Does anyone going through the process now (or within the last year) know what revenue-sharing will look like for college soccer players at a top DI school? Or at least what promises are being made?
Soccer ROI on my DD
- Thread starter Bay-tastic
- Start date
What's interesting to consider is what if your kid played NPL and you put the difference between some super league (12k in your example) into what it costs for college recruiting camps. Assuming you're looking to cast a wide net vs targeting a specific school. I wonder how much college coaches really weigh super league participation into the decision making process. This is assuming grades and player size are the same. I also wonder how far a 10k Christmas present to the coach wrapped in a white envelope with your kids name on it would go.
Sorry, I wasn’t specifically responding to the OP’s ECNL cost breakdown; more the cost of youth soccer generally, which other people have brought up.
Our club was NPL. There were still travel costs related to being a competitive team that needed to play in showcases, nationals, etc.
So if it was $7k a year not $12k, it’s still a lot of money over time, and people have been asking the ROI question for years. And my answer has always been: if you’re looking to break even (or make a profit) on your kid’s sport, you’re almost definitely going to fail, in a lot of ways. But if you’re going to spend money on your kid’s childhood, a sport that becomes a healthy and positive part of their lives is a good investment.
Now if it’s a thread on the relative value of ECNL and GA, or whether our youth pyramid could be set up in a better way? Sure, I’ve got thoughts, probably similar to yours.
Our club was NPL. There were still travel costs related to being a competitive team that needed to play in showcases, nationals, etc.
So if it was $7k a year not $12k, it’s still a lot of money over time, and people have been asking the ROI question for years. And my answer has always been: if you’re looking to break even (or make a profit) on your kid’s sport, you’re almost definitely going to fail, in a lot of ways. But if you’re going to spend money on your kid’s childhood, a sport that becomes a healthy and positive part of their lives is a good investment.
Now if it’s a thread on the relative value of ECNL and GA, or whether our youth pyramid could be set up in a better way? Sure, I’ve got thoughts, probably similar to yours.
(I have no idea if $7k is accurate. Trying to guesstimate club dues, tournament and ref fees, gas/hotels/airfare/food for a typical year of league, showcases, and tournaments. Maybe it was less than that; other interests would have had their own costs. And not every family had to pay that, as we offered a lot of financial aid. But the basic point I agree with is: yeah, competitive club soccer can cost real money, and literal ROI should be irrelevant. Been off these boards for the last couple years, and I'll be off them again now! Have a good 2026 everyone! Check out AN AMERICAN GAME, wherever you get your podcasts
https://anamericangame.buzzsprout.com )
You're saying all these social posts were seeing of kids committing to colleges after 6/15 of their sophomore year don't have any scholarships attached to it? So they are committing to just playing soccer for these colleges 2 years early? I don't believe this.
aong cangkol
SILVER ELITE
According to this FBI investigation, "donation" to college coach cost a lot more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsity_Blues_scandal.
Apparently 450k for a place in Yale's soccer team...
"In one such incident, Michael Center, the men's tennis coach at the University of Texas (UT), accepted about $100,000 to designate an applicant as a recruit for the Texas Longhorns tennis team.[7] A similar fraud occurred at Yale,[24] where the then-head coach of the women's soccer team, Rudolph "Rudy" Meredith, allegedly accepted a $450,000 bribe to falsely identify an applicant as a recruit.[58][59] USC's senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel and water polo coach Jovan Vavic allegedly received $1.3 million and $250,000, respectively, for similar frauds.[60]"
It's probabaly less if your kid is a viable player to recruit and has good grades.According to this FBI investigation, "donation" to college coach cost a lot more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsity_Blues_scandal.
Apparently 450k for a place in Yale's soccer team...
"In one such incident, Michael Center, the men's tennis coach at the University of Texas (UT), accepted about $100,000 to designate an applicant as a recruit for the Texas Longhorns tennis team.[7] A similar fraud occurred at Yale,[24] where the then-head coach of the women's soccer team, Rudolph "Rudy" Meredith, allegedly accepted a $450,000 bribe to falsely identify an applicant as a recruit.[58][59] USC's senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel and water polo coach Jovan Vavic allegedly received $1.3 million and $250,000, respectively, for similar frauds.[60]"
WatchthemPlay
SILVER
I wouldn’t say “most” are happening right after 6/15. Those are the top top players and yes they are getting scholarships. The majority of kids don’t commit then. Even of the kids who commit early, many are going to schools that are low cost/in state/WUE eligible schools that the scholarship is literally $8k a year. And yes I know many kids who committed early who are getting a partial scholarship at very low cost schools because they want to play in college. Those situations are drastically different than a full ride at UNC out of state. All “full rides” or “scholarships” aren’t built the same and generally everyone is very hush hush. The reality would surprise you.
Cost is truly based on the team and the amount of play. I have 10 year old players who have spend/investment of over 20k a year each in soccer. Between travel, hotel, airfare, club, camps etc that amount can easily be crossed. To break it down to see how that adds up in SoCal:(I have no idea if $7k is accurate. Trying to guesstimate club dues, tournament and ref fees, gas/hotels/airfare/food for a typical year of league, showcases, and tournaments. Maybe it was less than that; other interests would have had their own costs. And not every family had to pay that, as we offered a lot of financial aid. But the basic point I agree with is: yeah, competitive club soccer can cost real money, and literal ROI should be irrelevant. Been off these boards for the last couple years, and I'll be off them again now! Have a good 2026 everyone! Check out AN AMERICAN GAME, wherever you get your podcasts
- Club Fees 3000
- Ref Fees 100
- Tournament Fees 800 (1k per tournament, 8 tournaments last year)
- Hotel Costs 6000 (Avg 250 per room, 2 rooms per family, 12 nights as 6 tournaments were at least 2 hours drive away)
- 4 Weeks of Summer / Winter Camps 2000
- Mad Cup in Spain 5000 (Airfare for 2, parent and child, hotel rooms, cup fees etc)
- Private training 6000
That above adds up to over 20,000 per child on one of our teams last year. That is not including gas, travel meals, coaches expenses etc. Mind you this was a u11 team playing 9 a side with 11 players on the team. There are at least a 1000 players from the SoCal area alone year that participate in the Barcelona, Athletico Madrid and Real Madrid camps in spain on top of all of this which runs about 5k to 7k per minor and adult with airfare if not more.
Just as an insight in the SoCal OC area it is fairly common for families to be spending 10k to 15k at least a year for the "youth athletes" starting from the age of 8/9. Again this might be the 1 percenters but it is still a significant number of families.
Can you explain more? It would be nice if there were some examples of deals players got from the 2027 class. 2028 is up next.
WatchthemPlay
SILVER
Scholarships range from covering books to full ride. The actual cost/value of the full ride varies greatly depending if you are in state, out of state, private or public colleges. Although 28 scholarships are now allowed for schools who have opted into the settlement (most top D1 schools), many are still only funding 14 full scholarships. There are usually some kids on full scholarship and the remaining scholarships are divided up among the rest of the players. So, things like a 25% scholarship aren’t abnormal. Also keep in mind some kids don’t get any money. They are invited to play, get academic money to make it feasible for the family and that’s it. There is no standard deal. Most kids/families don’t openly share the scholarship amount.
If your kid is getting a lot of interest from college coaches prior to a June 15th (college coach will work through the club coach) or tons of calls on June 15th, it will be pretty clear your kid is in the top group that will get more money. Otherwise, it is very school to school dependent.
Here is another thing. Most of the soccer players already have 3.8 or higher GPAs. What strictly academic scholarships would they get even if they don't play soccer at the school? What would they get if they were just a student?
Example is this
AZ girls ECNL programs send a lot of girls (probably 7 or 8 a year) to Northern Arizona Univ in Flagstaff. There is a program at NAU where if you graduated from an Arizona High School and had a GPA of over 3.75 your tuition, books and etc are covered. All you have to pay is for food and lodging. 100% of the girls being sent from the clubs qualify for that program. So do they even get a soccer scholarship? Likely they say they do but in reality they are covered under the Lumberjack scholars award. So literally these families have paid 12k a year x 5 years for "elite soccer" for scholarships they would have gotten anyway.
ROI = 60k spent and zero benefit.
Example is this
AZ girls ECNL programs send a lot of girls (probably 7 or 8 a year) to Northern Arizona Univ in Flagstaff. There is a program at NAU where if you graduated from an Arizona High School and had a GPA of over 3.75 your tuition, books and etc are covered. All you have to pay is for food and lodging. 100% of the girls being sent from the clubs qualify for that program. So do they even get a soccer scholarship? Likely they say they do but in reality they are covered under the Lumberjack scholars award. So literally these families have paid 12k a year x 5 years for "elite soccer" for scholarships they would have gotten anyway.
ROI = 60k spent and zero benefit.
I think you are missing the point if that is how you count ROI. Both as a parent of 2 soccer players, a former player myself and now coach if you are only looking at spending money in soccer now for a potential "scholarship" for college then you really need to rethink your finances and need assistance managing them. If college scholarship is your goal, take 2k out of 12K a year from age 7 to 17 and put it in a regular savings account and it will end up paying for college in itself. Use that 2k for your child to go out and have fun, buy them a disneyland or universal pass and let them run free, they will still end up in college for theoretically 0 spend.
We didn't know what to expect until 6/15, then realized almost every school mentioned right away that we wouldn't have to pay anything to send our daughter to college.
Our daughter is getting around $100K a year for college. The school she's at doesn't have much NIL, but most other schools mentioned NIL ranging from $5K - $25K a year. She has an apparel contract so she's getting extra money there. We know there is much more NIL at some other schools for select players.
Our daughter is getting around $100K a year for college. The school she's at doesn't have much NIL, but most other schools mentioned NIL ranging from $5K - $25K a year. She has an apparel contract so she's getting extra money there. We know there is much more NIL at some other schools for select players.
Or Just don't pay the 12k for 5 years play local until the last 2 then go to travel team if your kid really really wants to play in college. That is the most efficient way to do it. Low cost local teams until it matters. That and clubs sell the dream "if you play ECNL you will get D1 offers" they don't talk ROI at all they want kids to want the highest level team regardless of age or ability. They also don't mention that D1 can be a college you have never heard of on the east coast with a total student population smaller than most metro high schools that has questionable academics. They also never mention that even with Scholarships 90% of the players will lose 50k by playing on travel teams. Oh .. but its the bonding experience... you get nearly the same results playing local for a fraction of the cost.
Daughter received money through previous rules for last semester and this current semester. Pretty much equal amounts across the board for the team with some tie ins to grade. Told it will change for next year and team game contribution will be considered as a factor (more for starters, less for bench players, maybe tied to minutes). Don't know if it will be more or less at this time.
Bay-tastic
BRONZE
Yeah, there’s another angle here. If your player has any real talent, she’ll want ECNL. And her friends will "push" her with “You’re good, why aren’t you playing ECNL?”
It’s like my daughter wanting Adidas Sambas because every teen thinks they’re cool. I can’t tell her, “Those are hype, just wear New Balance 608s like dad.” That will never fly, especially if she knows I could afford the Sambas. And it’s even tougher for families who simply can’t afford to keep up for no good reason.
Youth sports organizations in the U.S. need to rethink where this is heading. Families shouldn’t be FOMO-ed into or swept into a system that takes advantage of them, especially when sports can offer so many real benefits for kids as people mentioned here. It wasn’t like this when I grew up playing competitive sports, and it’s disappointing to see how far things have drifted.
Honestly, Netflix could make an in-depth documentary on the darker side of youth sports in US like families draining savings, kids being misled, all the bureaucratic shuffles at every level, and a system that piles on unnecessary pressure.
I'm in LA. Raised a kid in soccer here. Helped start and run a club. Very familiar with the demographics and economics of youth soccer in SoCal.
My only point was that spending money on youth sports in order to optimize your kid's DI/NIL/pro payoff is not, to me, a healthy way to think about it--for you or your kid. You can't control where their athletic ceiling will be, injuries, or whether they'll always share your sports dream. But if you can find an affordable way for them to play soccer and see how far they want to take it, there are lots of great outcomes: from a national team to a college club team. As long as the game was a positive part of their development, that's a win.
Now, even if it's affordable, spending $18k a year on private coaching, a tournament in Spain, and a Real Madrid camp for a 10-year-old is not a choice I would (or did) make, but I wish you and yours the best.
We've had two kids play a sport at different P4 colleges. The first kid was in a different sport (not soccer), used the sport to get into a high academic school that would otherwise not have been able to get into and got very little scholarship money. We spent about $4k/year on that youth club sport (mostly local games, with maybe 1-2 travel weekends per year). Graduated, got a good job, happy and out of the house. Second kid is playing at an SEC school currently. She gets all tuition, fees, etc paid, plus about $20k per year for room/board and the school provides 3 meals per day at their athlete dining hall (food there is ridiculously good). Athletes there also get things like free tutoring, tickets for other sporting events, etc. She gets some small amounts of NIL money, but her school has no revenue share for soccer so that comes from her hustling to sign-up with different partners and posting on social media (maybe ~$3-4k/year). She played ECNL/DA from age 9 on, but we never paid for things like a private trainer, always only had one parent travel to showcases (never the entire family) nor did we do tournaments in Europe, so we probably spent $7-8k/year. We also never paid for a college ID camp or college recruiting service, and I don't think you need to if you are on a good ecnl team. I guess we probably measure ROI differently for each kid, but both were worth the time and money from our view. I am not sure we would've felt the same if we spent $20k/year on their youth club sports though.