One question for the experts: It is Bradenton getting some money from MLS and other professional and commercial soccer entities for players like Donovan, Beasley etc?? My opinion is that Bradenton should get a good percent of any revenue generated by any of the kids playing pro now !!
I believe Bradenton is financed by USSF, which obviously works with MLS, but I don't believe that they get any direct revenues from transfers or the like (not that those are worth too much). I don't really think it makes much sense to be demanding that Bradenton get this money. What would they do with it? They already have forty kids in residence, and even Ellinger thinks that development would be better served by having the kids training with MLS teams. Even further, although Bradenton obviously has an effect in developing a lot of players, it's not like Donovan or Beasley wouldn't be any good if they never went. Maybe not as good, but at most, Bradenton deserves a rather modest amount of credit for these player's successes.
Here is where the boys separate..... Here is where the boys separate from the mens ! We have an international entity collecting a huge amount of money on a player that they never invest a penny on. This is the case of Bayer Leverkusen and Landon Donovan, How could we be so naive? and dumb, it seems to me that this is the situation unless somebody know something I do not know
Well, considering how closely USSF is related to MLS, I don't think it's a problem when MLS collects the transfer fees and not Bradenton or whoever. The problem obviously comes in the case of someone like Donovan or Spector, when they attend Bradenton for a couple of years, it helps them become the player they are, but then get poached by a European club. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that USSF would be able to sign many players to any kind of binding contract in order to attend Bradenton. Not only would the contract not last very long (there is a three year limit to contracts signed by minors), but also the contract would (I believe) ruin the player's college eligibility, and probably 80% of last year's (and every year's) kids went to college. It may not please some boarders, but it's a fact of life. It may not be exactly an optimal situation, developing players but not getting paid for them, but it's probably the best situation available and, although it would be nice to get the money, Bradenton is more about developing the USMNT pool, which it seems to be doing a very good job of.
It is my understanding that Nike is playing for much of the cost of Bradenton. Does this mean that the players who don't make it big will have to work in a Vietnamese sweatshop for 25 cents a day until the costs are paid off?
Re: Re: Bradenton finances??? Yes, that is correct. Nike's business models have always been far less naive than the USSF's.