It still seems strange to see ECNL without the Surf name attached given SD Surf was at the forefront of the founding members. Prolonged rumors Surf was returning to ECNL look to have been unfounded, which is a big win for GDA that Surf decided to stay. ECNL has LAFC Slammers who are a powerhouse but is left with the Blues B team and Slammers B team, plus Breakers, Strikers, Arsenal who are not great. Not to say GDA doesn't have warts (Los Angeles Premier, Pats) and I know there's a lot of Surf haters out there, but if I was ECNL right now I'd be looking to gain some stronger clubs in the SW conference (Rebels was a good add and Eagles too for us north of the city but most of the other additions of the previous 12 months are head scratchers).
Upcoming season as of today I'd definitely say GDAs schedule is more testing......but there's time for more moving and shaking this spring in the political cauldron that is Socal soccer.
EDIT....just realized this is an ECNL 2 thread. My views on that are that, like "DPL" it's just a power grab that won't help the kids but will help the bottom line of the organizations and clubs that run them.