...I do not mean to say that is was not well written and coherent, as opposed to some other posts is this thread
For american players the draft should follow an NBA-like format in regards to eligibility. I'd say even lower the minimum age to 17. Also get rid of the NCAA requirement non sense. If you are a part of an MLS club academy or affiliate and do not get an offer a cetain amount of time before the draft, you can declare for the draft.
4 years of good drafts and still playoffless?? i get what youre saying but the results kinda undermine your idea. i think the mechanism needs to be abandoned/tweaked.....make it a free agent combine...where teams can observe players in a similar setting to the current combine but give players and teams options to connect as each side sees fit. abolishing the draft doesnt mean there couldnt or wouldnt be a combine type event. why are people so tunnel-vision about this?? seems everyone is either : STATUS QUO! STATUS QUO!! or totally rigid and uncreative when imagining how to change things.
FFS you don't get it. MLS won't do any of that because the whole setup is designed to control costs and keeping teams from bidding up player salaries. It has nothing to do with a lack of creativity or anything, the league won’t do this nor with the players union.
It might limit how much its willing to pay and what the cost is for a player of some level of ability, but it in know way limits how good a player can be. There are several Americans who have signed for more elsewhere, be it Europe or Mexico for instance over an MLS HG deal. Keep in mind that the current structure of MLS and its pay, entry and movement is a deal collectively bargained with its players' union. MLS cannot do the things suggested here unilaterally. Its a very simple fact with a huge impact and its brushed aside as if its nothing.
you make a good point that the players union has a role in creating the rules of MLS. My feeling is that the players should shoulder a lot of blame as far as the rules and structure of the league being less than optimal. Nevertheless, I think the ownership of MLS is driving the boat to a large extent. the players are poorly organized and make up a very diverse group that has many conflicting views and interests...whereas the owners are more or less a united front and operate cohesively as a business unit. on top of that the players change from year to year while the owners stay the same decade after decade. i think everyone can agree that the staus quo in MLS and US Soccer is simply falling short of where it needs to be. there need to be changes. many posters in this thread have attacked my idea of ending the draft. i get the feeling that those who have attacked me think the status quo is the ideal and that nothing needs to change.....which is absurd to me. using the profit motive to drive policy and rules will never create the best possible product in any field -whether that is sports, art, policy, education, government, health care etc.....but that will never happen in the USA because USA is profits over all else....(to the detriment of whatever is being produced but to the benefit of those that control production so they dont care) and to the bolded part of your quote, i vehemently disagree. i think the salary stucture of MLS is 100% a "glass cieling" on american players in MLS. i dont think the players exist in a vaccum outside of the system that creates them. the salary structure of MLS is severely limiting to americans in MLS. MLS owners are being peenywise but pound foolish. beyond just what each player earns...the salary structure establishes a lopsided playing field within teams for playing time and roster spots. not leting teams pay players what they want has been a huge cause of stagnation of americans in MLS....they stagnate once they realize they have maxed out what they can earn and dont have options to earn more......the incentive to improve is not there in the salary structure....it has also helped foreigners have an advantage over Americans in MLS, imo. MLS as a whole needs to do more to get the best american prospects more playing time. how else can you explain t and t honduras jamaica and panama beating the usmnt using a lot of fringe MLS players???
Extremely talented players skipping out on MLS to go abroad does not grow the sport in this country. Why can't MLS offer Mckennie or Pulisic as much or more than what Schalke and Dortmund offered? The CBA negotiations in MLS are a joke. When you have a league that is not built to promote the american athletes into a star or household name as their main product draw then the players will never have any real bargaining power. Most MLS players salaries keep them at a the level replaceable employee. And the talent by and large has been commensurate with that. But you are right, billionaires have the contracts in place and they won't budge on their stance. MLS is making money for them as it is and that is all they ever wanted from the league. The majority of businessmen in MLS care about a safe profit margin. Not improving the sport in this country.
I’m going to disagree here.. A fair argument could be made that Pulisic doesn’t become what he has become if he stayed in MLS. Jordan Morris made the decision to stay in MLS and it seems like he’s stagnated. If he’d chosen to go to Werder Bremen instead of the Sounders and been exposed to their superior development system, he may have discovered he has a left foot by now and become a productive member if the USMNT rather than the late game sub you run against a tired defense.. Having Pulisic killing it in a top team in the Bundesliga and the USMNT does far more for the game in this country than him stagnating in MLS and being a sometimes USMNT benchwarmer like Jordan Morris is.
Analysis like this is hard because (a) most prospects don't end up at the level hoped and (b) the best environment for development can vary by individual. So maybe Earth-2 Jordan Morris turns out better with Werder Bremen, maybe he's roughly the same as ours, and maybe he disappears entirely. We've certainly seen that happen with "can't miss" prospects, regardless of where they're from or where they go. Even in other sports.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but the problem with counterfactuals is that it's impossible to know what would have happened had situations been reversed. For all we know Morris would have stagnated at Bremen and had to come back to MLS to get playing time, like Lletget did. Now I agree that if we have a guy who is good enough to start for a champions league team, like Pulisic, then that is where we would want them. But even many our best prospects largely haven't been good enough for that level. I want our players to be ambitious, but I also want them to find their level. Guys like Yedlin, Miazga, Carter-Vickers have signed for big clubs in England and then had to go on loan to get playing time. And I'm high on all 3 but doubt they'll ever be at the level of a Tottenham or Chelsea. So of course it's great to see Pulisic sign for and then break out at a big club, and I hope more players successfully make that leap. But I think MLS is also a good option. Obviously work needs to be done, but I don't think last generation's failures means the coming generation should avoid the league. Also, MLS is investing a lot in player development. If the best academy prospects keep bolting for Europe, it might have a chilling effect on MLS investment in the academy system. Garber said as much after Dallas lost out on Weston McKennie. Why would teams continue to invest tons of money only to lose out on their best investments? So I guess my conclusion in this. In the short term, yes, I understand the benefits to players and our national team for our players to go to Europe. But long term I don't want to rely on our players being developed overseas. And MLS academy players leaving hurts domestic player development efforts, which need to keep improving if we're going to be contenders at the World Cup level.
1. they can always come back a la nguyen and fielhaber....so, even those that "fail" in europe...have MLS as a fallback. I agree though that us players not doing well is a real concern when going to europe....amny dot make it. 2. i.e. player development....it just needs to ramp up to the point where there are 20 pulisics/mckennies not 1 or 2.....at that point, some will stay some will go. right now, whatver is best for the player....really is best for us soccer and indirectly for MLS owners! MLS management would ultimately make more money and create a better product if they see themselves as stewards of the game....not profit maixmizers. 3. the # of americans in MLS will not and cannot change....even if 100 americans signed in europe tomorrow. there are domestic slots and there are international slots on every mls roster.....so therefore, the more americans playing abroad...THE MORE AMERICANS PLAYING PROFESSIONAL SOCCER. which, to me, can only be a positive for MLS, USMNT, etc..... 4. the problem is simple: play the young kids...steffen and adams are exmaples that playing young players doesnt mean compromising competitveness.....MLS hasnt been giving much opportunity to youth lately.....so MLS needs to look in the mirror before looking at a few prospects who leave for europe, imo.
One of the great things about RSL's late season surge was that it came while--and actually because--young players were on the field more.
I don't feel like reading the whole thread. Did anyone make a good argument for why the draft is good for soccer? I can understand why MLS wants it (control costs, player control, single entity etc) but thinking outside that narrow confine, what's a good argument for it?
Because cost controls is one reason that MLS has managed to survive, and having a stable first division is definitely a good thing for soccer in the US.
maybe in the past....but no one is breaking the bank for draft picks these days even if they could.....i dont buy the argument that eliminating the draft would do anything to put the viability of MLS at stake in 2018 and into the future. i dont see why ATL can soend 15 mil on barco but MLS rookies cant get fair market value.....how many entire drafts could barco's salary pay for?????????
You are right, the draft seems very much like something from the past, esp this winter. Even some of the best college players signed through homegrown contracts, and for the most part clubs looked to be finding players for their USL sides. If there had been no draft this winter, the player distribution would have been about the same. There might have been some jostling over the top four to six picks, but not too much and after that. Clubs now use college soccer like european clubs use loans for their young hopefuls (except for the clubs that hoover up everyone and loan them out indiscriminately. Thats just business). Send out the homegrowns to get some playing experience but retain their rights if they pan out. From a developmental pov, wouldn´t the players be better off going straight to the USL sides? In a whole life sense, probably not.
The draft should be reduced to 2 rounds (you could even justify 1) but not eliminated. Especially since the last player to be move than an average MLS replacement player to come out of anything other than the first round was in Plata in 2011. Outside of the first round there really isn't justification for a draft but for Pr purposes I can see keeping a 2 round draft. I do maintain thee's some value in that first round, from a parity and relationship with the NCAA perspective.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...s-competing-head-head-academy-talent-far-home “I think everybody at MLS, all the academy directors, all my colleagues – unless they’re lying to my face – they all say the same thing: they want open territories,” said Parry. “And I think it’s coming. We keep talking about it, but that’s our hope and we would love for the territories to be open.” "...The US is big, it’s spread out, it’s regional. OK. We’ve got these Homegrown rules. Great. But I do see in the future it’ll be more open and the best academies need to make sure they’re doing things well on and off the field to attract the best talent. I think that will make everybody better.” If open territories is better for youth players....it's better for college players too. Open territories for academy players = no more draft for college players. Forcing teams to compete for amateur players...will only serve to make MLS better at developing players....if not, those teams that are not good at developing talent won't be able to sign young players....and that will be good for all involved!!!
If college players got to choose where to start their careers they’d choose teams that 1. Provided the best opportunity 2. Closest to home/support system They would not go to LA,NY or seattle just because they are LA,NY and Seattle. In fact given the low rookie salary i would argue LA and NY would be the last place they would go.
This makes sense for teams like SKC, who aren't in a hotbed for Soccer Talent. They also don't have the population density that the teams in NY, LA, Philly, DC, Dallas, and Chicago have. On the flip side, the larger market teams are better funded for the most part. Open territories sounds great in theory, though it might just serve to strengthen the Academies run by RBNY, Philly, NYC (Eventually), and DC. The MLS draft is largely irrelevant these days anyways. Outside of some reserve players, and the occasional contributor the MLS Academies coupled with the injection of new Allocation money has devalued the draft.
In an ironic way the MLS Draft may be good for the national team since it is in some cases the reason prospects will choose Europe over MLS. I forget the player now but he was asked why he chose a team in Germany over MLS and he said the choice was easy because with Europe he could choose where he wanted to play but with MLS they were choosing for him.
Players still need passports to get to Europe. Also, Europe isn't necessarily the panacea US fans make it out to be. How many USNT players are actually starting/playing significant minutes for their Club Team in Europe at the moment? Also, players CAN choose which teams they want to play for in MLS. The league has much less say on these matters today then they did in 2011 or 2012.
Explain that. How would a player choose his own team in MLS? Our hypothetical player has played one season in college and is getting offers from Europe.