If you're a 'Moderator', who's moderating you? Asshat! Wrong! FC Dallas aims to be the source in north Texas for the development of boys and girls soccer players. As such, FC Dallas has created the FC Texas Youth Development Program, consisting of the following: • FC Texas Affiliate Youth Club and Academy • FC Texas Soccer Camps • FC Texas Tournaments FC Texas Affiliate Youth Club and Academy: FC Dallas and Dallas Inter have formed an affiliate partnership to form FC Texas Youth Club and FC Texas Academy. For more information on the FC Texas Youth Club and FC Texas Academy, please visit www.dallasinter.org. It wasn't my intention to omit Chicago or DCU from the exceptions. I'm aware they have some involvement in youth programs, but to my understanding their YDP's are different from FCD's, so I only mentioned the Club that I knew more about. But it doesn't change the fact that the point of my answer is still correct. Until every team has a strong YDP, the draft will still be the best place to aquire talent.
Don't take it bad, but I've never taken seriously the Eurosnobs on this board, and I've never taken this board as a reference... For more than 3 years now, I've talked to many many americans about soccer, trying to understand why they don't like it... Americans from very diverse communities, from different backgrounds... From anti soccer people to pro soccer people, I've learned a lot and I keep learning a lot... and today things are more clear to me... Yep, probably my ideas aren't the best, but I know many americans that share my thoughts... I also convinced a lot of american people that soccer is not a "sissy" sport or a boring sport I love soccer, and I would love to see a successful soccer league in USA, the potential is so huge... I will never stop to criticize Eurosnobs because they are just so wrong...
Not saying it can't happen, but there is one very big difference between the historical American sports and MLS. There is no equivalent of FIFA and USSF for baseball or football. They are "self-certifying." Not so for soccer. Unless and until USSF recognizes a league as a D-1 league, no player with aspirations to play for the Nats or other sanctioned teams is likely to buy in to the experiment. And we are a heck of a long way from there being any economic incentive to operate a in D-1 league while MLS is still open to expansion.
You didn't "omit" them. You were wrong. FCD has a new program apparently. Good for them. Other teams have existing youth development schemes that you choose to be ignorant about. I was wrong about FCD because, to the best of my knowledge, it is new. Admitting you were wrong or lied is nothing to be ashamed about. It happens to the best of us. I'm glad to see FCD getting into the game. Just don't be so arrogant as to pretend others didn't come before them in this regard. All it takes it five minutes of running through team Web sites to educate yourself.
Your French and you live in Paris and want the MLS to be like the NBA. I don't see how any of this your concern anyway. You have Ligue One so leave American soccer to Americans and the people who reside stateside. Don't you have some cars to set on fire?
First of all I don't want MLS to be like the NBA, it's also very difficult because NBA is a basketball league and MLS a soccer league... But most Eurosnobs want MLS to be like the EPL... I just want MLS to be american, and stop trying to be "like the EPL"... Simply because it will not work... As simple as that...
That's the worst apology I've ever seen. ....and now I'm a liar? Please PM me if you ever come to a game at PHP. I'd love to meet you.
When did I mention EPL? What I proposed would be more in line with South America then Europe. In one of your many "special threads" you stated MLS should make the uniforms baggy to attract the NBA fans. Thanks for your concern but I think you should STFU and go watch League One.
Sure. I'm a funny dick in person. And I won't apologize for the things I am right about. I got the FCD stuff wrong, mainly because it's new. You're the one who chooses to ignore that there are at least three teams already doing it. That's why the liar comment was there - you admitted you knew they did something, then just pass it off as irrelevent when those prior efforts completely disprove your point that FCD is the only "club" amongst the league. Yes, the league will be better when all the teams do this, but they won't be following FCD's example because they weren't the first to do it.
It's always interesting to see people talk about what they want in the upstairs master bedroom when we're still pouring the foundation.
To just arbitrarily start calling someone a liar based on just your opinion and no fact. Jeez you're an arrogant bastard. As I stated before, I was aware that Chicago and DCU had involvement in YDPs, but as has been discussed in another thread, they're quite different from FCD's, so I wasn't going to comment on them since it's my understanding that they aren't YDPs in the typical 'Club' mode.
Then why did people like Mohammed Al Fayed and Dave Whelan invest millions in teams in the English third and fourth divisions? I think you're patronising and insulting American sports fans. You're saying that if there were no playoffs, people in America hwo like football and watch it would stop watching it, or their heads would explode in confusion or something. Give them some credit at least. Many soccer fans in America follow European teams where they don't have playoffs, where they have promotion/relegation and where teams don't move around. A lot of them would rather have a version of the EPL in America than a version of NFL with a round ball.
What on earth is the point in spending all that money on academies if other teams can just poach your players in the draft?
Just curious after reading the rants on YDP's, what IS the difference between FCD's newly formed YDP and what the Fire have been doing for years (Fire Juniors, Fire Academy, Fire Youth Camps and their affiliation with the Chicago Fire Premier)? http://chicago.fire.mlsnet.com/MLS/chf/youth/ Not that it really matters I guess, I just don't see anything revolutionary in what FCD is doing. I think we all agree that all MLS clubs need something like this in order to promote soccer in their respective communities, grow local talent and promote their brand. And I agree somewhat with leg-breaker on the poaching. Maybe some time in the near future, clubs can sign players from their YDP's to right of first refusal agreements, before they get drafted . . .or better yet, MLS may be so successful one day that teams can actually sign YDP players like MLB does with their farm clubs. [conan obrien]"In the YEAR 2000!"[/conan obrien]
I am not a big fan of the draft in any sport. It does seems like poaching and rewarding poor teams. I mean does the 49ers or the Texans deserve Reggie Bush? I mean if he wants to play for the Chargers where he's from, San Diego, then he should, or anywhere he sees fit should be fine IMHO.
Spot on, Leggy. We don't always see eye to eye, but when you're on your game..... Many BS MLS apologists seem to have their sight sets lower than even the league itself, and underestimate the intelligence of American fans even more than MLS does. This can only hold the game in the US back. Try being a bit more revolutionary in your thinking. Be more revolting. Fling open your windows and scream: "Garber, baby, we're not going to take this any more. We want exciting, pulsating, dynamic soccer with meaningful games - an exciting premier league, dammit, not this crap!" You may be more popular with the neighbours than you think. They might interrupt their viewing of FSC or GolTV to grunt in agreement and sling a few beers your way. Kiss the frog Ladies, fish, and gentlemen..... the San Francisco Seeeelz! The Quakes forever. Before the MLS, during the MLS, and long after the MLS is gone.
And one that was introduced by soccer, incidentally enough. No US sports broadcasts had the score and game clock constantly on the screen before the 94 World Cup, people saw it there and loved it, Fox and CBS picked it up for their NFL broadcasts the following fall, and now every sport has it. Incidentally, as far as academies go, the solution seems simple to me IMO. A team who has a player in its youth academy holds rights of refusal to that player until the end of the season following his 19th birthday. At that point they can either offer him a pro contract (which they can obviously do earlier if he's ready) or lose his rights, he can then either go to college, sign with a team in another league (either overseas or a lower-division US league), or declare for the MLS draft--he can't, however, simply sign a free-agent contract with another MLS team for 5 years (this prevents him from just sitting in college for a year then signing with whatever MLS team throws money at him). This seems to me the best way to integrate the youth academy system with the draft system.
1. Ideally, that would be great but two divisions is very likely (keep reading to see why). Also, you can end up with many teams from one geographical area of the US being in the top division if you have too many teams competing for the first division. 2. Agree. 3. I somewhat agree, but universities want to benefit from having a soccer program. Otherwise, why have the program if the players are not destined to go pro. Plus, we want good educated players, right? 4. Disagree. Maybe for teams that have players in the World Cup (should be a few); they should have a summer break that stretches as long as the USNT is in the WC. 5. Not right now, but I believe it will be ineviable as the league membership of clubs grows. A typical domestic soccer season should be between 34-42 games (when you have a team play every other team at least twice). Add to that Open Cup games, and international tournament games (hopefully). There is no room for playoffs. To have conferences for an 18+ team league would require a 80+ game season, which is impossible. Agree? The single table keeps league club membership high and match numbers at a reasonable low level. So much for keeping the league "American." Don't feel bad, it still is. 6. Agree.
I love the people that don't want to play in 100 degree weather in Dallas or DC in July, but have absolutely no problem playing in 5 degree weather in Columbus or New England or Chicago (catch the Bears-Packers game a few weeks ago??) in February. Both suck but casual fans will at least come to the former. No one except the few thousand die hards is going to go to a regular season MLS game in a cold-weather city in the winter. A WCQ, yes. An MLS game, no. My ideal model has 2 12 team conferences, with each team playing the others in its own conference twice and in the other conference once (half home, half away), for a total of 34 games.
We're not talking about English football, where the sport has been the most popular sport in the country for over a hundred years. We are talking about MLS and a sport that doesn't have the same following here in America. Big difference. I'm not patronising or insulting anyone, and I don't recall ever saying that they would stop watching or their heads would explode with confusion. All I said was "Americans like playoffs". That's quite a leap you made there. I follow the EPL and enjoy it the way it is. I'm not saying that playoffs are better. Nor am I promoting playoffs over a European style format, I'm just stating an opinion that I think most U.S. watchers prefer a playoff system.
Yeah, I really was thinking out loud there while I was killing time (what, me goof off!!?) at the office yesterday. And, I'd have to imagine that we're 10 or 25 years off from the realistic prospect that somebody out there may actually try to set up a rival league. But, it is a curiousity that MLS suddenly seems to be catching the attention of some high & mighty types out there; for example, Barcelona's president & the Oakland A's owner have been quoted in the press regarding their possible interest in buying into MLS. And a Forbes columnist gave MLS this nice little pat on the head: http://www.forbes.com/sport/2005/12/12/sports-2006-predictions-sneakpeek_sp06_17_mburke_sports.html Now, if MLS really does halt expansion after reaching 18 or 20 teams and if MLS really does reach a NBA level of casual fan interest at some point in the unforeseeable future, push could come to shove. And, if so, the only way to head off the threat of a possible rival league would be for MLS to continue expanding past 18 teams or to devise some sort of pro/rel by creating a division two league. Just speculating, though -- that's all -- this kind of thinking is really about 10 or 25 years off from where MLS is right now.
Exactly! You just can't compare EPL and MLS business models and decisions without taking into account the soccer and sports market in which they have to do business. And I think also they do too. Based on major sports, the play-off system is part of the sports culture which they are used to watching.
And that's the only way you may see pro/rel system in the US. But, as you state, there has to be a considerable or seismic change in the soccer and sports market that makes that possible. But. Even so. Take pro/rel soccer national like Mexico where they tinker with a system enough that it is set up to help the "rich" club or flirt and float the idea of creating a "special" division only open for the premier teams that will never be relegated due to some x or y reason (money, history, etc.).
I think that's the key point. People like to argue that pro/rel will never ever work because no one wants to invest in a MLS team only to see them relegated to the USL the next season. Well that will never happen. However, if said team is relegated into MLS2, then that team can still participate in single entity (if it's still around), revenue sharing, television and sponsor revenue, and the like. Finances may suffer a bit, but that's what happens when you suck, so too bad. As long as it's not a crushing difference it can work just fine. The American public can figure it out.