It’s probably just the area I live in then. In Northern California there are 5 DA teams close together, 6 if you want to include Sacramento Republic. Players move in and out of the Quake’s academy all the time even though the Quake’s are not charging the fees the other DAs do. I know at least some of the players the Quakes would like to have back. I also know players that have played on the Quake’s non DA teams and have been hoping to be selected to play for the DA squad. They could properly go play against the Quakes on another DA team if they wanted, but they would rather hold out on the dream of playing for SJ.
Interesting. So only SJ has a free academy up there? In N. Texas FCD, Dallas Texans and Solar are free. There's another one but I can't remember if they are free.
DT and Solar are not free. (typically costs as much as a regular club team with possibly some small discounts) FCD is only free DA yet even that is not entirely accurate. For trips out of the country with FCD DA the players pick up the tab....for example trips to Mexico for tournaments are the responsibility of the player. Can be up over $1,000 a year. I am not aware of any other boys DA clubs in NTX than the three mentioned.
Really, sure thought they at least used to be. Now you're making me wonder what other things I thought were true are wrong. I won't get any work done while contemplating everything the rest of the day.
Last I heard, the Dallas market was laid out as follows: FCD - Free (pay for international tournaments) Dallas Texans - Free at U15 and above, smaller fee than usual for U12-U14 Solar - all age groups pay
As someone that is very familiar with the DT above U15 DA I can tell you its not free. No reason for non MLS teams to make DA free so it is what it is.
Thanks for the info. I thought Dallas Texans were one of the first non-MLS clubs to not charge player dues. I guess the landscape has changed over the years where they may be struggling to generate the revenue from their other teams to take care of the DA players.
I have the same memory of them being free at academy level so maybe they had some sponsorship money that went away. Wonder how much money they could have made over the years with solidarity payments? Dempsey, Omar Gonzalez etc.
The landscape has changed quite a bit in Dallas. The Dallas Texans were probably the best club in the country no more than 8-10 years ago. FC Dallas came in a steadily picked off the younger age groups by creating new teams starting at the U7 level. Personally, I think the Texans have struggled to stay with the times and haven't changed their model to keep up with the market. There has been a huge decrease in the number of teams in the Texans organization across the entire club, which means less revenue. My guess would be this is the reason they are now charging for DA. I know they had a great deal with Nike but like many things, when the membership decreases at the rate it has at the Dallas Texans, its difficult to negotiate the same type of sponsorship deal. If they lost money on the Nike side, combined with significantly decreased membership, I guess this all makes sense. As for solidarity payments, I think they are part of the same lawsuit with Crossfire (Yedlin) and Sockers (Bradley) with hopes that it gets resolved. You are right, they have produced some great players through the years. Dempsey, Gonzalez, Nguyen, Garza, Alejandro Moreno, Pomykal, just to name a few. In the end, I guess it really is a business and like most businesses, you either adapt or die.
If I was a Texans aficionado, I'd wonder how they've fallen behind Solar................... At the U17 level right now, Dallas Texas are one of the worst academies (according to win/loss record anyway) in the entire country. In their U17 conference FCD and Solar are in first and second place. So the notion that FCD has hoovered up all of the talent and there's none left for the Texans isn't accurate. Solar seems to be doing just fine. FCD U17s just demolish people, have no losses, and only one draw all season. The draw was against..................Solar. [I'd go so far as saying that Solar is a sneaky pick to win the U17 DA title this year. The 2019 version of that Houston Texans championship team.] There are people who know this story better than me, but part of the issue is that the Texans chose to be the "enemy" of FCD instead of choosing to be part of the same community. A club with leadership still living in 2003 when they were the big dogs, and not accepting the new world order. They even went so far as to encourage their players to not attend FCD games at one point. I'm sure the FCD youth brass aren't shedding a tear for the Dallas Texans.
I am no aficionado but I am quite familiar with the Dallas scene. I think you have it spot on in your post. However, you see teams sneak in at certain age groups (Solar U17) every once in awhile. Overall, I think the Dallas Texans still have more talent in their boys program than Solar. That said, Solar has added a ton of teams in the younger age groups that will eventually funnel into the DA ages, so that paradigm could shift toward Solar in the near future. Solar has always had a string 02 group that has managed to stay together. Now, the real telling story is on the girls side, even though I won't spend much time on that in this thread. Dallas Texans were easily the most accomplished girls club as recent at 6/7 years ago. Now they have been completely taken over by both Solar and FCD and are a complete disaster in every age group except maybe one. I agree with your sentiment in the fact that the club leadership has refused to change with the times and has fought FCD every step of the way. We all know how big some of the egos are in youth soccer and unfortunately, the Dallas Texans leadership has essentially cut off their nose to spite their face. It's actually a little sad to see how quickly they have fallen as they were top dog on both boys and girls side for many years. If they haven't already, they will soon enter survival mode instead of trying to compete with the other big clubs. One last thought. I have seen the Solar U17 team play a number of times and I don't think they will get anywhere close to winning a DA championship. That said, you never know.
Maybe that was an exaggeration. All I know is they're one team that played FCD really tough. By the way, when it comes to the girls Solar is easily one of the best in the country. I saw a recent column indicating that Solar had the most girls/USWNT callups of any youth club in the country over the course of 2018.
FCD's model in becoming a little more clear as the season moves on. It seems like they start the season with most players in their own age group, show their overall superiority until the winter break and then place players based on talent the second half of the season. I think you will probably see their results dip over the next few months with younger players moving up and the USL side taking some of the top talent in the Academy. I think it is a sure bet that they will take Dallas Cup very seriously and try to win trophies in every age group they can. What will be interesting to see is how they treat the DA Playoffs. Will they bring USL kids back into the mix and shuffle players back down or will they keep pressing on with their second half of the year set up.
After having kids play in the DA for multiple years at all three NTX DA club, FCD, Solar and DT, the main and really only difference in the three is the money and facilities of FCD that DT and Solar can't compete with. FCD is funded to provide free training 5 days a week for their DA team as you would expect from an MLS club. That is the only difference in these clubs. With the money, FCD has become the 800 pound gorilla because people like free. The coaching at all three clubs is the same level with some years being better in terms of the player pool at the two non-mls clubs. FCD, due to its funding and MLS tag, have the benefit of getting kids from all over the country so they can fill in players in the down years while it is harder for the other two to do so. Having said that, the 04 year at FCD does not seem particularly strong so I expect they will do some heavy recruiting before next year. As it stands right not, DT still has the mark for producing the most influential pro players from the NTX area in Clint Dempsey, Gonzalez and Nygyen. With their resources, FCD should produce some higher level pros and waiting to see if it happens. NTX is a great place for youth soccer due to all 3 of these clubs and will continue to be a hotbed for youth.
So ... whatever happened to Andromeda? When the DA kicked off they were the fourth club. I can see I'm behind the times.
Andromeda lost their DA spot a few years back and the entire club folded shortly thereafter as far as I know.
I'm beginning to see why MLS clubs might want to only play each other. they are wiping out their local competition.
That change is going to come, likely soon. I do wonder if the non-MLS teams will still have avenues to play the MLS DAs. Friendlies and scrimmages of course, but perhaps there will be specific tournaments or showcases regionally that will allow them to compete against each other. Maybe USL teams will see an opportunity and form a division 2 type of DA league with the current non-MLS DAs. Sac Republic already has a DA team and I can see the Reno area supporting a pay to play academy affiliated with Reno 1868.
Didn't Andromeda merge with Solar in 2016? Of course when I lived in DFW, it was Solar that was near collapse. Their chairman was indicted for embezzling almost a million dollars from the club. Pay for play in the case of Solar went right into their director's pockets. A lot of hard work has been done by some really motivated folks to turn Solar back around. I pull for them.............unless they're playing FCD.
Inter Miami and Austin FC will join the Development Academy for the 2019-20 season. Both will be fully funded; Inter Miami adds five age groups while Austin will just be U14.— Travis Clark (@travismclark) March 7, 2019
By all indications, Miami is going to be a top 5 franchise the second they step foot in MLS. I'm expecting an LAFC with global DPs, and an academy with a shorter startup time. This does nothing other than confirm that they're on top of their stuff.
http://www.ussoccerda.com/20190307-NEWS-DA-Four-New-Clubs-to-Join-Boys-DA-for-201920-Season Other new clubs are RSL-AZ and SC del Sol, both from the Phoenix area and both coming in at the U13 and U14 levels. Existing clubs adding U19 teams: Cedar Stars Academy - Bergen Met Oval New York Soccer Club Existing clubs adding U17 teams: LA Galaxy San Diego LAFC Minnesota United San Antonio FC Tampa Bay Rowdies Plus some more at the younger levels.
According to @svertelney @MNUFC and @dcunited are the only two teams in MLS charging their academy players. Why?According to D.C. United Is One of Only Two MLS Teams that Charges for its Academy https://t.co/5lRpYjmETn— Brian Quarstad (@IMSoccerNews) March 7, 2019 D.C. United Is One of Only Two MLS Teams that Charges for its Academy