Rumor is teams are leaving. Not confirmed. If Rising leaves this whole thing is academic. SAAZ will fold.
In my view ASA took things for granted and simply milked the big clubs to fund the minnows. Big clubs finally had enough and left. Should never have come to this but it has. I am sure there is and has been a negotiation going on. If we can see it they can too. Not sure if its money or control but its something. Maybe the SAAZ teams plan to come back and form a voting block and simply take ASA over from the inside. Like you say they have the votes. IDK.
With the level of dilution not sure it matters. All the top players in the state are in letter leagues anyway. What was APL 4 yrs ago is now ECRL, DPL, EA and Boys ECNL. There has always been top (girls ecnl/ga) and (boys MLS) but the number of middle leagues now is staggering. Any club that can is getting a national league and using it to sweep up even the mildly talented players in their area. What is left to play in state leagues is so watered down even if you have a great player they don't have anyone to pass to. The soccer world has changed dramatically.
Number of AZ teams in national leagues.
Boys - MLS 3 (Rising, RSL, SCDS) ECNL 3 (FC Arizona, Arsenal, FC Tucson) EA 8 (RSL 2, RSL South, Premier, Rising, SCDS, Barca, Next Level)
Girls - ECNL 3 (Royals, Rising, Arsenal) GA 2 (SCDS, FC Tucson) ECRL 3 (Royals, Rising, Arsenal), DPL 5 (FC Arizona, Premier, SCDS, FC Tucson, AZSC)
I don't include E64 as that is more of a field trip than a league.
so total boys - 14 teams per age group, total girls - 13 teams per age group
Boys more slight edge. Didn't realize we had 8 EA teams in the state.
Seems like Tuzos peaks around U14 then drops. Must be the age the really good players get poached. But if as you say they replace them with equally good players why aren't Tuzos players going MLS or LigaMX or college? They claim to have a path to LigaMX but like i said haven't seen it. They talk big but don't seem to produce. Past U14 they don't even dominate ASA and never see even the 3rd teams of the big clubs. Think that is a lot of hype. I am waiting for Next Level Soccer to start producing. They win nearly every tournament below U14 and have EA.