Abolish the Draft

Because unlike you MLS actually cares about getting along with the rest of the soccer community and understands there's still value in the relationship between academies, colleges, and the pros?

 

I'm not used to all this draft nonsense but Khiry Shelton shouldn't be learning the professional game at 23 and Tommy McNamara shouldn't still be "promising" when he's the same age as Eden Hazard. There's no reason NYCFC couldn't put academy players through SUNY, which is one of the best colleges in the North-East where tuition costs $8,050 a year.

 

Are they taking the players 40 times and verticals at the combine?

Most coaches skip it and the draft is becoming more and more irrelevant. NCAA soccer needs reform too.

 

There's no reason they can't. The Rapids just signed a homegrown player who just finished his senior season at Creighton and a homegrown player who just finished his junior season at Denver University. They also have a homegrown player on the roster who skipped college and went straight to being a pro player.

Shockingly different players want/need different experiences before they end up as a professional soccer player.

 

Maybe he's not attending the Combine because he is no longer the RBNY manager?

 

Would that include NYRB II? Reserve clubs are probably a more likely spot for many college players to find field time. I'd think that's both good for the clubs to have a source of reserve fodder, and the players, to be fodder with a college degree is better than just being fodder.
The reality is that US sporting leagues like drafts. US universities and colleges like putting out competitive sporting teams.
It's a thing in this country and it is foolish to think it isn't.
Could MLS abandon the process and simply leave the field open to players whenever they chose to try to break into the professional ranks? they could.
But it makes them seem like something different, and until that is actually a positive, why?
And, unlike with revenue sports where too much is demanded of athletes to honestly call most of them student/athletes, soccer players maintain an 82/83 percent graduation rate, so better than basketball/football/baseball, but trailing ice hockey, water polo and lacrosse.

 

Again, the draft won't go away without the player's union signing off. Not having a draft provides an entry level player more right to set his MLS future than a player who is currently in the league. The union would be silly to accept, or even propose, and end to the draft without getting the same or better for its current members with respect to movement.

I don't know why we overlook this.

 

You are not wrong.. However, proper training for Americans starts later than in Europe, so they develop later. Until recently the US Soccer Development Academy system only went down to U15/U16, it is/was only 2016 that the U12 USSDA started. Outside USSDA (and in many ways, within USSDA), who gets better training is often determined by the size of the parents' wallets rather than the potential/skill of the kid. Now that MLS is actually showing interest in training kids (at all), we should start to see players ready to play professional soccer at a younger age than before.

However, that being said, unlike Europe where kids that aren't pro ready at 18 are cast adrift, the US has the added luxury of a developed NCAA system (as poor as it is) that can allow them to continue their development while also getting an education that will help them in the future if soccer doesn't pan out for them.

 

Yes I agree that college is a great backup plan fire those who don't make the grade. In the UK a lot of talented middle-class kids don't pursue a career in soccer because it's not a steady income. I remember that a Liverpool player used to be called "the professor" because he had a degree. Steve Coppell of Man Utd also had a degree. The fact I know that demonstrates how rare it is (or was).
But for the sake of US soccer and players' careers, academies should be the be the preferred route.

 

This is true, but it's not going to happen until there's a lot more money in pro soccer. It costs extra to sign a player who still has college eligibility, because MLS needs to pay enough to make it financially worthwhile to give up a scholarship. That's not going to change as long as college scholarships are still being offered to talented players.

 

Like TFC, RBNY will have very little contribution from draft picks. Both clubs have a really good 18 and tons of academy talent. Most of their picks will start on their respective USL teams.

Teams like Atlanta, Minnesota, NER, Houston, Chicago and Philly may have plenty of minutes from draft picks.

 

I think New York City have 16th 2nd round draft pick (however you say it).

 

How many minutes do you think draft picks will get in MLS this season? My money is on "a plurality, when compared to the other mechanisms by which a player can enter the league."

 

A plurality is less than a majority, but is still larger than any other component being measured. In the last presidential election, for example, many states did not have a candidate get over half of the votes. They still had a winner, but it was with a plurality, not a majority.

 

One of last year's picks played every single minute in 2016 and earned an invite to the winter national team camp. Of course he probably should have qualified as a homegrown signing too, but that's another can of worms.

 

Hey, I noticed you were being a dick. Try not to do that anymore, okay?

 

MLS has the draft to preserve parity and to make sure their clubs don't get into a bidding war with each other for what would be potential free agents. It will always be used in MLS.

 

My opinion, I think the league should only allow teams to put a homegrown claim on players that they sign from their academies and leave the unsigned players only available via the draft. Those remaining players options would be play in college, USL, NASL, overseas, or being drafted via generation adidas contract. I believe this would put the draft on equal footing with the academies by strengthening the pool of players. If a player wants to sign with a club but still wants to go to college sign him to a deal where he won't get paid but team would hold his rights when he decides to turn pro.

 

I think MLS needs to do away with the later rounds in the draft. There should only be 2 rounds. There are just too many different ways to acquire players.