Maybe it's the former which is why MLS promoted two obscure TX clubs recently (Dallas Hornets and Houston Rangers)
ECNL Expansion and Contraction? MLS2?
- Thread starter Barca2021
- Start date
Well Well Well
Wow the plot does thicken. So much good info Barca. So it is the former....heading out of the MLS Next! Now the parents get to vote with their feet. Either they exodus out of the departing MLS Next Teams and ECNL definitively drops down to an also ran on the boys side, or ECNL becomes robust and breaks the boys first tier in two (between next and ECNL....excluding of course the academies who will always reign supreme as long as they have the monopoly on the pro pathway in the US).
Between Hornets and the LA Red Bulls (as well as the rumored moves behind the scenes to plan for a girl's academy system), MLS Next is clearly banking that parents will pick their product and "if you build it they will come". If it's the second, the system might benefit from having a clear two track approach (either MLS Next or ECNL affiliated all the way down) but that means the EA and E64 are doomed eventually.
It's chipping away, though, at the meritocracy argument these letter leagues used to justify their exclusionary behavior. Wouldn't surprise me if the government eventually comes sniffing around.
This could end in the courts soon if ECNL is "tieing" Boys ECNL with Girls ECNL.
www.ftc.gov
Tying the Sale of Two Products
Offering products together as part of a package can benefit consumers who like the convenience of buying several items at the same time.
Agree, but the Supreme Court has become much more loosey goosey recently with tying arrangements. If a two tier up and down exclusionary system does develop (where you have to be MLS Next or ECNL to get any high level access and teams are routinely excluded), I'd be more concerned with outright anticompete, especially under local state statutes, especially blue states (if some creative AG gets their hands on it). It's easier to justify if you are saying it's a meritocracy. Harder if you are promoting obscure clubs like the Bulls, Hornets, Rangers and saying no to others which are more established or serve underserved areas.This could end in the courts soon if ECNL is "tieing" Boys ECNL with Girls ECNL.
Tying the Sale of Two Products
Offering products together as part of a package can benefit consumers who like the convenience of buying several items at the same time.
They are not as De Anza, for instance, is still promoting ECNL Girls at tryouts. They are not promoting ECNL boys though.This could end in the courts soon if ECNL is "tieing" Boys ECNL with Girls ECNL.
Tying the Sale of Two Products
Offering products together as part of a package can benefit consumers who like the convenience of buying several items at the same time.
This is why I've been saying that ECNL needs to rename the Boys and Girls groups into seperate entities like Next and GA have done.
The change would be smoke and mirrors but it would be just enough to make them seem seperate + not "tied".
MLS2:
www.calnorth.org
MLS NEXT Tier 2 | Cal North Soccer
Learn about upcoming tournaments & how to sanction your event with Cal North's soccer organization as an affiliate member. Explore all the benefits that come with sanctioning your next event with the state youth soccer association.
www.calnorth.org
So much weirdness. Isn’t mls next trademarked to the mls??? So they have to have their sign off to do this. So why isn’t this being administered by mls next if they are using their nameMLS2:
MLS NEXT Tier 2 | Cal North Soccer
Learn about upcoming tournaments & how to sanction your event with Cal North's soccer organization as an affiliate member. Explore all the benefits that come with sanctioning your next event with the state youth soccer association.
calsouth is a mess and their league goes primarily through coast. Are they putting the nail in the coffin of coast or is this more of a state cup thing? Why would SoCal clubs put their second teams out of the ea to put them in this non national competition without national showcase potential particularly with the national academy league being set up? Given the mess calsouth is in as seen in the recent minutes, why would calnorth think there is going to be any significant level of competition? If not everyone goes that drops the number of games from a robust at least once every week in ea to something more akin to e64 and facing the same opponents multiple times
with the exit of several boys teams from mls next in Texas, it’s pretty clear that nationally the boys side outside of the academies is a bit of a mess. Someone has to fix this. It makes player development very arbitrary and haphazzard depending on whether you are fortunate to be at the right place right time depending on what your club does, or just encourages the churn of club hopping making developing long term training impossible.
Ps the advancement into the mls next teams part of the press release is interesting. This implies it’s not for benchers (which is part of the entire rationale for national academy league since mls next teams tend to have rosters larger than those that can dress for games). It also implies it’s only for mls next teams clubs. Is this going to be something for third teams (then what happens to ea 2) and if so the mls next “2” is funny.
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
CalNorth is already the walking dead above U10 (link to Spring schedule). They have a single bracket for U13 and above, that encompasses teams all over the state just to have 7 or 8 teams. They do not charge a fee for teams to register. Haven't checked all the brackets, but just looking at the blowouts shown in U15, I quickly looked at SR: The top team in bracket is higher than the bottom team in bracket by 10 goals.
Are they going to rename that single bracket (which currently would be lower than bronze in NorCal comparing SR ratings) "MLS2", or are they expecting so many new kids entering that "MLS2" to be able to have more competitive matchups? I'd think the first option would be non-sensical, while the second to be unlikely. Will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Are they going to rename that single bracket (which currently would be lower than bronze in NorCal comparing SR ratings) "MLS2", or are they expecting so many new kids entering that "MLS2" to be able to have more competitive matchups? I'd think the first option would be non-sensical, while the second to be unlikely. Will be interesting to see how it pans out.
In either scenario you outline (neither one of which involves the mls next clubs putting their second teams wholesale into this) why would mls next authorize their trademark to be associated with such a potential debacle, especially considering what’s going on with national academy league on the east coast?
The combination of MLS next adding many random teams, not on par with the competitive nature expected of the MLS next league, while having an exclusive league within a league (mls academies only) has really created a problem for the clubs. Unless you are in an mls academy team and traveling a lot, your competition will not be very strong. On top of that, players can't play high school.
For TX, they don't see a benefit to this league anymore as MLS academies still recruit from ECNL teams (not exclusively from MLS next teams) and ECNL teams can foster relationships with international academies for their players, which is becoming more popular and more financially lucrative for soccer players.
MLS Next is becoming quite a mess for non MLS academy teams. EA is dissolving quickly because people were playing politics too soon, creating EA2 and then denying teams that deserve to be in.
For San Diego, once the MLS academy is up and running, there won't be much quality for the remaining MLS Next teams. If they want a strong group, they should start it up before the team is playing so they can recruit the best players in San Diego with the chance of playing for their first team once it starts playing.
Yes, It implies that it is only for MLS teams, yet two of the four founding clubs are not MLS Next teams (Valley Surf and Silicon Valley Eagles)
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Founding member Silicon Valley Eagles logo is poor man's version/ripoff of PSG 
whatithink
GOLD
Does ECNL claim their system is based on merit? They can say their girls platform is the best but they can't say that about the boys. Either way, its a club based system, not a team based system. They can't even say that they allow the best clubs in a state to join and/or that their selection criteria are empirical and without bias. Within that they can't say that those clubs have the best teams.
They are obviously leveraging the girls platform membership as leverage to force clubs to go all in on the boys side, on the basis that everyone wants in on the girls side. With the two tier MLS system, clubs probably rationalize it as better to have ECNL G&B than just MLS Next, not least as their best boys talent will get picked up by the MLS academies if they are that good.
At the end of the day, ECNL is trying to grow their business using the best tool they have - threats, rather than platform merit.
Code
SILVER ELITE
I don't think the ECNL has leveraged the girls platform to force clubs to enter their boys side at all. It is just a talking point of MLS Next clubs. The evidence of who is dropped from the ECNL boys side points to lack of performance on the second team in clubs that want to have their first team in MLS Next and the second team in ECNL. The problem is that the boys ECNL teams are on average, just as good as the MLS Next teams. Most clubs will have a very hard time fielding two teams that are playing at the same level. When the second team can't perform at standards for ECNL play, the ECNL is telling the clubs they need to play a higher performing team in the league, or they are out. The club is deciding to keep teams in MLS Next, and leave ECNL, then claiming ECNL "kicked them out because....". But, as we are all seeing, the clubs in Texas have realized MLS Next is not providing a better product than ECNL, so why bother with the additional drama and conflicts associated with the MLS second tier leagues, ie. EA, MLS2, EA2, NAL. Just move over to ECNL, and your second teams go ECRL. Simple, easy, and it involves the the girls side as well. I think the problem MLS Next has is there is not a related product for the girls side (the GA is a different organization completely, they are not the partner of MLS).
whatithink
GOLD
I'm not buying the lack of performance. De Anza standings
B10: 7 of 12
B09: 11 of 12
B08: 6 of 12
B07: 12 of 12
B06: 7 of 12
B04/05: 9 of 12
They are not the worst performing club in NorCal ECNL, but maybe ECNL are also removing those below them too, otherwise what's the criteria?
Code
SILVER ELITE
That's a valid point. I'm not familiar with all the NorCal clubs. How many NorCal clubs are putting up mediocre to poor standings, AND have a higher performing team they are not playing in the ECNL for each of their age groups? I wonder if facility requirements could also be causing friction with the League. Providing quality fields and trainers for all the games in one weekend, (MLS, ECNL boys, ECNL girls, NPL boys, NPL girls) may have caused them conflicts? Again, it's just speculation until someone steps up and shares the correspondence from the league about why they are being removed. I'm sure plenty of people received it; I doubt the ECNL just sent a tweet/text and said "your out because we hate 2nd teams." There certainly is something official floating around out there. If it isn't being shared by the club, there is a reason. If the ECNL is trying to manipulate club, I'm sure they would have shared that widely.