The only reason GA even exists is due to the Girls DA folding back during covid. That was never even a league prior to 2017. We had ecnl and usys. and the talent always heavily favored ecnl, until, the new shiny penny came along aka DA, and it was a train wreck. When all of those ECNL clubs jumped ship and went to the DA platform, that caused the biggest riff between US Soccer aka DA and ecnl. After all of that hype and they folded, ECNL wouldn't let all of the clubs back in. They let a select few back. That's why you still see some former heavy hitters on the outside looking in. ECNL had zero problems saying no re-entry to a lot of clubs. All those clubs had to go somewhere, and hence...GA. A majority of the players from DA went back in search of ecnl. and the rest is....another chapter that is the history of bad ideas.