I guess without US Soccer sanctioning, I'm still struggling to see the point of this DAII/DPL league. They could have just called these B teams "Academy Reserve", put them in SCDSL/CSL and then called it a day. They (DPL) are under the exact same restrictions as Presidio/CSL/SCDSL in regards to DPs, so the pathway is identical. And they're having to jump through a lot of hoops just to be eligible for National Cup and CRL. And there's no need to create entire new league just to enter a couple of showcases. There are already plenty available for CalSouth teams. And if you actually have a strong team, then there shouldn't be any problems entering into tournaments like Surf Cup, Legends, and etc.
Elite players will always be fine, but this league fragmentation really hurts the Flight 1.5 and Silver Elite level players and teams. If a mid-level Gold or Silver Elite player is playing alongside or against a mishmash of Silver-to-almost Bronze players, then it's very easy for those players to get lost in the mediocrity. A coach/scout will look at the game for 2 minutes, see the poor quality, and move on. It's also hard for emerging players to be challenged if the team only has about 3-4 players at or near that same level because those players are spread thin across 6 different leagues (Presidio, SDDA, DPL, SCDSL, CSL, and ECNL).
I also have serious doubts of the depth of the talent pools at these DA clubs. On the boys side, the 02,03, and 04 all had a similar split with the expanded DA age groups last year. Across 3 age groups, not a single "B" team of these DA clubs finished in the top half of a league table, almost none of them had a significant result at a major tournament, all (except 02s, still in progress) had relatively early exits in state/national cup, and the few that managed to qualify for CRL finished in the bottom half of the table. I know these are boys and not girls, but a strong Gold level "B" team at DA club is an exception rather than the rule from what I've seen. With the boys, LAUFA and Albion Garton managed to get a few good results here and there but I wouldn't want to make a "B" team league of LAUFA, Albion Garton, Surf Select, Real SoCal, Arsenal, Golden State, LAGSB in any of the age groups between 02,03,04. It would be a mix of mid-level Gold teams with borderline Bronze teams. It's better for the stronger "B" teams to play in the top flights of CSL/SDSL and the weaker ones to play in the lower levels of those leagues. That would be better for the player's development.
It'll be interesting to see how the mid-table/bottom table DPL teams compare to regular SCDSL/CSL/Presidio teams when we see them in mixed competitions. Some parents will be in for a rude awakening when they realize they had to jump through all these hoops just to struggle to beat a no-name Silver club from the high desert whose parents spent a quarter of the price on club fees and training.
I hope the boys don't follow in the footsteps of this DPL league. But I imagine this is just a "face-saving" league and it probably won't be around in its current form 2 years from now. I don't blame the parents at all. There's been a ton of changes over the last 12 months and it's extremely difficult to navigate through it, especially when we're also caught in the middle of a turf war between clubs and associations.