Maybe even 2 of those that are listed...I wish they would hurry up and announce it already.I know you are spot on with one that you have listed.
I wouldn't bet my money on Strikers.I'm going out on a limb and sayin only 3 possibly 4 more SoCal teams:
Legends
Real SoCal
LAGSD or Albion
Strikers
I wouldn't bet my money on Strikers.
It might help to look at the boys side and the philosophy a bit.
Only few full DA for boys exist per area:
LA: LAG, LAFC, RSC, FCGS
OC: Pats, Strikers
IE: Arsenal
SD: Surf, Nomads
There are others that have just U14 and below like LAUFA, Albion and so on, and even more for U12 like West Coast.
There are about 100 clubs in the entire US with the full DA (meaning that a club has U18/16/14/12 DA teams) status and we have 9 or about 10% of the total. When DA started, there were less than 70 clubs across the country.
One of the key decision criteria for USSF is the distribution of clubs in the region versus total player population. It would be a real change in their approach if they choose to put more concentration in a single area than the boys side.
Just passing along a different perspective and bit of DA track record....
SoCal Girls DA clubs can only produce 10-12 players per club, per HS graduation year, because of the combined age groups. That is a total of only 96 SoCal players committing to play college soccer, thus ECNL will still be a viable option for college exposure.What's going to happen with ECNL, especially if more SoCal clubs are picked? Does it become the B team for these clubs?
Also, how long can ECNL survive? I get the talent pool argument in SoCal, but out of Socal won't the good ECNL teams turn into DA teams? Without the DA players, is it worth it to travel to play the B++ players from out of state when, I would predict, that there will better ECNL and non-ECNL clubs all over SoCal?
I guess I'm looking for thoughts on how DA is going to impact ECNL clubs outside of SoCal. In turn, how is that going to impact SoCal soccer. I know that may be the tail wagging the dog, but ECNL will only be as good as the collective level of play.
IMO, US Soccer isn't putting to much weight, if the club already has a Boys DA. I say this, because SoCal Blues, Slammers and Beach FC do NOT have a boys DA program. What they do have in common are all 3 are successful girls club.
If I was placing a bet and US Soccer is adding 4 additional SoCal clubs. My picks would be WCFC, Legends, Eagles and RSC in no particular order.
Same.There will need to be representation in the east...Legends or Arsenal and my money is on Legends.
There will need to be representation in the east...Legends or Arsenal and my money is on Legends.
Mirage, I have been hearing rumors that US Soccer will be releasing more SoCal Girls DA clubs for the Fall of 2017. As you posted, there will need to be additional SoCal DA clubs in order to keep league travel costs down. I highly doubt the clubs can absorb free training fees and free travel costs for NorCal and Northwest league games.I wasn't saying that boys clubs will automatically get girls program. I doubt it, actually. I believe each will be judged on their own merit.
The only reason to bring up the boys side is to talk about numbers. The three you've mentioned are a part of the launching 25 clubs announced (Beach, Slammers, Blues) along with Surf. That's 4 out of 25 clubs or 16% of the total.
All I am saying is that it is highly unlikely that they will add 4 more So Cal teams as they expand at this point. Perhaps as the expansion occurs over the next few years but for now, there is 1 in LA (Beach), 2 in OC (Blues and Slammers, but who knows where Slammers girls DA will be given that it has LAFC attached to it so it may be doing double duty), and 1 in SD (Surf). Definitely need one in the valley (RSC?) but that's about it.
The practical side is the travel and game schedule. They need certain amount of teams in a region to setup the games. So I do expect more teams but there is the entire west coast to cover. There are total of 9 teams now in the Western region so that's minimum of 16 games. Play each other twice, home and away. Not enough games for a 10 months season so they'll need more teams, but where is the question.....