Which probably explains many of the 1/3rd or 1/6th of the players registering- they're likely the players who are a step above (or think they're a step above) the average joe playing for recreation. The platonic ideal of a pyramid encompassing everyone from the beer league players up to first division is a nice image, but the pyramid has never covered more than a very small minority of soccer players in any country.
There are pub teams in the English pyramid if you go down to, for instance, the Huddersfield and District Association Football League Division 4, which is about level 15. They won't have any ambition to be any more than a pub team though.
It's pretty simple and practical. It's meant to keep NWSL competitive with European leagues. At the beginning of each season USSF and CSA sign a number players directly. Those players are then "allocated" to NWSL teams. Anyone who chooses to play full-time overseas is not entitled to the USSF salary. In March the US manager signed 22 players to sign to USSF contracts. 20 of those plus 3 other players were named in the US WC squad. The idea of a federation signing international players directly is not unheard of. The USSF signed out of contract players prior to the 1994 World Cup.
Actually 13 US players were contacted directly to the USSF in the 94 WC. That's nearly the same number of Englishmen who represented Ireland. BAP
Facilities - if you're in the Huddersfield and District Fourth Divisions you rent a pitch and get a cold shower in a filthy changing room like everyone else.
Most recreational leagues in the US reserve municipal or county facilities for their matches. The governing bodies have little or nothing to offer to your average weekend warrior athlete.
Pro/rel in Mexico, again: as reported earlier today, Lobos BUAP, who were in Liga MX and not relegated based on results, have effectively sold their place in the league and their entire squad to FC Juarez, who were in Ascenso MX and didn't win promotion. The Juarez owner bought Lobos, moved them from Puebla to Ciudad Juarez with their entire squad intact, and renamed them FC Juarez. The original FC Juarez was sold to the Lobos owner, who released the entire squad, moved the club to Puebla, and renamed it Lobos BUAP.
What two consenting adults do with their football clubs... I kid, but do you know much about either of these teams? E.g. was Lobos BUAP struggling financially or anything?
They were the second team in Puebla, with Puebla FC (which has its own history of relegation/relocation shenanigans) being the much bigger club. They have only ever been in the top flight for the last two years, and they would have been relegated after the first year if not for the new regulations that restrict promotion to a few licensed teams in the AscensoMX. FC Juárez is a relatively new club formed after the previous local club Indios collapsed. They're affiliated with a university, but in Mexico that doesn't mean they are student teams. Just like UNAM Pumas or Tigres UANL, they are pro teams that hire and pay whatever players they can get, just like any other club. In other LigaMX pro/rel news, Atlético San Luis will get the promotion that they earned, but Veracruz, who finished in the relegation slot, will stay up to expand the league to 19 teams. Probably the intent is to expand to use two years to expand to 20 teams.
I missed notifications on this thread for a few days and just caught up. I just want to tip my hat to those of you who slapped down that ridiculous capitalist church comment, with particular praise for the poster who quoted de Tocqueville in the process.
It's even more problematic for smaller clubs who's players have to take a day off work some of whom have been reduced to using gofundme.com to raise money for airline travel.
Seeing a number of Cincinnati supporters expressing a view that I've seen become more prevalent in England recently. They're basically lamenting the fact that they're being outclassed in MLS and expressing that they'd prefer to still be in USL.