3 Step talking to other clubs as well... Apparently WL and a few others tried to buy Empire but the cost was too high. Now I'm told FCU is buying Empire - including access to their fields.
FCU buying Sockers and Empire? Those are some deep pockets. Galaxy has a seemingly unlimited coaching budget too, the haves and the have nots in IL youth soccer! How is Eclipse not the target of these other clubs. They would seem to be an ideal acquisition you would be able to get for a deep discount compared to even a couple years ago: ECNL badge, without any physical assets and coaches to worry about displacing and it's common knowledge they have a severe cash flow problem.
From killing off a little club in Naperville to poaching teams/players and making promises they never kept e.g building an academy in Naperville, I am enjoying the schadenfreude from Evolution. There are even rumors of a money issue. Hell the club should also be indicted for their $400 k PPP loan when they already collected all their fees for the year.
The rumored problem with Eclipse seemed to be an asking price that was unreasonable followed by an inability to guarantee the badge would pass with the club.
Just curious on everyone's thoughts? Which club has the best coaching staff on the girls side? I thought I saw a post from Galaxy that they have 4 IL Coach of the years.
I get the feeling that the shifts of GA/ECNL have reduced the impact of coaches. All we see now are best players flocking to specific teams in a variety of clubs. Makes me wonder if overall - the girls product is getting worse then I thought it was.
FCU would not be buying anything. They sold their club to 3 Step. 3 Step also owns Chicago Empire, the Athletico Center in Northbrook and is targeting other youth sports organizations and facilities. Youth sports are big business and 3 Step is an aggressive company. Unless the eclipse drastically reduces their asking price, I can’t see 3 Step purchasing them. They have been dropping in numbers for years and do not own any facilities and could lose access to fields in Northbrook as quickly as they lost the polo fields in Oak Brook.
Well of course I meant 3 Step but thanks for clarifying. I believe that Empire will take on the FCU brand and it may likley be announced before the end of the week. I've heard nothing about 3 Step buying Eclipse. Frankly the brand should die and Dames should go to jail or at least be banned from coaching anyone under 18. Perhaps they see the unstable time to be worth srtiking. Certainly Sockers seem to be at their lowest point on the girls side of the house - Empire was already up for sale...
To clarify -- you are saying Chicago Empire is absorbing FCU? That seems weird! Why would they do this?
No. 3 Step owns FCU and recently Empire. Empire will take the FCU Name so just the opposite. Essentially FCU will have 2 locations.
Boy do I have opinions on this. Naperville being a soccer hotbed is over. The declining birth rate, demographic changes and soccer drama has made soccer less popular. all those great 05 and 04 that I saw grow up bailed on the game and chose a non sport life rather than play college at any level. I am reffing now and quality players are few and far between on the girl side.
This is all so true! I wonder what an IWSL D league game looks like these days? First time ever touching a ball? A division probably looks more like C compared to 10 years ago.
Covid had quite an impact as well. Lots of kids quit and didn't come back. I think at 2011 and 2012 with so many elite badge programs, Chicagoland's pool will increase.
I couldn’t disagree more with this comment. There are a lot of good A division teams in the area but unfortunately club soccer has become watered down. Way too many teams to choose from with too many divisions. Not everyone should be playing club (travel soccer)— a lot of this is driven by us on the chat.
I agree on the watered down aspect. In many cases, teams need to play their top teams up one age group to get sufficient challenges. Then by U13 most of the top players move onto ECNL or GA, creating a significant drop off in talent for local travel teams. Generally, most “A” teams are not overly strong nationally and you can see that when they attempt to play in high level tournaments like super copa. This is why I keep highlighting the need for club consolidation or partnerships. Even at the ECNL and GA level you can have insufficient roster quality in Illinois.
The level is definitely significantly lower individually and as teams than it was a decade ago. There used to be real competition in the state cup and now more teams enter the presidents cup. Girls used to be regularly included in USYNT camps and now it seems to only be goalkeepers. Back then it was a challenge to qualify for the MRL league and only the top teams, outside eclipse and sockers in the ECNL, were making it.
It sure looks like the top talent is spread out, and has mostly gone to letter leagues. Here's what 2009G looks like in IL, for top 20 teams by performance. The numbers represent teams in the top 20. For reference, there are 93 total 2009G teams in IL that are currently having their records posted online and have recent activity.
And costs for the basic leagues just keep going up with the lowest level being daddy-coaches with Grass Roots licenses. Sometimes I wonder if other youth sports are just as screwed.
Thank you for researching that. It definitely seems like it’s just an anomaly in the Texas area. I didn’t think ECNL and GA allowed things like that!