There was a rumor that they'd be switching to the old Fresno-now-Monterey team (which is moving to USL1, I think) from Reno. Apparently, some of that was holding up the Sacramento bid announcement. That would put their USL team closer to San Jose and at the lower USL Level (for better or worse). Given Fresno's situation as basically leaving Fresno for financial reasons, I wonder if the Quakes won't end up with significantly more control if this all comes true.
This would absolutely be a better solution because Matias Almeyda prefers to have his entire roster train as one. It’s a long trip to Reno but very short to Monterey. I think the Quakes affiliate agreement expires with Reno at the end of the year. Maybe Sac Republic will team up with Reno instead?
I am not sure I would include FC Dallas as a successful USL model. They currently play in the 3rd tier USL division, and I think a lot of the top U19 DA teams could beat most of those teams. I would say SKC is a much better model for players from DA to USL to MLS
FC Dallas was in the 2nd tier USL League One where they won the league with a damn near entire academy filled team. More likely than not they will be moved up to the Championship division by 2021 at the latest. The only reason they were in the 2nd division was because they just launched their USL affiliate. Any team that wins a title with majority homegrown kids after not even being fully assembled one month before the start of their season should be viewed as a success. The current ideal MLS club model would be NYRB, Seattle, and Philly. Philly and NYRB are seeing HG's affect their first team and it is only a matter of time for Seattle since they re-invested in their academy and have been producing gems in large quantities from their 2001's and younger.
Thank you for the correction, it is also called D3 USL, but is actually the 2nd Tier. They did do well with their younger players, but seeing some of the games the competition is certainly lacking. I do not like the term HG, as that is based on the territory, not actually being developed at the club. There are some great clubs in North Texas, that develop players that eventually land at FCD, but I would not call them HG for FCD.
I would, NTSC is a direct FC Dallas affiliate where they funnel their players directly to before, with a contract or not, they're ready for the first team.
USL League One is the third tier of American soccer. You were correct. MLS USL Championship USL League One Their reserve team is in only one year old. As with most MLS clubs, they're only now developing the route for academy players to the first team. Still learning and figuring it out. The club that really seemed to have their model in place first was NYRB. Tyler Adams moved seamless from their academy to NYRBII (USL Championship) to NYRB (MLS) and then to RB Leipzig.
Under HG rules, the FCD territory includes all of North Texas, west to New Mexico and east to Louisiana. So if a player, trained with and played for a club other than FCD from the time they were 10 to 19 and then joined NTSC, you would consider them a HG for FCD? To me, HG should mean a player that has gone through the academy up to the pro club, not because of where they live. A lot of youth players are being denied chances to join other MLS clubs because of the HG rules and it is hurting players. Definitely something to look at for the upcoming CBA negotiations. Sorry, HG is a touchy subject for me. I know several players that are negatively impacted by these rules.
You are right. Anyone that knows anything about the MLS rules knows HG means very little. Chris Richards is not even close to a an FCD HG. He played there one year at age 18 and left. Reggie Cannon was developed at Solar and Paxton spent a number of years at DT. Folks that know much about youth soccer in NTX know these things and kind of chuckle when FCD touts their long list of HG players. But it is what it is.
They're called "homegrown contracts" by the league, hence we on this board call them homegrown players. If they were on "grapefruit contracts," we'd call them grapefruit players. Recruiting players from other clubs is important for every club around the world. Just like Pulisic at Dortmund, McKennie at Schalke, and Sargent at Bremen. Those players all spent about one year at those Bundesliga academies before making their first team debuts. They weren't developed by those clubs any more than Richards was with FC Dallas. This is the way the world operates. Scouting, recruiting, and signing is JUST AS important as developing players from the ground up. Any club in the US could have recruited Ricardo Pepi. They didn't.
Pepi played for FCD El Paso and moved to Dallas at 13, once he moved no other MLS team can touch him. Recruiting is extremely important, I agree, but the problem is with the HG rules nobody is recruiting in other territories it just isn't worth the hassle. Most MLS clubs are not going to release their rights to player, even if that player does not fit in their system. If an MLS Academy in your kid's territory has 4 really good keepers in their system and your kid is a keeper, you are screwed. Unless the family has the means to move to another city that MLS team controls their rights. I know why they call them HG players, but it is marketed as if the teams completely developed those players and it is just not true. The whole Homegrown system would be an interesting topic to start on the forum.
The big thing is territories need to be removed and there needs to be a minimum HG player requirement on MLS teams to ensure that the clubs don't abandon their youth. The other thing is they need to be able to sign kids in their "territory" at any time. This way all players are provided with professional opportunities even if developed in an MLS academy or not. This would ensure that a club like Crossfire is able to send their best players to the pros instead of scrambling to find teams in europe or sending kids to college.
Are you sure this is true? I do not think that HG territories restrict movement of a youth player. If I understand it correctly, the territories only kick in when a contract is being signed. I could be wrong about this, but there are kids that move every year from one MLS market to another, just to join the Academy of that club. Two examples of this are Richards and Cappis. Dynamo couldn't restrict them from joining the FCD Academy, but they could restrict Cappis from signing a contract.
Yes, that is correct. You could go play for any academy (once your current DA contract expires) and as an academy player, you could play for their USL team without a contract. But you cannot sign an MLS contract without a release from the team that owns your HG rights. Problem is, you are playing and training with an MLS Academy that you can not sign an MLS contract with. There are ways around this I hear, but it is not easy.
Do USL teams have to abide by territories? They could have a mechanism to sign players and sell them on and reap the rewards.
I wonder if there'll even be an official announcement about HG territories being lifted? What raised my eye was Jack McGlynn moving from Queens, NY and BW Gotschee to join not NYCFC or NYRB (which I'm sure both wanted him), but the Union. I can't imagine he'd up and move to Philly's if he wouldn't be able to sign a HG contract with them eventually.
I doubt most teams wouldn't make some sort of deal if a player wanted to move to a rival club. Houston were jerks about it especially since Cappis never played for them. I would think TAM or GAM and maybe a s small sell on percentage "IF" the player turned into a big deal. The league could even have arbitration set up for disputes.
I think we probably won’t see Gio Reyna with this team at all. I think if he plays even a little for Dortmund he’s immediately with the full NT.
Maybe. But unless he gets playing time and produces for BVB in the 2nd half of this year would he really be an option to play in Nation’s league in June? U20 qualifying is in June and July so BVB should make him available....but it would cut into their preseason which wouldn’t be ideal for Gio to establish himself.
Maybe I’m misreading it but I think Reyna will play for Dortmund. I don’t expect him to get called up until after that.