I have wondered about this. With football and basketball there isn't a great equivalent as college feeds to the top pro league and there really isn't much of a lower pro league option. Baseball is a little different and I have read that collegiate players that get drafted tend to be at an A or maybe the best at an AA level. Is there an equivalent for college soccer?
College soccer is about the best the US offers for "pro development" of the 18-22 year old. Unfortunately, there just isn't a market OR alternative that offers more. I get into these discussions regularly on Twitter. People want to blame college soccer for holding US soccer back for years. My question is: what else is there for an 18-22 year old? They have no options. There have been no options. And, in the foreseeable future, there will be no alternatives. Is college soccer perfect? No. Until someone creates "something else," it is all we have. There's roughly 1,400 colleges/universities (2 and 4 year) that offer men's soccer in the US. That means there's roughly 40,000 players from 18-22 that have a development opportunity at those ages. Without college, we'd have nothing. Until there's more opportunities, college soccer will still be a part of the development pathway. Want players to go pro around or before 18, then we need more than 60 professional teams. Oh, and of those 60 teams they are comprised of 51+% international players. That reduces the roster opportunities EVEN MORE. Unfortunately, there won't be alternatives. The money isn't there for the "other" opportunities. No revenue sharing. Barely there attendances. Shaky lower divisions in the USSF "pyramid." I love these discussions. Thanks for starting a thread.
I have a friend on my college’s team who played NPSL over the summer and he thinks D1 college is definitely a higher level of play. I don’t know how D1 college would compare to a professional third-tier, though.
Great post! It certainly isn't an insignificant amount of players at the collegiate level and that is in the face of a rather large gap in scholarship opportunities. Men's soccer allows 9.9 scholarships at the D1 level, which isn't enough to field a best XI (it's not a head count sport so they could all technically be on partial scholarship). Compare that to basketball's 13 or football's 85 (both head counts). Even baseball gets 11.7 I get a lot of that is based on revenue potential, but it is always glaring to me. When I initially asked, I kept thinking the USL. Then I looked at the USL and the average age is over 24 (same average age when players make the major league in baseball I believe). There are a handful of teams with an average age under 22 and all are affiliated with an MLS club. Are the proposed division 3 pro teams the alternative? I don't ask as someone who hates the college game. I tend to prefer college games in other sports and I think sometimes it gets an unfair rap. There has to be more than a few good players in that 40 K!
Thanks! I think this is interesting. I looked up a little info and it appears the average age for the NPSL is 23, so a little older than our range, but it did state most were collegiate players.
You bring up a great point on scholarships. If NCAA were to give soccer 15 scholarships, as an example, we'd see a drastic difference in quality. There'd be more emphasis to play at a higher level. Many kids don't want to commit to a $10,000 scholarship while still required to pay $30,000 for school (living, books, tuition, etc.). For football and basketball, everything is covered. Give soccer 22 heads-up scholarships, we'd see a major difference in quality. Quality change wouldn't happen overnight, but it surely would happen in 5 years. There'd be just as much emphasis from the soccer side as we see in football and basketball of utilizing college as a means to professional. One aspect I like to bring up is the calendar in which all sports compete in. I like to utilize the HS-College-Pro schedule that I've typically come across with each sport. Soccer HS - 55 days (10-18 games) C - 65 days (16-20 games) Pro - 231 days (34 games) Football HS - 68 days (10 games) C - 84 days (12 games) Pro - 115 days (16 games) Basketball HS - 78 days (22 +/- games) C - 109 days (30 +/- games) Pro - 236 days (82 games) Baseball HS - 39 days (25 +/- games) C - 92 days (55 +/- games) Pro - 182 days (162 games) I have always maintained that outside of soccer, that baseball has a fairly "uneven" model of amateur-to-pro schedule. I have excluded postseason as much as I could because those aren't guaranteed. One would expect a gradual increase in length AND competitions allowed -- i.e., football from 68-84-115 days and 10-12-16 games. Many states have different lengths of seasons for HS sports too, I'm going on what I know. I've seen states have teams play 10 regular season games and I know others that allow 16. But, knowing these schedule variances, how can we truly expect soccer to compete with any other sport for pro development? I exclude "club" in all sports -- football is one that wouldn't be impacted by it anyway. In the traditional American model of utilizing interscholastic/intercollegiate athletics as a means of development, soccer does not balance properly compared to the traditional American sports. NPSL has a reputation much different than PDL. Unlike most of PDL, NPSL operates differently. There's a lot more non-college players in NPSL. Teams function on their own league/division structure. Some start 1-2 months before college even lets players out (May 1).
In theory. A lot of college kids play PDL but often they do so haphazardly, while not training a lot or playing for a handful of games and then going to train at a pro club or work a camp or do any of the myriad things college kids do in the summer. The games are also not very intense as most of the college players are trying to stay fit but not get hurt. There are no lack of players on PDL rosters who either didn't play college soccer or have no eligibility left but are playing PDL just to get some run. The D in the PDL is a huge misnomer. Not much actual player development happens in the PDL.
As to the original question, high-end college soccer is probably on a USL level, though a handful of the players on the best college teams are probably better than the USL level while there will be some on even the best college teams who aren't good enough for the USL. On teams outside of the top 50 or so, college soccer is below the US third division. (Whatever that is going to be in 2018.)
C'mon @Sandon Mibut, this is rather poorly worded. When players train/play for near 3+ months there IS development. Many players have been able to use it as a springboard for professional ranks. Any additional time on a ball, in front of coaches, expanding the soccer CV, etc. is development. The opportunity to play in USOC within the PDL setup is positive too. All things considered, players can be with a PDL team in a season just as long as they are with their college team. Add up the years a player could play PDL during the summers and it's nearly 12 months of development opportunity.
My sons' coaches recommended them to play PDL during the Summer. For keeping fit, training, playing competitive matches and having the possibility to play along/against some good and often older players . Additionally it gives an experience with a different coach. And supporting the dream to get a pro contract later on, it might give you some visibility with club scouts. Drawbacks: the physical strain impacting the following season, due to a long football/study year without a proper summer break (especially if your PDL team goes far in the play off). And injuries: some of my sons' mates came back with injuries that prevented them to have a proper preparation or to miss early weeks. My sons' main disappointment: a lot of players are there, not there, maybe, maybe not (it explains the huge squad). So as they are keen team players, they do not like this ambiance. I guess it does not happen with the best PDL teams, such as the Michigan Bucks.
The PDL highlighting their alums in the initial list of invitees to the 2018 MLS Combine: http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/869148?referrer_id=2242498" "Over 75 percent of 2017 invitees boast PDL experience"
The MLS reference article: LIST IS OUT - MLS invites initial group of 60 players to 2018 Combine. The MLS will hold its annual combine from JANUARY 11-17 AT ORLANDO CITY STADIUM #MLS https://t.co/DMowaignSw CC: @ENBSports @SoccerInsider @jeffrueter— Concorde Sports (@ConcordeSports) December 21, 2017