PDL team movement for 2003

Great update. No mention of the Worcester Kings so it seems like they be around for another year, which makes me wonder about the D3 Boston Bulldogs, whose franchise rights the Kings had "leased".

I'm guessing the Northeast Division will add one team (Albany) with South Jersey joining the Mid-Atlantic.

 

Two teams dropping from D3 this year and the rumors of the problems on the west coast. This has me a little worried. Any news on new D3 teams?

If I was an owner and I wasn't going to field an A-league team then I'd probably go PDL and spend the money I saved marketing the team. In most cases less travel and no player payroll. It doesn't seem like it would make much difference to most of the people who come to the games.

 

PDL changes

Canadian Steven Cox is without a club, as the Chicago Eagles Selects of the PDL has folded.

 

In fact, my observation after seeing my local team drop from D3 to PDL is that most people actually prefer to watch the younger, developing players in the PDL over the has-beens/never-will-bes of D3.

 

Chicago Eagles Select

It's my understanding that the Chicago Eagles Select have not folded but are taking a leave of absence. They have their dues to the league but will not be competing this season. Their organization is still in place. They are still doing camps, tours and working with sports ministries.

The main reason for this was work on some off field issues such as place to play. Last season they weren't able to find a site until Feb. They ended up playing at Benedictine University in Lisle. The field was a lot better then the previous season when they were at West Chicago HS. However, they had to get a one year waiver for lighting, seating and press box requirements. They could have fielded a team again this year, but opted to getting more organized and getting all of their ducks in a row.

 

Thats a very negative demeaning opinion for them to have.

 

Let me put it a nicer way then. It just seems easier for people to connect to players who play for this or that college or high school vs guys that have made a career playing for other D3 clubs or once made a couple of appearances for an A-League team, etc etc.

 

Hey, you know I'm Mr. Sensitive. I'd never say anything hurtful.

 

Greenville Lions PDL 2003

The Greenville Lions Soccer Club will concentrate their efforts on the PDL team this season and will operate the team as Greenville Lions, dropping the word "Premier", as there will no longer be a need to differentiate between 2 teams. We look forward to this new season as we will now have the combined assets, staff, and sponsors from both the former pro team and the PDL team. We will be joined with the Greenville Futbol Club (GFC), the largest and most competitive youth club in the Upstate, in a close working relationship, which will add a great new dimension to our club. Home field will be Sirrine Stadium in downtown Greenville; Sirrine has recently undergone a major renovation, which includes many improvements and updates, making it a very good venue for the team. Rick and Kaye Branan will continue to be the key management along with Garth Pollonais as head coach.

 

Also many of those players are future stars. There are several PDL players that have been called in for the U20 tournament in a few weeks and quite a few of them will develop into pretty good pros and some even into full national team players. It just seems to me, and not to hurt anyone's feeelings, that fans would have more interest in that type of player. I coach in a club where we have one player in the U17 residency program, one with the U20 team that was just announced and one that played in this past world cup. If we had a PDL team here I would think people would get excited to see these guys play, maybe even more than our half cocked A-league team.

 

FYI.

A new PDL team in Fresno, California will enter the SouthWest Division. According to my sources the name of the team will be Fresno Fuego(Fire) and it has been approved by the United Soccer Leagues.

 

Well I know that I am a completely different person than most. I don't give a crap what players become. I care about the players that I am watching now. Screw the future.

Thats just me.

 

what is the budget of a pdl team like in most cases?

 

Okay, let's talk about the present. Presently, many of the players that play in the PDL, to save college eligibility, are better than many of the players in D3 and to a lesser extent the A-league. How many former D3 players move on to MLS or get interest from teams in top leagues around the world? I would bet there are more from the PDL and I don't even have a PDL team in my city.

 

Doesn't matter to me. We have no D3 teams in Canada, and hardly and PDL.

 

Good point. Although, some of your teams seem to have a better idea of what it's gonna take to develop youth players and also make money from transfers. Is that a fair statement? And, do you have as much trouble with kids trying to keep college eligibility in Canada? What's going on with your Women's National team program is very exciting (we've got 2 of them on our WUSA team), I hope the same follows with the men.

 

Don't know much about the college situation here so I don't know about kids trying to keep their college eligibility.

As for our clubs knowing how to make money from transfers, it seems Calgary has an idea, Toronto has made some petty cash transferring a player or two. I don't know about Montreal but I do know the Vancouver Whitecaps have some sort of unwritten rule about wanting transfer payments. It seems they think that by asking for transfer payments it will jeopardize the Whitecaps chances of signing players in the future as prospective players might not want to sign. They think that players would balk at signing for Vancouver because they might be held back from moving to a higher league because Vancouver asks for transfer payments which might put the interested team off. At least this is what I was told when I asked about the possibility of the Whitecaps getting some money when MLS wanted to sign Jason Jordan earlier this year.

Of course that idea is utter rubbish, and with the Whitecaps needing all the money they can get it's no wonder they are on the verge of folding.

 

The Chicago FIRE Reserves are moving to the Heartland Division. They will have a new soccer specific home field @ SW suburban Lemont HS. Two home games will also be played in Pontiac, Il. about 100 miles SW of Chicago.
http://firereserves.com/