesn't mean as much, nor does development. It's all about can you help me win now. But the reason college works so well for basketball and football players is that college football is the second best league(s) worldwide for American football, and college basketball is mostly on par with what would be a top 4 league world wide for basketball. For soccer here it'll have to come from an improved pro system and academy system. Just look at Europe catching up to us basketball wise, or I should say closing the gap and developing better players. They don't do it through the Euro university system, that'd be retarded. They do it the same way it works with soccer, by having an academy system and devoting time to basketball year round. Every Euro in the NBA came through an academy system and were pro's as teens. Rubio was a pro at 14. Tony Parker played in a sports academy at a young age. Stojakovic, Sabonis, Divas, Turkoglu, Dirk, Pekovic, etc, were all in pro setups or full time sports academies at a young age, and that's why they're catching up along with improved coaching. (this isn't all directed at you, btw, just rambling)
Your assumption is that MLS soccer provides greater resources than a Division 1 College and although I know they put some money into it I haven't seen any great resources put towards it so I might trust the development of a player who plays with Maryland under a 20 year experience coach and Reading United in the PDL then a MLS Academy At least I know in the college/pdl the player has a chance to play more competitive games where they are the focal point than in the MLS. Its almost a assumption that Walker Zimmerman is going to be GA this upcoming draft and what still confuses me is why now if he was at risk of a European club taking him why didn't he go last season and unless he kills it in a couple US U-20 games next summer I can't imagine anyone in the football world knows who he is now or would a year or two from now. Unless he's worth it because you think a 19 year old CB can help you win games this upcoming MLS season. Its funny I post player bio's for college kids by name on my blog and twitter account although not until I post "potential GA" or "MLS Draft Prospect" by their name very few people go to the page. (the difference is about 50/1) So my guess is no one knows who these guys are until the media starts talking about them. Again I'm finding this whole GA thing an expensive hype machine without any long term benefit so lets hope for the MLS sake Adidas is taking up the costs.