The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/1381776/201...erdraft-in-its-current-form-starting-in-2020/ Major League Soccer is set to make seismic changes to its most-visible offseason event. Starting in 2020, the league will no longer hold a physical event for its amateur draft, sources tell The Athletic. The league has put on such an event every year since its inception. A new iteration of the draft — which isn’t certain to carry the SuperDraft moniker — will most likely be held via conference call and streamed on the league website in a similar fashion to their Matchday Central broadcasts. The format, date and presentation has yet to be finalized, per sources. Every year since 1996, MLS had tried to replicate the fanfare that surrounds the drafts in leagues like the NFL and the NBA, while holding the event in conjunction with the annual United Soccer Coaches Convention. The 2020 convention schedule was recently released without any mention of the draft.
On October 25 there was a tweet from Steven Goff that the Coaches Convention schedule didn't include the Draft. That was taken as an indication that it might not be happening but there was no actual announcment. This report in the The Athletic is coming from MLS confirming that.
I'm really all that not surprised, considering it seems most of the talent seems to be from non-draft sources.
There are probably a similar number of players worth picking in the draft as there were 15 years ago, but there are more than three times the number of teams and it makes little sense to have 26 teams (the 2020 number) dicker over the same handful of players.
and as the level of MLS has increased and the gap between the NCAA and MLS has followed suit, fewer and fewer of those draft picks are "ready". The MLS draft is destined to be more akin to the MLB draft than the NBA or NFL drafts. Stocking the minor league system and hoping to find something useful.
I love how everyone is so blase about this...but when I started a thread in the you be the don forum calling for just this...I got more heat than an active volcano sent my way.... a college draft just doesnt make sense as an allocation mechanism in MLS....but hopefully there is still the chance for NCAA players to get a shot in MLS....there are plenty of worthy college players out there....wonder how teams will go about sussing out who's who now that there wont be a combine though? I like it b/c it means there is a penalty for laziness in terms of scouting but there's also the potential downside that those teams who dont want to scout college will just bypass it altogether now.....
The internet is a wonderful thing........ https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...augural-adidas-mls-college-showcase-dec-13-15 MLS held its first annual college showcase last weekend. As @Ismitje pointed out, and @ThreeApples said there is still going to be a college draft. It's just not going to be a physical event. It'll be done via conference call starting in 2020.
It's a huge expense for minor/niche leagues to pay players during the off season. The NWSL just started allowing the first multi-year contracts this off-season. Hell, I grew up in Kansas City in the early 70s going out to eat at a pizza joint owned and operated by a Royals' player, and I think my dad bought a used car from a Chiefs' player. A number of decent American soccer players in the late 90s didn't sign with MLS, which paid year-round wages because they could make more playing A-League outdoors in the summer, than playing Indoor Soccer through the winter. MLS contracts wouldn't allow them to play indoor soccer in the off season.