FRAM was mentioned here before - is that add still on the table?
New ECNL Clubs
- Thread starter Desert Hound
- Start date
FRAM was mentioned here before - is that add still on the table?
Dos Equis
GOLD
I am not quite sure I understand how this answers the ECNL question.
It makes a few good points about the issues with US Soccer, the reality of what the girls DA is versus what the girls DA is marketed/supposed to be, and the importance of college as a path for women's soccer. Perhaps its best point is that the DA should be very limited and exclusive, a bracket of elite teams, not a large nationwide league.
It also, perhaps accidentally, points out the ongoing problem that US Soccer still believes in unicorns, and their ability to find them.
Dos Equis
GOLD
Last year, I heard from sources within ECNL and locally that the "finalists" from all the club applications to get ECNL in Socal were Westside Breakers, Fullerton, Fram and Rebels (not sure about BYSC, heard conflicting reports). Obviously, Breakers presented a strong coaching and geographical case for entry, and I would argue their performance as LA Breakers validated that decision.
The challenge in ECNL adding clubs now is that the DA, ECNL, Premier, DPL, SCDSL . . . league dilution bingo has left very few/no Socal clubs with top teams in multiple age groups in any club that are not already DA or ECNL. So if ECNL wants to grow without allowing clubs with teams in DA, they either need to 1) get an exisintg DA club to leave for ECNL, or 2) select a geographical area they think has a large number of elite players underserved by the ECNL and find the club they think has the history, structure, fields and coaching staff needed to attract talent and build competitive teams (like Breakers did).
The most salient point and implication is that the DA should not be a NATION WIDE LEAGUE! It should be a small pool of the 1% who seek the YNT and WMNT....Hence ...leaving the Nation wide ELITE league to organizations like the ECNL.
“CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME”
C.R.E.A.M — get da money!
No other reason the DA has become a “league”
Just curious...how exactly do you think the federation is making money on the girls DA program?
You are severely misinformed. They aren't.
The clubs are certainly making a ton of money, and will do so with or without the DA. But US Soccer isn't making anything on the girls DA. It's actually a money loser.
There may be plenty of things to gripe about, but this particular conspiracy theory didn't hold water.
The Federation doesn't make money on either the Boys or Girls side. In fact, the Federation's creation of the Girls DA was to accommodate voices from the girls that the Federation was engaged in gender based discrimination. A few years ago, many of the women national team players started making allegations of discrimination relating to playing surfaces (artificial turf), pay discrepancies, and pointed to the lack of a girls DA as additional evidence of overt discrimination by US Soccer against girls. The Girls DA was soon formed as part of a broad response to the discrimination claims.
The Federation understands that women's soccer is a money loser at all but the Women's National Team level. Women's pro soccer, college soccer, HS soccer, etc., all lose money. If you were to walk the halls of Chicago back then, you would appreciate it wasn't a money grab, but lawsuit avoidance.
Never meant to imply or insinuate that US SOCCER was sitting in a room stacking dollars!
The idea is that politics and money go hand in hand. Not that money is flowing into the coffers of US SOCCER, but that the DA clubs, those associated with them, those associated with the DA, are all motivated by personal financial gain and not the best interest of players. US Soccer Is trying to address issues with their system, and see an opportunity. That opportunity comes at a cost. A cost for who? The players.
Is the Girls DA FREE? Why or why not? Should you be paying for opportunity to be in a National team player pool/league? Pay for play? Or only the top 1%, who are then subsidized by the Federation and “developed”.
If you are saying the “people” are
Not using the “Development Academy “ moniker to make money I can respect that, just
Don’t believe it. US SOCCER might not be stacking dollars in a room but “people “ are...
Maybe there is no “financial “ factor....if so then why did the DA create a league?
Standardization? Really...requiring coaches to have licenses? They already did that! Do you really believe that the development is standardized?
How?
jpeter
PREMIER
Ussoccer puts in fewer resouces than most people imagine for DA. The clubs & players parents foot almost all the expenses. The $50 yearly registration fee per player * 30k+ is a nice chunk of change $$$.
The put in just about the minimum just to saying there doing something while the USSF sits on 100mil dollar or more war chest each year run by SUM & Wall Street investment bankers. That's all about $$$ and it's a shame those funds are not investment in something to improve soccer in the us such as more fields for example.
Out of the 35,000+ players ussda only provided scholarships(federal poverty levels only) for 565 Academy players, reaching boys and girls. $1500 a piece only covers a fraction of what da costs, might pay for a players travel or partial and that's about it:
http://www.ussoccerda.com/20181231-DA-Grows-Mission-to-Produce-World-Class-Players
The put in just about the minimum just to saying there doing something while the USSF sits on 100mil dollar or more war chest each year run by SUM & Wall Street investment bankers. That's all about $$$ and it's a shame those funds are not investment in something to improve soccer in the us such as more fields for example.
Out of the 35,000+ players ussda only provided scholarships(federal poverty levels only) for 565 Academy players, reaching boys and girls. $1500 a piece only covers a fraction of what da costs, might pay for a players travel or partial and that's about it:
http://www.ussoccerda.com/20181231-DA-Grows-Mission-to-Produce-World-Class-Players
US Soccer's "audited" financials are available for all to see:
https://www.ussoccer.com/about/federation-services/resource-center/financial-information
I anybody takes the time to look, you will see that annual expenses run between 80 to 90 Mil per year (2016/2017) and "youth registration" represents about 4.2M.
With regard to the surplus, there are two schools of thought: (1) as articulated by @jpeter "Spend it all and operate "hand to mouth.""; and (2) build the investments and surpluses in a way that allows US Soccer to move to the next level. What is the next level? Just take a look at the Federations, such as England's that actually owns assets and makes money off those assets (Wimbley Stadium for example). I believe US Soccer needs to build its surpluses, while sharing a little with the Foundation and/or others. At the moment all of its youth efforts are losses and its greatest revenue sources are the National Teams (USMNT and USWNT).
https://www.ussoccer.com/about/federation-services/resource-center/financial-information
I anybody takes the time to look, you will see that annual expenses run between 80 to 90 Mil per year (2016/2017) and "youth registration" represents about 4.2M.
With regard to the surplus, there are two schools of thought: (1) as articulated by @jpeter "Spend it all and operate "hand to mouth.""; and (2) build the investments and surpluses in a way that allows US Soccer to move to the next level. What is the next level? Just take a look at the Federations, such as England's that actually owns assets and makes money off those assets (Wimbley Stadium for example). I believe US Soccer needs to build its surpluses, while sharing a little with the Foundation and/or others. At the moment all of its youth efforts are losses and its greatest revenue sources are the National Teams (USMNT and USWNT).
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
If US Soccer allowed solidarity payments, PA Classics would get somewhere between $500K and $1M from Pulisic's Chelsea deal. Allowing solidarity paytments is really the only way to remove the pay for play system.
How do we get this thread back on track?
I had to go back and look.
Some of us got baited into another GDA debate....but I saw it coming after the response to my last post and pulled back.
It takes an hour (or more) to get to Breakers from N. LA County and from S. LA County. It would've been nice to see options for both of those areas. The afternoon traffic is absolutely horrid in LA area and people just won't do it. Hence, ECNL is basically not an option. They should know that.
It doesn't care. It only selects clubs that don't represent a threat to ECNL's current membership. That seems to be ECNL's most important criteria. It's obviously far too insular. The only check on ECNL is competition.
AstroWorld
BRONZE
IMO Rebels is a strong candidate for ECNL. They fill a need geographical need and have the proven results. The girls DOC is doing a fantastic job and I think they would make an immediate impact in ECNL next year.
Westside Breakers is a different story. They didn't really have the track record of being a strong club (they won a National Cup for the 1st time last year with the G02 age group.) And they added a struggling boy’s side (FCLA) and re-named the club LA Breakers. Their record in ECNL is 16 Wins, 51 Losses, 6 ties with 75 Goals For and 203 Goals against. They are in danger of losing their main field (https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-va-lease-audit-20181005-story.html) and I am not sure how strong their coaching staff is considering the fall record. Most of their teams finished in last place with lopsided losses of 0-5, 0-7 in many games. The box they checked was solely geographical, but nobody can get there due to the heavy traffic on the 405.
I can assure you now that the LA Breakers are on the inside they will do everything they can to not allow FRAM in or any other LA based clubs to gain ECNL status cause it will weaken the pool of players they have to draw from. Will be interesting to see what move ECNL makes next...
Dos Equis
GOLD
The Breakers coaching I was referring to was the affiliation with UCLA they announced in their press release. I have only seen their 16's and 17's play, and they were clearly attempting to play an appealing style of soccer. I stand corrected on the performance of their U13-U15 teams, and I have not seen them play, so hard to judge in their first year.
There is almost no "easy" place to get to if it is 10 miles or more away from you in the area from Long Beach to Sherman Oaks, and from the coast to 20 miles inland, without terrible north/south or east/west Traffic.
Rebels makes sense in some categories, but what South Bay, LA or SF Valley based clubs at this point make sense to add in terms of fields, coaches, club structure/ethics and track record/history? I leave recent performance out because at this point, there really is no existing non-DA/ECNL club that has teams ready to compete. They are going to have to use their new league status to recruit.
I really hope Rebels gets a break and gets ecnl..
VA is not the Main field for ECNL teams. Breakers was not one of the illegal tenants. While I agree overall the teams are weak , the 02 and 03 look strong. As far as the traffic, it sucks but this was a huge area that DA and ECNL missed. High level players were forced to leave the area and trek to Real, Eagles, Slammers etc..