I had to chuckle: A huge thank you to our friends @IndianaFireDA for a well fought contest this past weekend. #cf97 pic.twitter.com/zKkG1V9g7a— Chicago Fire FC II (@ChicagoFireFCII) November 7, 2016 Chicago Fire Academy @ChiFireAcademy A huge thank you to our friends @IndianaFireDA for a well fought contest this past weekend. #cf97 6:09 PM - 6 Nov 2016 Well fought? Indiana Fire DA (2017-2018 Indy XI DA) took all 12 points.
Been what, five days since this post and Jeff Krause's article and not a peep from the Fire. Usually Khosla and Hicks are out there on Twitter making fools of themselves trying to deny and discredit. No ground to stand on here.
Only because it seems relevant and is one of the great songs of all time, although an almost unwatchable video
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2017/03/nine-mls-clubs-told-grant-wahl-how-much-they-spend-on-their-academies/ Pulled from each individual questionnaire, here’s the ranked list of the nine who submitted figures on how much they spent in 2016 on their respective academy setups. New England Revolution: $1 million D.C. United: $1.5 million Montreal Impact: $1.5 million Chicago Fire: $1.75 million Columbus Crew: $2.5 million FC Dallas: $3 million Portland Timbers: $3 million LA Galaxy: $4 million Philadelphia Union: $4 million
They're also grandfathering in the large sum of investment John Dorn was putting in that's no longer there because Nelson Rodriguez is an incompetent narcissist.
Exactly. If I'm wrong please let me know, but to me it seems like the entire youth program is for profit. Sparks/Juniors are all pay to play (up to 2k+ a year) throw in camps and licensing the name to all of these clubs. I know there is financial assistance, but they claim to have 10,000+ players in their system. The only kids on a full scholarship are academy players and thats the 1% of players in the whole system. I don't doubt that the youth program expenses are probably 1.75M, but what is their revenue?
Not youth program expenses. It's what MLS clubs are spending on their Academy program. I don't doubt the Fire spent ~1.75M/per when Dorn was involved. Be interesting to see what this year's number is. Compare and contrast the MLS Academies' training facilities. The Fire's is the worst, hands down.
But Fire youth soccer has revenue (juniors/camps/licensing the club name). What I'm saying is that if you were to look at the total profit/loss of Chicago Fire youth soccer when you include academies + the pay to play, how much is actually coming out of Andy's pocket? Does pay to play totally fund the academy, or is Andy actually investing 1.75M of his own money in each year?
No way of knowing, without access to the books. Suffice it to say, 10,000 youth players at $500/per is $5M/yr. Fire operations probably easily generates enough dough to fund the Academy w/o Cakes having to dip into his pockets.