Mystery Train
GOLD
I'm guessing the latter.
LA Galaxy launch fully funded teams
- Thread starter mahrez
- Start date
madcow
SILVER ELITE
My guess is most families will have no clue that the pay increase they had to endure will be to fund the 3 DA teams. What I have found is unless you hang out on a soccer forum all day, you don't really have an idea of the inner workings of your club. I'm thinking it will be business as usual.
Dos Equis
GOLD
The budgets clubs produced with their applications showed a $200,000 - $250,000 per year cost to run the academy, so I understand. Without sponsorship, that would imply the other 500-700 paying players in these clubs (not including the Blues, who have far fewer players) need to pay $300-$400 more each to fully fund an Academy.
Word is LAFC secured sponsorship pre-application and can scholarship most (if not all) players. Pats making theirs fully funded would provide another reason why they might have been invited.
The lure of the academy may help justify higher fees to pre-academy families, who believe being in the club might give them a leg-up once academy begins, but B team player getting promoted is less frequent when the A teams are "elite."
mahrez
SILVER ELITE
DA has a scholarship program based in economic need. Players apply and if approved those funds are send to the member club. These funds are available to all members.
LadiesMan217
GOLD
Now, will either one of the MLS Clubs involved pony up for a Women's Pro Team?
As a father of 2 girls who play, I'm excited to see the pro teams getting involved and growing the women's game.
As a father of 2 girls who play, I'm excited to see the pro teams getting involved and growing the women's game.
You read my mind. I sincerely hope this is an indication of future plans for a pro league for women.
younothat
PREMIER
Galaxy owners operated the Los Angeles Sol in the WPS for three years until they gave back the team to the WPS in 2010 and folded. Marta was on this team in 2009.
The current 10 team http://www.nwslsoccer.com/ league has some MLS clubs involved with Orlando Pride being the newest expansion club in this year. Lost leaders so those MLS clubs are keeping them afloat despite the $ drain.
I sort of doubt we will see the galaxy owners get back into the womens pro league but maybe LAFC?
In either case , there is very little $ in the WPS and most players have to do something else to get by. Making the min of 7k to a round 40k for most non-allocated players, the salary cap for those entire teams are about the same cost as two mens pro sub's like Mike Magee & Alan Gordon for example.
The girls in the LA area will certainly have some choices for DA. Looking forward to hearing more about the coaching staffs, which begs the question, what is more important the caliber of the staff or Fully Funded. Heck, some could end up with the perfect storm of both!
Yes it's great that the LA area is now looking to be well served, with Beach, LA Premier, Real SoCal, Galaxy, and LAFC. So much population there, so much talent, and it would be a shame for central LA players to be excluded due to distance/traffic (no homer bias here at all
) Does anyone know where LAFC/Slammers DA will train? Seems the youth club is mostly based around the Cerritos area but the pro club will be up near USC.
ESPNANALYST
SILVER ELITE
Yes it's great that the LA area is now looking to be well served, with Beach, LA Premier, Real SoCal, Galaxy, and LAFC. So much population there, so much talent, and it would be a shame for central LA players to be excluded due to distance/traffic (no homer bias here at all
Also hopeful that some of that talent that has been limited due to finances now is able to participate due to geographic and financial barriers being lifted. Exciting times ahead for the region
I hear LAFC is building out a training facility at CSULA, I would think they would have their Academies train there. Maybe someone from Slammers can chime in.Yes it's great that the LA area is now looking to be well served, with Beach, LA Premier, Real SoCal, Galaxy, and LAFC. So much population there, so much talent, and it would be a shame for central LA players to be excluded due to distance/traffic (no homer bias here at all
I guess if you can afford to fully fund an Academy you might consider it? The end goal is confusing. There's no tangible benefit that I can see for the LA Galaxy in hosting a girls Academy. Even if they were to add a Pro-team to the mix I would expect that girls would still leave for college when they reach that age. On the boys side, I can see the increasing appeal to turn professional at a younger age given the improving opportunities and financial model. I get that fully funded appeals to parents, but clubs run the risk of alienating their families by bumping up the costs to attract and accommodate a tiny amount of their players. I think the Academy will push a number of clubs towards economic ruin. It was a really smart move by US Soccer to get the clubs to pay for a program which in the long run will probably only really benefit them. I can't believe clubs haven't pushed back on US Soccer to commit more to the program much beyond giving the kids a "DA Patch." They can't do it without the clubs. You have to coach their way, play their way, under their parameters and oh btw pay for the privilege.
The tangible benefit for the LA galaxy is that they might attract a few more fans. Might sell some more merchandise. Might get more viewers on TV.
22 players x 3 teams = 66 families.
They probably aren't going to spend the $6k a year that they would to play ECNL, but might make a bit of a dent.
22 players x 3 teams = 66 families.
They probably aren't going to spend the $6k a year that they would to play ECNL, but might make a bit of a dent.
I don't think so. I would think that a perk of playing for the Academy would be that you go to the games for free? Ticket revenue plays such a tiny role in clubs budgets.
Yeah - the real money is in the TV and radio rights.
There was mention "somewhere" of LAFC building a training site in Tustin.Yes it's great that the LA area is now looking to be well served, with Beach, LA Premier, Real SoCal, Galaxy, and LAFC. So much population there, so much talent, and it would be a shame for central LA players to be excluded due to distance/traffic (no homer bias here at all
MakeAPlay
DA
Minus travel? Travel was the most expensive part of my player coming up through the elite soccer ranks!!
LadiesMan217
GOLD
Mystery Train
GOLD
Maybe I'm way off, but I was thinking that the biggest reason a pro club like LA Galaxy or LAFC or Seattle Sounders or Portland Timbers, etc. would be interested in fully funding Academy teams is that it will increase the profile of the youth clubs which spreads their brand. When LA Galaxy started taking on or taking over existing youth clubs a few years ago, I was skeptical because many of the teams were kind of crappy. But now when you look at the club standings, there always seems to be a Galaxy team in the top flights doing pretty well and the number of teams is constantly growing. When thousands of kids grow up playing for a team with the Galaxy logo, you're farming the next generation of fans to buy merchandise and watch games. If they end up with the best Academy team because it is free for the best players, it is probably a small price to pay in the overall marketing strategy. In other words, if LAG decided it was worth it to put their name on a youth club, they probably would prefer that they can claim to be the best. If Galaxy were synonymous with mediocre youth soccer, that's not good branding. At least that's the only way it makes sense to me that a pro club would fund a girls' Academy team.