This is interesting. Sporting Nebraska has both GA and ECNL + the ECNL/RL teams are both boys and girls teams.
https://www.sportingnebraskafc.com/
https://www.sportingnebraskafc.com/
Expansion
- Thread starter VegasParent
- Start date
Figured out what happened with Sporting Nebraska + ECNL.
It looks like ECNL was only allowing Sporting Nebraska girls into ECRL. Sporting Nebraska boys were doing very well in ECNL. I bet Sporting Nebraska said screw ECRL if they're not going to put us in the top league we'll just do GA. The boys will probably switch over to MLS Next soon as well.
I wonder how many other ECRL only girls clubs are looking at GA.
It looks like ECNL was only allowing Sporting Nebraska girls into ECRL. Sporting Nebraska boys were doing very well in ECNL. I bet Sporting Nebraska said screw ECRL if they're not going to put us in the top league we'll just do GA. The boys will probably switch over to MLS Next soon as well.
I wonder how many other ECRL only girls clubs are looking at GA.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
I'm guessing that Nebraska is in a tough spot since teams probably don't want to have them added to their league and drive/fly all the way to NE.
That doesnt make sense. ECNL Midwest league has teams from Kansas City and Iowa which are all driving distance from Omaha.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Eclipse holds all the cards for midwest ECNL. That's a 7 hour drive for them to Omaha. They probably already hate having to drive 5 hours to beat up on Iowa team.
Eclipse holds all the Midwest cards in the same way that Concorde Fire holds all the Southeast cards. They’re playing them the same way, and it’s having the same effect, building up GA in their respective regions.
FutsalIsFurReal
BRONZE
Does anyone know if it will be done as an A and B Team? this seems like a way of expanding while not pissing off the powerful clubs.
I believe the idea is to have 2x A teams in 1 Club.
With Tophat at the 2010 level one of their teams is #1 and the other is #48.
Personally I think giving top clubs 2 teams is a very good idea + something that's going to happen at ECNL over time. (Unofficially you're already seeing it at Slammers) If Surf didnt have all the tournament $$$ coming in they'd have a 2nd top ECNL team to get money that way. As long as the club is consistantly winning with both teams then good to go.
The potential issues 2x top teams per club brings is that it gives a single club 2 chances at a national run per age group and clubs might try to play top talent on both teams for wins.
Surf also has a few affiliates playing in GA
When is Orange County going to get a second club in GA ? I thought it would have been Strikers a year ago
Not really sure.
GA has a loose association with Next. What this means is that an existing Next club might go GA for girls or a new Next club might also do GA.
I could also see GA giving a club like City or maybe Albion a 2nd GA team. After Tophat and Lonestar City and Albion are logical choices for 2x GA teams.
Another option might be to get an ECNL club like Blues to switch to GA by giving them 2x GA teams. From a business perspective this would give Blues a really good chance of a national title at all ages with 2x Teams.
GA really needs teams in IE and Ventura more than anything. These seem like the obvious choices, because no existing club laying claim to the territory. It should be easy pick ups there.
In 2017/18 heres what the Girls side of DA looked like...
As you can see back in the day DA had IE and Camarillo covered.
Although the ECNL people might be against it. Eventually a big ECNL club with jump over to GA. Once one makes a move others will follow. They'll do it for the same seasons clubs jumped in 2016. Perceived wins for girls + higher level of play for Boys. (Via Next)
Its Deja Vu all over again.
As I understand it for ECNL, and I imagine GA is similar, it's not that you get a second team, it's that a club has to set up a separate program with a separate agreement for which all the same obligations must be met. This looks to be what Lonestar has done (see also Slammers/Koge, FC Stars, PDA, SLSG, FC Dallas, etc in ECNL).
As for Surf, tournament money is irrelevant. I don't think they can find enough qualified coaches (let alone players) for the girls' side to put together a full second program that would be competitive.
That being said, given where the numbers are for the boys' side are right now, it wouldn't shock me to see them try it there in the next few years.
As much as any club might try to spin it, unless there is a geography component to how the programs are broken up, there will never be two "top" teams at a club. They may play at/in the same level/flight/league, but the better talent will always be loaded on to one roster over others. See your TopHat example: Tophat Gold at every age group out performs TopHat Navy and I don't think there's an age group where Navy is ever above the middle of the table. Same thing with Slammers, they play in different divisions to make it less obvious(Mojave/Sonoran), but Koge is ranked higher on SR at just about every age group.
FutsalIsFurReal
BRONZE
Wow, thanks for that graphic. Hard to imagine anyone leaving ECNL right now, but there are all those teams in DA and yet many of them went to ECNL. Could happen again.
I agree that there’s always going to be 1 better team if there’s 2 top teams at a club. But in many situations that’s ok. Maybe parents on the 2nd top team don’t want to go to all the extra travel events the true top team qualifies for. Also with 2 teams there’s always a chance they could go #1 and #2 in league. Which would be pretty cool.
I think any club would LOVE to own the two top spots in a league table, it's just a low probability outcome, for a variety of reasons.
No new clubs but GA is doing something interesting.
GA has given Los Gatos United full access to GA at all age groups. Apparently before they had one or two age groups before + did well.
GA will allow CitySC DPL teams to play in GA events. This is probabaly a first step before giving City 2x GA teams. Assuming their DPL teams perform well.
GA has given Los Gatos United full access to GA at all age groups. Apparently before they had one or two age groups before + did well.
GA will allow CitySC DPL teams to play in GA events. This is probabaly a first step before giving City 2x GA teams. Assuming their DPL teams perform well.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
Los Gatos top team, state rank, by year:
05/04 (U19): 137
2006: 212
2007: 119
2008: 109
2009: 82
2010: 49
2011: 58
2012: 71
They would be expected to compete OK in GA, but somewhere below midpack in most age groups.
CitySC DPL teams:
05/04 (U19): 17
2006: 101
2007: 61
2008: 39
2009: 100
2010: 113
City's DPL teams would be expected to be quite a bit stronger than the top LGU team in most of the upper age groups.