Yes they do!!!
Southwest Changes?
- Thread starter SuperSoccerStar
- Start date
From the Spot
SILVER
ECNL partners with the NWSL to create a new 14-team league. Each NWSL team affiliates with one local ECNL club in their respective area to form their team. NWSL gets a dedicated development league but gets to off load the startup costs onto the ECNL clubs (fields, coaches, etc). In turn ECNL gets to maintain their current structure for all clubs. Then, they just offer the same thing to USL Super League clubs when they're ready and just expand the top league.
That could work and is not such a bad idea. However, ECNL must become an open league by promoting for doing a great job and demoting for doing a poor job, like losing. Maybe the top two winners of GA can promote to ECNL Next Pro and the two last place teams in ECNL get dropped down to GA. Let's say EA64 is the next best. The top two in EA64 go to GA and the last two go to DPL. Have some sort of reward and punishment for winning and losing. "Development" can't be the prize for goodness sakes. Now the Pro teams and colleges can take a look at the best. Young 15 year olds can promote to the Pros. Those who love school and want to be a lawyer can go to college. That might be the best decision. I see hope for the girls. Clarity and understanding is very important.
Agree on the steps you've defined. However i believe GA and ECNL are interchangeable.
Will NWSL choose to go against US Soccer and partner with ECNL to make NWSL Next happen? Or, will NWSL copy everything MLS has done with US Soccer and MLS Next when creating NWSL Next?
Add in that ECNL hasn't been playing nice with MLSN clubs lately and it seems like one direction is clear.
NWSL Next + GA + US Soccer aligns all the big groups and copies MLSN. Also this setup gives NWSL 90% control of NWSLN. (10% being US Soccer)
NWSL Next + ECNL means NWSL and ECNL would have 50/50 control of NWSLN and you'd have US Soccer in the background pissed about NWSL choosing ECNL causing problems.
But who knows maybe NWSLN will be completely independent of leagues and just provided to top clubs regardless of which league they play in. Although this would be a scheduling nightmare.
Great takes. Interesting way to look at it and you might be right. NWSL is not going to be bossed around by ECNL. ECNL is a closed league. They decided who gets in and who gets out. No rules either. When my dd played her last year of club with Strikers, they got the boot from ECNL because of not having their top biys be in ECNL. My wife's nephew got involved in the pissing match out in the IE with Legends. He bailed on ECNL Boys and Legends to go for the prize of Pro and went MLS. His parents have season tickets to LAFC. This was a few years ago. He just quit because he's no Pro. He does have college potential and is going to shake the tree June 15th.
Really doubt ECNL does that. They want control. Why they formed US Club soccer and didn't go under the USYS umbrella. Plus.. with ECNL kicking all the clubs with MSLN really doubt the clubs will want them involved. They can do this with GA with no static, no fight for control and good will from the clubs. DA moved to MSLN on the boys side, seems right that DA goes to GA (nwsl next) on the girls side. USYS partners with MLS. US club soccer does not.
There's no shame in going all in to try and play professionally and it not working out. As long as the players chosen to play pro are realistically better.
The problem with girls youth soccer is there's so many paywalls between high level talent and playing professionally.
Code
GOLD
I think ECNL has already indicated what their intended next move is. They have set up the framework for a nationwide league that provides a pyramid system integrating regional and local leagues. Under the umbrella of US Club Soccer you have ECNL-ECRL-NPL; next year they are including ECRL2. The intention seems clear that they are setting up a nationwide pyramid promotion and relegation system. With ECRL2, high performing clubs who have been "locked out" of the "elite" leagues will have the opportunity to be promoted into ECRL as a club. Not sure if it will actually happen, but the information being discussed about ECRL2 in the SOCAL League was that the club with the best record of teams U13-U18 would be promoted into ECRL the following year as a club. A club that doesn't have teams across all the age groups can still play individual teams in NPL. High performing ECRL clubs get promoted to ECNL, that already happens. How will relegation work? IDK. I don't think they are openly advertising it; I suspect they are working on setting the hook on the idea of promotion for a season or two before they drop the hammer on underperforming clubs. Like it or hate it, a nation wide pyramid structure league with a promotion/relegation system will throw a big wrench in all the politicking of letter leagues, and any closed league MLSN/NWSL monopolies.
The problem with this if SOCAL was to start funneling into ECRL2 or ECRL they'd end up frustrating GA or other league clubs who currently put their youngers and 3rd/4th older teams in SOCAL. Eventually they'd create their own youth + 3rd/4th older team league. This would likely split SOCAL in half for the number of participants.
Nobody wants to bring league wars to the youngers and 3rd/4th team level.
Code
GOLD
If a club with GA had thier 3rd or 4th team promoted to ECRL the GA club would be frustrated? Not likely. The older 3rd and 4th teams of GA/EA clubs are not competing with NPL and above level teams. Frustrating 6 or 7 clubs by giving 30-40 clubs access to the top tiers of play is a isn't going to split the SOCAL league in half. Those 3rd and 4th teams don't want to be in a sparce league with only 5-10 clubs across the Southwest, where they end up traveling up into LA and down to San Diego for regular league games to play the other GA/EA clubs 3rd and 4th teams. All the burden of higher level play with no benefit. Those 3rd and 4th level teams would just switch clubs to continue to play local. Just look at SoCal Elite and their attempt at SoCal Super League.
That may well be their plan but.. it won't be nationwide. AZ had NPL last year. The big clubs with ECNL left the existing USYS based state leagues and formed their own NPL based league. Effectively creating a second state league (SAAZ - Soccer Alliance of Arizona). They put all their competitive teams there and combined had more girls teams than the existing state league. Boys on the other hand had less.
Well not sure if being kicked out of Boys ECNL had anything to do with it but the NPL league is dissolving after one year. All the big clubs back to the USYS based state leagues, NPL league is folding. Honestly there wasn't enough teams to have both. It was mass dilution on both sides. ECNL/US Club Soccer is strong in SoCal but not everywhere. They will not get enough participation to have a viable Nationwide league beyond the ECNL/RL level. Also pretty sure those clubs with ECNL that are borderline will agree to relegation. Having ECNL is a huge selling point they will be very reluctant to put that in play. For some clubs losing ECNL status will effectively kill them off or at a minimum set them back years and thousands in revenue.
Some of the bigger GA clubs in Southern California have A LOT of teams participating in SOCAL. Even some of the smaller GA clubs have a decent number of teams participating in SOCAL.
It wouldn't be a smart business move by SOCAL to align with ECNL just for automatic promotion into ECRL/ECRL2. They could potentially lose all clubs that aren't ECNL.
It totally makes sense from an ECNL perspective
Code
GOLD
It may not happen nationwide, we will have to see. But it has been happening in NorCal, going into the third year there. And Texas has been doing something similar the past year. If it becomes a successful model in NorCal, Texas, and SoCal, I'm sure you will see many other regions follow.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
That's certainly a possibility, but it also has already occurred in other regions, including Norcal - with a straight line promotion from NPL to ECNL-RL. There very well may be region-specific concerns and bumpiness along the way, but it does look like the train is moving in a somewhat cohesive direction.
Yea... have you checked the number of teams in Texas? Its a tiny fraction of the total teams. NPL other than Cali is tiny. I wouldn't really call it a train.. more like a golf cart. If you check the NPL teams in Texas it immediately redirects you to the ECRL schedule. So no real NPL just ECRL There. North Texas has about 10 teams per age group. Very long way to go before this becomes a actual platform and many bumps along the way.
Soccerjunkie24
SILVER
Hearing PS out at West Coast.....
If true its because of performance.
West Coast has all the elements needed to be successful in GA.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
Yea... have you checked the number of teams in Texas? Its a tiny fraction of the total teams. NPL other than Cali is tiny. I wouldn't really call it a train.. more like a golf cart. If you check the NPL teams in Texas it immediately redirects you to the ECRL schedule. So no real NPL just ECRL There. North Texas has about 10 teams per age group. Very long way to go before this becomes a actual platform and many bumps along the way.
I think you may be missing the forest for the trees. It's not primarily about expanding the NPL name, and having teams convert over to join the NPL league from somewhere else. It's instead about normalizing ECNL-RL as the gateway from "mass-market" club soccer to ECNL. It's why the name of the top level NPL just was re-branded ECNL-RL. It's why you're seeing what you're seeing on the Texas site. If it becomes a primary pathway for clubs/teams to enter ECNL - it not only builds on itself, but it is a key part of that pyramid strategy listed by others here.
My opinion - I think your statement that GA and ECNL are interchangeable is very optimistic. For example, 2011's have 2 GA's in the top 10. The 10's have 1, the 09's have 1, the 08's have 1, and the 07's have -0- and the '05/'06's have 1. That is using Soccer Rankings which is in my experience the only ranking service worth its salt. Not saying to put down GA but in terms of numbers, it has a way to go.
I am very happy that the '11 Surf gets to play the two best GA teams in San Diego in the Club America tournament (City and SDSC). There just aren't many opportunities anymore due to top clubs not really motivated to enter tournaments let alone play them to win. This is due to ECNL league being the all important criteria for the national championships and therefore playing time is about winning. A policy in Surf (I don't totally agree with) is to go the opposite extreme and see tournaments as mostly giving non starters playing time which doesn't allow for good comparisons with teams played in the tournament. I just guess perhaps we have gone a little far in this "it's not about winning" approach. We need balance.
All in all, I am cheering for GA. Competition is what sport is all about and it rewards excellence and punishes complacency.
I'm looking at NWSLN and GA or ECNL from a business perspective only.
Free development sells itself.
Wherever NWSL lands, the associated youth league will be a winner.
Oh i agree that is the intent but most states/metro areas have one league for all the non letter leagues. NPL comes in and tries to establish a foothold, splitting off clubs from the existing leagues. Problem is there aren't enough non letter league teams to make it viable. NPL > ECRL > ECNL. Its a closed system all run by US Club Soccer. I get it.. US Club soccer in total control. The thing is they have to establish NPL as the lowest league to make that path work. Not many areas have enough teams to do that. That is what happened in AZ. NPL came in backed by all the ECNL clubs and split. Took over half the teams in the metro phoenix area. But it wasn't enough. Plus it really pissed off the local soccer community. Not sure if ECNL kicking both PHX Rising and RSL out of Boys ECNL had anything to do with it (timing is suspect) but the NPL league as well as SAAZ is folding. NPL lasted a year. PHX is the 5th largest city in the country if we don't have enough teams who will?
Are you saying ECNL is just going to start awarding ECRL to a bunch of clubs without NPL in the area? Not sure that works either. It might but they better get busy. For 2024-25 there are 5 new DPL teams in Metro Phoenix this year running from 2011s to 2007s So DPL just gained 25 teams adding to the existing 6. So 41 total. in AZ ECRL girls still at 15. EA awarded 2 to other clubs for a total of 8 EA clubs. ECNL is missing the boat.