MLS next teams but no academy?
- Thread starter Lou789
- Start date
There are 3 MLS teams in SoCal, (Galaxy, LAFC and San Diego FC).
So far it looks like MLS next has been careful about not adding too many expansion teams in the same location. This is the reason Strikers have been successful in the past few years being the only team in town. But with the addition of SoCal Reds, the talents will be spread out and Strikers won’t be as strong as previous years. So to answer the question if other clubs will be able to join mls next, it depends on how many mls next teams are already in the area.
EA expansion this coming fall is a joke. With so many EA clubs now, there is no more exclusivity. I hope mls next doesn’t go down that path as well.
Also when did SoCal reds get added to mls next? recently?
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
Full list of MLS Next clubs, including by state, is on their website: https://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsnext/about/members
It looks like some clubs have been added, and this list above isn't up to date yet: https://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsnext/news/mls-next-adds-eight-new-clubs-for-2024-25-season
It looks like some clubs have been added, and this list above isn't up to date yet: https://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsnext/news/mls-next-adds-eight-new-clubs-for-2024-25-season
IIRC there are about 18 MLS Next Teams in the Southwest conference without academies, including one private residence school (Barsca). The distinction is at the older academy ages the MLS Academy Teams compete against each other in League, while the regular Next Teams compete against themselves and act as practice fodder for the academy teams. In that sense, the regular MLS Next Teams are like any old club (some like Ventura have subpro pathways), except their needs are subordinate to the needs of the academy teams (such as no HS break).
The expansion in SoCal in EA is mostly teams with MLS Next squads (like Ventura, and Red Bulls) looking for a place to place their second teams. MLS Next squads can have way more players than are allowed to dress for any game and are typically divided into Core (who only play MLS Next), Futures (who can play a limited number of games on both the 1st and 2nd teams) and Reserve players (who can only play on the 2nd team unless they are called up due to an injury or player leaving). Nationally, the situation is a bit more complicated. The East Coast MLS Next Teams have chosen to put their players in NDL where they have more control of things. There's also this MLS2 thing which is going on in NorCal. As a result, the second tier is a bit of a mess on the boys side (esp once you throw ECNL in there).
As to other clubs being able to do MLS Next without academy, the issue is broader and true throughout letter league (on both the girls and boys side) and may in fact rise to the level of a legal concern. The letter leagues aren't very clear as to which clubs are accorded letter league and what standards they use to admit. For example, in SoCal recently, MLS Next admitted the Bulls (which at the time had no history of performance at a very high level) but did not admit SoCal Elite (which had to be fair run into some issues with SoCal League regarding recruitment) and some others with established records. There were similar issues in Texas (which some clubs leaving to ECNL where they had more control and MLS Next adding others without established records) and Florida. It's not clear what criteria MLS Next and other are using to admit (its certainly not geographical need....there are no ECNL teams in the downtown triangle, lip service is paid only to the Val by MLS Next, and Laufa and TFA EA seem to have left the downtown triangle for the north OC) and in admitting the Bulls statements were made that one of the factors was the number of women in the organization.
The issue is they can bring down the MLS Next Futures players. It causes variability in the performance depending on who shows up to play on any given Sunday. It's one of the reasons NDL sort of makes more sense because MLS Next controls it for their second team, though IIHC they are also letting in some non MLS Next clubs which would just recreate the entire EA thing. On the other hand, if EA doesnt have those MLS Next second teams then what's the point...just fold it and let the better ones into ECNL and the weaker ones into ECRL...but then we are back to the letter league problem. It's tough on the Futures players too....some of them want to keep eligibility to play MLS Next any weekend (in case of injury, illness or no show) just in case and are afraid to miss their chance, it's hard to make double practices (which means the EA team winds up getting short changed without all players there) and even some reserve players I've seen prefer not to go to EA games or practices for fear of being permanently relegated to the lower team (even scrimmages and tournaments IIUC count against eligibility).
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
Looking at the standings last year, there doesn't appear to be any significant differences from EA to any other league in terms of competitiveness. In every geography, there are 2, sometimes 3 dominant teams, and the rest are average or terrible. Depending on whose view is taken - looking upwards or downwards - the competition is either challenging or awful.
EA U15 2023-2024 standings
EA U16 2023-2024 standings
So you can argue it’s going to get even worse.
What about u11 and 12? EA is supposedly the top league for those two years.
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
People can extrapolate the links from incomplete data by just.....
Doesn't look that way, at least if you go by the top teams nationally in 2013B via SR. Many teams in Pre-ECNL, EDP, State Premier, and I could only find 2 in the top 20 that are EA. Rankings probably don't matter as much at those younger ages and smaller fields, but anyone confidently stating that EA exclusively has the top teams is not supported by the way the teams perform.
whatithink
GOLD
I'm surprised to see two entries for RSL AZ in Arizona - do they really have 2 teams per age group?
The full MLS Next schedule is up now, so you can see all the teams here: https://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsnext/schedule/u13/ It's a little tricky because at u16 and up, there are three leagues that go on at the same time: flex, league and pro pathway. League is all the non-academy MLS Next teams. Pro pathway is all the academy teams and flex is a combo of both.
Also, not every club has a team at every age level, eg. RSL AZ Mesa is only for U13 and U14.
Very common - most MLS next teams aren't MLS academies
They hope so but seems like process is a bit of an enigma as to who gets it and who doesn't... highly coveted obviously... but I see instances of a club that I don't think should get it over another club getting it... who knows why...
Most of them
ALL except LA Galaxy and LAFC... SD I believe start 2025-26 season? Someone correct me if I'm wrong about SD FC...