And, fwiw, sometimes that account -- which seems to be written by a number of different people who aren't always on the same page -- posts grade-A nonsense. Not sure what this means at all. Someone is Holding their Breath waiting on You to Fail. Make sure they Suffocate.#CSTruth pic.twitter.com/vc3bdRnWgv— College Soccer Truth ™ (@ImCollegeSoccer) April 18, 2023
When you are talking foreign college players, remember some schools use a different pool of money, academic $$ for people from outside the US, etc. So that may factor into who they take.
I agree with this. Of course we all do. It should seem like it should be fairly easy. But for some reason it's not, hasn't been, will not be. All of these directors of club teams know each other. You'd think a lot of this would have been figured out by now.
Firstly let me just say that for the most part, I get it. It is a shit show. It obviously could be better. I think the too many leagues thing is over stated. US soccer started this with the DA, ECNL was second and took their idea and upscaled it and now we have this. But, Isn't the point to give all kids options? All of these leagues do that. Add in recreational soccer and there is not a kid in this country that cannot find a level of soccer they want to try. Yes, location matters, yes that's a bummer for those girls. I wish there was a way around that. It also wouldn't be very good for anyone if a team for at the southern tip of Illinois to take a trip to Chicago and lose by 17 goals. And I think the price thing is moot. My ECNL fees are 2300. USYS Midwest conference fees for a team 2 minutes from my house were 2100. It's all the same, and my kids club doesn't require the girls to get shit, it's all optional other than the uniforms. In reality it's probably like that at most clubs, but parents love to spend money on unnecessary shit. I actually disagree with the local competition point. It's very noticable where we live the difference between teams. I don't understand people's desire for state cup and local competitions. At a certain age, isn't it better to test yourself against the very best? In my state, in Wisconsin we have about 6 -8 clubs within 40 minutes of each other. After that though, it's a hike no matter where to, it's a drive. I just think that no matter what, when the boundaries start getting pushed you're going to end up with some form of what you have now more or less. We win state with a +78 goal differential, well let's see how we do vs Illinois or Minnesota or Michigan teams. There's always going to be that aspect. There's too much land in between too many places and not enough people care to turn those clubs into billions dollar companies that can pay for fields and refs. It's just.....soccer in America.
It's interesting that this league has a very similar name to the Elite Academy League, and covers the regions that EAL does not. Are they related somehow?
My impression is both are sanctioned by USYS, not US Club. the EAL rules say a US Club pass is not sufficient to play in an EAL game etc. I think the EAL were teams left high and dry by the folding of the USSDA. While the NAL is for 2nd teams in clubs that are in MLS Next but not MLS Academies, who might have been USSDA clubs that didn't get too uppity and actually do better than the MLS academies and then find it odd when they were moved to a lower division. https://goalwashington.wordpress.co...ionship-crossfire-team-social-media-responds/
I'm still trying to figure all these leagues out. I find it so bizarre that USYS sanctions EAL but doesn't advertise the fact, and instead runs their own competitor league (E64). This article from 2020 talks about a Northeast Conference of EAL, which no longer seems to exist. The teams mentioned in the article are now in NAL. According to this article from 2021, the EAL's founding clubs primarily used the league for their 2nd teams. However, most of the new clubs added through expansion use EAL for their 1st teams.
Pure speculation, possibly clouded by local club perceptions: When the USSDA existed it seemed like people had some idea of a hierarchy of USSDA ECNL US Club USYS I'm guessing if the target demographic of the EAL are cast offs from the USSDA, USYS made the gamble that just welcoming them back into the USYS state cup/nationals and regional league/national league "earn your place" hierarchy wasn't going to cut it. Might as well ask them to "play rec" So they spun up a new league with the fancy "we'll hold on to some of the rules the DA used" and made it club based vs team based.
In Illinois when my 24 year old started there was IWSL, MRL and ODP Today: ECNL ECNL "R" GA SCNL 64 P.R.O. Premiership MWC Club V Club (yes it's MWC but it's club specific with no relegation so really it's it's own league) IWSL ODP NPL And I am sure I am missing 2-3 So thats 3 leagues way back then compared to 12+ today. No way it's understated. It's literally the reason why soccer is watered down across the board. ENCL was on average $8k - $12k per player/per season. ECNL has mandatory events (at least on the girls side) that make it quite expensive. I highly doubt it's decreased anywhere near normal Club League levels - which today are around the costs you mention. I can speak for Sockers... Our last year there we had to have a travel shirt which was baby blue and a hotel shirt which was a long sleeve red shirt. F**king useless BS. That's a direct result of all these club "exclusive" leagues. Your top team is in ECNL and your second team is in ECNLR or 64 leaving your 3rd team as your new top team in base leagues. That means those leagues like the IWSL are not not much better then rec soccer. Again - this proves that the "too many leagues thing is over stated" is completely false. No - this was not the case in 2009-2015 and prior. There were plenty of decent teams to play. Infact USSF and US Soccer released multiple mandates stating that soccer could be played closer and it should be. US Club essentially made this a talking point for many of their largest clubs. Club exclusivity has killed the talent and competition and that has been driven by the greed and willigness of clubs to create false realities and leagues like USYS who have clearly proven - they are only in it for the money.
Yep. USSSA announces continued strength and unification with the two National Club Based Elite Platforms, Development Player League (DPL) and Elite Academy League (EA) committed to the Association to operate the National Club League Structures, creating consistency and stability. In addition, the National Competitive Soccer League (NCSL) has extended its commitment to the Association and will operate the individual team vs team platform.I've never heard of NCSL or DPL. What an alphabet soup!
For the record, i dont think things are perfect. But with over 3 million kids playing youth soccer in this country, I dont have a problem with options. Having that many kids, playing in 2-3 league setups is absolute madness that i wouldnt want anything to do with. What specifically are you saying is 8-12k? Certainly not fees. Total for the year, hell even that seems steep but I can see it. But again though, its not just the top leagues. GA in my area fee was 4000$ and that goes towards the coaches travel. My fees were 2300 and we don't contribute to our coaches travel. MW Conference teams these days are paying similar fees, and doing the same amount of showcase/tourneys. The only difference between my neighbor and me is literally 2-3 more hotel stays. Its just soccer its all dumb, but nobody anywhere is innocent of it now AND none of this shit is mandatory, if players dont want to do things they dont have to. Kids have certainly stayed home and missed showcases for various reasons in the past with no repercussions. Thats dumb, and you should have told them to ******** off. I always struggled with the term exclusive. Any kid who wants to play in any if them can. We're probably going to have to agree to disagree here though. For the reasons being again.... if little Suzy is a 3rd team player, why should she not have the option and enjoy that option of a 3rd level team. And why cant little Lisa who wants to eat, sleep, shit, soccer be as far away as needed from that 3rd team player. To me, it doesn't mean that the IWSL is rec level, it means its at the appropriate level and rec is still rec. I think sometimes towards the bottom groups those lines can be blurred a little bit, but at the "top" its pretty clear. Sure US Soccer made the mandates to play teams close. Then immediately created the D.A. in part because they knew that the prior system was shit and that was clearly the catalyst for what we have today. Playing multiple talented teams pre DA was probably a solid option for people in Chicago. But in a city like Madison or half an hour west, those options were not/are not viable. So what are they supposed to do? Milwaukee is an hour east sure, but an hour west there's nothing, 2 hours, nothing, 3 hours....still in Wisconsin and you have cities on the border of WI and Minnesota. We cant act like the size of this place isn't an issue. So whats the viable option for those towns? Go up against some Twin Cities giants and get wrecked? How else could you do it for them? I'm genuinely curious. And the whole watered down thing is so overplayed. Youth soccer in this country is the best its ever been. Simple natural progression, combined these leagues have created some monsters. Is it perfect...NO, but this watered down stuff making all of youth soccer out to be a utter failure because people don't like how it's setup is silly. A group of u14 girls were selected to go to England and play some of their academies and made those games laughable within 30 minutes. Multiple teenagers have gone directly to the pros for youth. The college game for as much as a mess as it is, is still better than before. Young ladies are leaving colleges early and going pro in Europe and playin Campions League. What more could you want?
More than 10 years ago, in ECNL's infancy, I calculated our costs and it was over $40K a year. That was all inclusive, travel, hotels, rentals, meals out due to schedule, but that was still an accurate number. I have a hard time believing that it is any different these days. As far as options to play, yes it is different in Madison than Chicago or SoCal, but there is no need to travel hours upon hours. Minneapolis, Chicago, and Milwaukee are all reasonable day trips. There is no need for the travel other than to line peoples pockets telling parents about the wonderful levels of competition their kids are exposed to. We never needed to leave Chicago to develop, but boy did we love to brag about our"National" levels of competition, I still catch myself at it these days. It is silly.
Wow. I've never tracked it to the dollar, but I think our most expensive year was the one that's currently heading toward a close (if you include the costs of the final year of recruiting and the college visits and camps associated with it), and I'd ballpark our costs at $11K-$12K. And just typing that makes me queasy. This was the first year we agreed to let him do a trip that required air travel (a source of contention for years 'round these parts as teammates' parents spent money we just refused to spend), so that was a big factor.
This is one reason why I think the distinction between "travel" and "rec" gets silly. Between "professional academy" and "rec," sure. It's this middle "travel" layer that we have that other countries don't. I'd love to see a unified academy league with pro clubs' youth teams -- in my utopia, there would also be dozens of fully funded youth clubs scattered around the country to extend the geographical reach. Below that, I'd rather just see local/regional leagues tiered into divisions (maybe a mix of self-selection and league selection through U-12, then pro/rel after that). If you have a coach, even if it's a volunteer parent, you're a team. Doesn't matter if you're Legends FC Black or the recreational Blue Barracudas. Put the former in Division 1 and the latter in Division 12. Then offer "rec" -- players sign up each week and get assigned to teams. No season-long commitment necessary.
40k per year? Like $40,000 per fall season? 40 thousand dollars? Like the same amount as a new vehicle? That's madness. I'm not saying you're lying or wrong. But what I am saying, is for me, personally this past fall and current spring now. I'm barely scratching 6k. I drive everywhere in the Midwest. 4 hotel weekends per seasons, plus fuel and food and we pack alot of our own food, how in the hell did you spend 40k? 2300 for fees 1200 on hotels Say roughly another 1500 for food and gas which would still be high. Our trip to Phoenix wasn't considered soccer. It was a family spring break trip that ended with soccer. Even if I did consider that family vacation soccer though, I'm still easily under 10. Most important point here though I should add. It's your money spend it how you want.
For SoCal, this is pretty accurate: There's a whole thread on it specifically for SoCal: https://socalsoccer.com/threads/how-do-leagues-stack-up.20998/
We had two kids playing. One year I tracked all of our expenses, team fees, uniforms, hotel, gas, etc. We hit $10k. That's also the year DS got selected to play in the MIC tournament in Spain for ISL. THAT was probably about half. I can't imagine $40K for one child for a "normal" year.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsgo/news/mls-go-recreation-focused-youth-program-to-debut-in-18-markets Because we've all been saying that we need yet another league. "Major League Soccer and RCX Sports today announced the launch of MLS GO, a recreational soccer program designed to increase participation and access for boys and girls outside of the existing soccer ecosystem. Powered by MLS, MLS GO engages with existing community organizations and local recreation programs to provide boys and girls, ages 4 to 14 with a fun, affordable, local soccer experience. Over the course of a season, players will feel like a pro as they learn the game, have fun, and wear MLS Club-branded uniforms while playing alongside friends in their local community league. The program will debut this fall in 18 markets: 12 MLS, three MLS NEXT and three additional cities that will be introduced to the MLS ecosystem for the first time. MLS GO markets Birmingham, Alabama Phoenix, Arizona Los Angeles, California Denver, Colorado Washington, D.C. Orlando, Florida New Orleans, Louisiana Foxborough, Massachusetts Detroit, Michigan Las Vegas, Nevada New York, N.Y. Charlotte, North Carolina Cincinnati, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dallas, Texas Seattle, Washington (Launching Spring 2024) Milwaukee, Wisconsin"
From a marketing standpoint, this is a good idea for MLS. Every kid gets an MLS shirt to wear and remembers their team. Little League baseball has been doing this for years. I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier. From a development standpoint, they call it a "structured introductory soccer program with connections to a developmental pathway". We will see how that works out. Some rec programs are really bad, so this could certainly be an improvement. I'm looking for a rec league for my youngest in the fall, so I will keep an eye on this.
Yeah, this seems harmless at worst. It's not one of those leagues formed to stroke everyone's ego by ensuring that Big Club United FC's B team is in the Elite Premier Awesome Academy League and is therefore spared the indignity of losing to a bunch of kids at a cheaper club in the local league.