Rumor: Potential MLS-run U-19 league

I really hate this idea. Player's are going to hate it. If you're going to fly a 18 year old kid around the country every weekend, then do it in one of the USLs. This is going to push tons of kids away from MLS academies.

If you're a kid who knows he's going to college, why would you ever want this much travel during high school?

 

Why would they be flying every weekend? There’d be no home games? There’s already some MLS DA’s that do lots of traveling like RSL, Colorado, SKC, etc.

I imagine it would be regionalized. Maybe a Western, Central, and Eastern divisions. Or the same Western and Eastern Conference set up as in MLS.

 

I see your point but this would serve to only intensify the level of competition on these teams and up the stakes even more. Meaning, kids that really want to play in college probably shouldn't play on these teams. If you look at some MLS DA rosters now, a lot of these kids have no intention of ever playing in college. They are all in on the pro soccer experience. For good or bad this seems more common.

The non-MLS da teams could still be around and those would be where the college coaches would shift their focus, ( that and overseas). As it stands right now, I think the top 30 or so players from year ago on TDS all signed some pro deal and didn't go to college, ( I could be wrong on that number but it was a large number).

It would make the U19 DA just another step on the way to the first team. Maybe these kids could then get paid as well.

 

Yup. I would really be against this idea if it was all age groups. However, this is just the U19 age group.

Amateur hour is over.

There's a national U20 league in Mexico, right? So this would be the same concept. In fact, I think what happens in Mexico is that the U20 clubs face off in the same weekend as the Liga MX clubs. Sometimes in double-headers at the stadium, etc. Therefore the U20s just travel with the first team to their away matches. The MLS U19 divisions will be probably just be structured the same way that the MLS conferences are already set up. East and West.

As it is, we have not-for-profit non-MLS academies competing against MLS academies that can spend millions (as much money as they want) on their academies. FC Dallas versus Dallas Texans is really apples versus oranges in 2018, and that gap is only going to increase. Particularly if some of the other proposed changes come to fruition. For instance, the elimination of homegrown territories for MLS clubs will have a dramatic impact on how they operate. They'll be recruiting machines, and they'll be building dormitories & fully fledged residential academies before we know it. Even bringing in foreign youngsters as much as they can in accordance with FIFA regulations.

I actually don't see this as changing a whole hell of a lot. I mean, these MLS academy kids are already travelling a lot.

Heck, a USSF development academy with all of these remaining not-for-profit youth clubs teams is still great. And when the MLS clubs pull out, the league can be back-filled with other clubs. If FCD and Houston U19s leave the DA, you can replace them with FCD El Paso and Houston Dynamo RGV.

 

My knee jerk reaction to this is disapproval. I want to be careful that I'm not being biased, but I just don't see the need for a completely separate U19 league.

Who really benefits from this? Already, the top DA prospects are finding their way into USL or MLS by the time they are in the U19 age range. So the top prospects don't benefit.

What about the upper middle range players, for whom USL is going to be a reasonable outcome? Will they really benefit from a year of upheaval, going to a club with maybe a USL League One opportunity and then washing out of the sport? I doubt it. It's even worse for the next step down, for who college is going to be the best case scenario. It's not serving them either.

With the removal of homegrown restrictions, a move to a U19 MLS will benefit MLS clubs in that they can hoover up any kids that they want while being able to offer an opportunity that other clubs are unable to match. Most of these kids will not be pros but will still be required to sacrifice stability, family, and education for the dream.

If this comes to pass, you can kiss any chance of training compensation goodbye. Right now MLS teams are hurting due to players going abroad but if they have to pay compensation to each club they poach from, it would outweigh any potential gains from prospects moving overseas.

To me it's pretty obvious that this is a move that will only help MLS, decreasing real competition at the youth level and creating a walled garden and smaller programs simply won't be able to compete. If MLS DAs were at the top of every ranking, demolishing all non MLS competition I could maybe see the justification. That isn't happening. The whole thing just strikes me as a cynical power grab.

 

That's fair, but now they're traveling much more. You can probably count the MLS matchups that don't require planes on two hands. I guess I'm more travel averse being from New Jersey since anything over 2 hours is abnormal.

When I look at DA rosters, I don't see many pros. I see a lot of kids who will go to college. That's just the rate of attrition in effect. Look at the Red Bulls, for example. They'll likely have 1 guy from their academy in the '00 to '03 range who doesn't go to college, and that's good to very good academy. 1 homegrown a year is typically an elite rate for MLS teams.

 

I agree with you those kids should be looking at college but that is not what's being sold in some places. They are being sold the dream of pro soccer and the focus should be on getting that HG, and school is given a back seat.

In all fairness, there are some kids that simply don't want to go to college or don't have the aptitude and a HG is their one big chance. Missing HS in order to fly to a MLS DA U19 game won't bother them a bit.

This gets into another discussion about what is in the best interests of these kids but that is largely up to the parents and the player to decide.

 

This type of team would be for players that are on the road to professionalism. First of all, I suspect that the U-19 teams would be taking the same flights and playing the same games as the full team. They would be rubbing shoulders and training with the pros. Second, there wouldn't be a hard limit on the age. Players from the full team that didn't make the bench and recovering players would be involved. This would further enhance the relationship with the full team. Also, players that seem ready for an HGP could be trialed in this "pro-lite" environment.

 

I suspect that we have a Dallas-based bias on this, though. It should be no problem whatsoever for a big market team like FCD or LAG or NYCFC to fill a rull-time U19 team in a national league. But what about Portland and Columbus and soon-to-be-Nasheville? Well.......................that's why getting rid of the homegrown territories is also crucial in this scenario. Portland can fill in their gaps with players from California.

Short term there might some problems. We have to also think of the long-term here. I mean, Liga MX can do this. Each Liga MX has a U20 squad of aspiring professionals.

https://sub20.ligamx.net/cancha/tablas/tablaGeneralClasificacion/sp/11a60669876243

 

I heard about this at the Winter Showcase.

MLS has wanted to pull out of DA for a while; this is another compromise to keep MLS from pulling out altogether (the last compromise was this year's reduced schedule with blackout dates). MLS doesn't see the value in U19 DA schedule for their teams.

I think the concept would be that U19 teams play same schedule as the first team, like UEFA youth league.

 

Definitely. Although, my argument was for u21 or even u23 league. More, I’m 50/50 on whether this should be MLS specific or not; leaning towards not.

My main argument is that we need to figure out a way to address the 18-22 year old age problem, or what could be called the NCAA problem.

If I were dictator over American soccer; what I’d do:

#1 Renege on USL League 2. At this point, the “minor leagues” or “tier 2” for American soccer are only USL Championship and USL League 1. Which, to be honest, I’d just rename USL1 and USL2 to prevent confusion. For time sake, that’s all I say right now on the minor league.

#2 Structure a more coherent u21/u23 developmental league.
-Focus on teams in college towns.
-Push for all MLS teams to field a team...eventually
-The idea is academy players will graduate to the u21 team if they’re not quite ready for the reserves.
-Pull the best NPSL/PDL/League 2 teams.
-Expand in the major college areas without teams.
-Players are provided a tuition stipend as their payment.
-MLS teams can affiliate with teams outside their club and sign them.
-Much more regional. I’d say 8 conferences: Pacific, Atlantic, Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern, Heartland, Midwestern... playoff system with champion (&runner up?) from each conference play in 8/16 team bracket.

Model of Southern Conference at full expansion:
1. Atlanta United u21
2. Nashville u21
3. Orlando City u21
4. Miami u21
5. Tampa
6. Clemson
7. Athens
8. Columbia
9. Charleston
10. Chapel Hill
11. Greensboro
12. Winston-Salem
13. Knoxville
14. Birmingham
15. Tuscaloosa
16. Tallahassee
17. Gainesville
18. Oxford
19. Auburn
20. Baton Rouge

 

Good.

Will make it easier to showcase our better youth to Bund clubs.

 

It feels like this is going to happen sooner or later, but I worry about travel/burnout. The US is just so big, so even if you split the schedule into 2 or 3 regions, it's a ton of travel for these HS kids who have other academic responsibilities.

Germany has three regional U19 and U17 leagues, but it's half the size of Texas.

For the time being, I think most MLS clubs can mitigate the issues with the quality of competition by aggressively moving players up age groups. The best U19s should be playing in USL, which creates room for the better U17s to be challenged in the U19 league instead of cleaning up among their age cohort.

 

The travel really wouldn’t be that much more if it’s regionalized. The Southwest and Northwest divisions already play cross division matches. RSL plays in the Southwest Division, and SKC and Colorado already play a bunch of Texas teams.

No more missing school for the Winter Showcase or GA Cup.

Besides it might also be MLS telling these clubs they need a Galaxy, RSL, Philly, Vancouver set up with having their own school. Or something similar to what Dallas has set up with the Frisco school district.

I don’t think they should rush into this quite yet. Maybe when there’s 28 clubs.

 

Yup. Same was as Liga MX does it.........................

A team like FC Dallas can still schedule local games against the Texans, Solar, etc. if it wants to. They meet these teams in tournaments like the Dallas Cup anyway.

I mean, the kids at an academy like FCD are already making the kind of commitment that this U19 MLS schedule would require. They're playing in tournaments in Mexico and around the world. They're already making trips for the DA showcases, Gen Ad playoffs, various DA playoffs. Even the DA regular season games take them on road trips to Colorado, Kansas, and other exotic locales.

Maybe there are some academies like New England or Columbus that aren't doing that right now. I'm sorry guys, time to drag you into MLS 3.0! Its not 1997 anymore. If you don't have enough kids in the program who want to make this level of commitment, then get crackin' on your recruitment efforts like RSL has. Start a residential academy. Ya know...................at the U19 level academies can also bring in 18 year old foreign players to fill roster holes. LIke FCD did last year with their Ghanaian and Haitian players. I mean, we shouldn't have to drag some of these clubs into the 21st century. Enough with the amateur hour levels of investment and commitment.

If a kid isn't prepared to make that level of commitment, then there are non-MLS academies that he can play at. Or go play high school ball. For Pete's sake..........................

 

This program will be great for providing opportunities to young players from Central and South America.

 

A regionalized U19 league where MLS clubs schedule games against local squads to supplement their schedule sounds a whole lot like the existing U19s DA...

I guess I’m just skeptical that an incemental improvement in competition for ~25 MLS clubs is a net positive for that age group as a whole.

 

I think we're getting to the point where not-for-profit clubs are competing against MLS academies that spend millions on their clubs. It really is apples and oranges, and the gap is just going to expand and expand. These are two completely different types of organizations. FC Dallas versus Dallas Texans isn't a fair fight. And will become even less so as the years go by.

So I think in the short term, yes..........this might only provide incremental improvement at these clubs. Long-term this a vision of a professional U19 league in the same way that Mexico has a professional U20 League. Maybe we can even add the academies of the independent USL teams as well for some regionalization.

I can even see a scenario in which there's a competition similar to the UEFA Youth Champions League in North America between Liga MX, MLS, CSL, etc. U20 teams. That's a little way in the future, but should be happening.....................

This will also allow the non-MLS DA clubs to reorganize themselves in a manner that makes sense for them.

 

They already relaxed the schedules to allow MLS Academies more flexibility in scheduling more compelling competition.

There has been talk of breaking up the DA into two tiers. I guess this is a little more radical idea, but clubs like PDA and Texas and probably better competition than the Revs and Houston.

 

I agree with this 100%

This is a necessary step, that needs to be taken. MLS and its teams want to be seen as bigtime. Well, bigtime clubs and leagues around the World are doing this right now, and have been doing it for ever.

Force the MLS teams that are dragging their feet on academies, to catch up.

The best academies in MLS already demand their players travel as much, if not more than the senior sides. So why is this even an argument against this?
If constant travel around the Country, and occasional international trips are not something a U19 player can handle, then that player will not make it as a pro, and there's plenty of non-MLS academies that player can attend.

 

I like the idea in concept but am not sure it is the right time. The issue I see is that until the numbers (players) increase and the whole USL to MLS pathway gets strengthened and solidified I think that a U19 and USL squad would tend to duplicate each other. I think many right now believe that the better youth players should already be playing in USL. If MLS goes forward with USL II or whatever they are calling it, that is one step lower. The best MLS U19 should be at least at the USL II level.

When it gets to the point that USL II is too high of a level for enough U19 players that are also too good for the existing U19 competiton then it is probably time to go with an MLS U19 league. I feel that it will take a while for USL II to really get going.

Ideally, there would be a U19, USL II, USL I associated with each MLS team. (in addition to the lower age groups of course). I also agree that MLS can easily expand far past the 23 currently in the league which might simplify, somewhat, the logistics of a U19 league.

So how long? I have no idea! somewhere between 2 and 20 years.

 

There will be 28 MLS teams by 2021 and Garber last week unofficially confirmed there’ll eventually be 32.

 

I know that was the plan but was referring to the viability of that plan. Also I believe he commented that there is probably room for growth beyond that. (California, alone, probably could easily support 4 teams plus texas, plus an average of close to one per state) I believe that to be true also. It will take some time but we will get there (I might be 6 ft under, so maybe I should say you guys)