Say bye-bye-bye to Girls and Boys DA

If DA is done for the season, why are they announcing it now? The season doesn't start until after summer? However, if they are getting rid of the league then I think it possibly could come down to resources. During covid-19, lots of business' are laying off employees and shedding what they can to save money. This could explain the reasoning of getting rid of GDA, no one playing games and because it is relatively new it can't survive financially not having a season.
 
timmyh said:
ECNL created a bit of a problem for themselves here on the girls side of things. In an effort to combat the DA defections, there are a lot of clubs that were accepted into ECNL the past few years that simply aren't "Elite" by just about any measure. The truth is there are at least 20-30 clubs that should be kicked out (they probably won't be, though) and about 40-50 clubs that are about to soon be without a home that should be pulled in from GDA (and another 20-30 GDA clubs perhaps soon to be without a league home that also wouldn't qualify as "Elite" that shouldn't be pulled in).

I think ECNL (or any of us) could pencil out which 100-120 clubs would best fit the definition of the "E" in "ECNL," but there are going to be a lot of politics that will determine which ones actually get included in the league, just as always.
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There are certainly weak clubs in ECNL but my understanding is they are license holders so I don’t expect any culling of the ranks.

Of the 60 GDA clubs, how many should be in NPL but were brought in as filler when better clubs defected back to ECNL?

Just my opinion, but if I’m ECNL I cherry pick the 20 or so clubs who: 1. Are the big fish and 2. Fill in holes in certain regions like the Midwest and Texas.

Like anything, politics are going to come into play, Who burned bridges with the ECNL? Which clubs have the sway to block a competing club in their market? Stuff like that.
 
Ironic that the threat of lawsuit from women's groups was part the initial impetus behind the creation of the GDA, and an actual lawsuit from the Women's National Team could be part of the impetus behind the abandonment of the GDA.
 
timmyh said:
Ironic that the threat of lawsuit from women's groups was part the initial impetus behind the creation of the GDA, and an actual lawsuit from the Women's National Team could be part of the impetus behind the abandonment of the GDA.
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Thinking the same thing.
Girls DA was (supposedly) created to provide equality from our national federation for boys and girls to play at the highest levels.
But now US Soccer can get out of the youth development business because MLS clubs will take that on for the Boys side. Kids in less populated areas will get hosed, but that's the case for a lot of things (schools, jobs, shopping malls, etc). And since US Soccer won't be in the business for boys, they can also get out of the girls side of things.

I could see US Soccer doing some sort of extended national training camps to bring in more girls to get exposure for National Teams. Something like ODP but maybe on a larger scale. Maybe even do a month long "camp" for 150ish girls per age group at the National Training Center in Kansas City. Say bye to your summer vacation if you are truly elite.
 
Gotta admit I see this as a net benefit for soccer in the US. Perhaps some handful of clubs will go create their super league, but for the vast majority of serious players with designs on playing beyond high school, consolidation of clubs back into a single league is a huge win for them and their families.
 
SoccerGuru said:
If DA is done for the season, why are they announcing it now? The season doesn't start until after summer? However, if they are getting rid of the league then I think it possibly could come down to resources. During covid-19, lots of business' are laying off employees and shedding what they can to save money. This could explain the reasoning of getting rid of GDA, no one playing games and because it is relatively new it can't survive financially not having a season.
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Wouldn't this apply to the ECNL as well? This hits everyone, I wouldn't think its just a GDA issue. I'm less worried about US Soccer's GDA ability to survive, I'm more worried about the clubs and that applies to ECNL ones as well. I have already seen/heard of cuts and even at the MLS level...
 
kickingandscreaming said:
If the teams don't play across the two tiers, you will have a lot of travel for the top tier. ECNL has 8 "Regions" now. I believe you'd want at least 10 teams per region - giving 18 "local" games playing each team twice. That puts the number at 80, minimum in the current configuration of regions.
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Extensive travel for the top 20 or 40 teams is fine. I don’t mind a plane flight to play against team #20. I have no intention of paying for a plane flight to play against team #101.
 
timmyh said:
Gotta admit I see this as a net benefit for soccer in the US. Perhaps some handful of clubs will go create their super league, but for the vast majority of serious players with designs on playing beyond high school, consolidation of clubs back into a single league is a huge win for them and their families.
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I disagree. As long as the league is based on club memberships, it creates a bunch of mini-monopolies for those clubs in their regions. The member clubs have less incentive to treat players and parents fairly. If the league membership were based purely on team results in each age group, and had true promotion and relegation that provided a pathway for any team to join based on results, then clubs would have incentive to treat players and parents with respect. Do not mistake my argument as a defense of GDA which was beyond any doubt a flawed league with all of these same problems. ECNL was not created to better develop players, it was created to extract money from your pockets to club DOC's and the ECNL organization. The best system would be for no club based leagues and a return to a system like USYS National League and National Championships. In that system, teams earned their place and clubs worked to retain good teams and coaches.
 
jpeter said:
No they cancelled everything through the end of April & spring cup on that date.

New official announcement coming soon regarding suspension of everything until at least the end of July.

Restructure also coming for the boys and there may or maynot be a regular fall season for them but the announcement won't say that fall season is a go just yet.
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Can you expand upon what you know of the restructuring?
 
Mr. Mac said:
Not sure about the order, but I would suspect the top 3 would probably be Surf, Galaxy, Blues (and Blues are already in ECNL)
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ECNL has DMCV Sharks and Rebels both in Surf’s back yard (or front porch in regards to DMCV).
LA Galaxy only has an academy funded by the MLS team. Not sure those 4 teams exist in ECNL as I don’t see LAG continuing to fund an ECNL team. Blues already has ECNL.

It would suck for us (my family and many others in our area) of DA disbanded unless ECNL picks up Galaxy or Beach. Nevertheless, as long as we can keep the Coaching staff we have, we are happy regardless of the league.
 
Kicker4Life said:
ECNL has DMCV Sharks and Rebels both in Surf’s back yard (or front porch in regards to DMCV).
LA Galaxy only has an academy funded by the MLS team. Not sure those 4 teams exist in ECNL as I don’t see LAG continuing to fund an ECNL team. Blues already has ECNL.

It would suck for us (my family and many others in our area) of DA disbanded unless ECNL picks up Galaxy or Beach. Nevertheless, as long as we can keep the Coaching staff we have, we are happy regardless of the league.
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Blues has ECNL and DA. It will interesting to see how they deal with combining the teams.
Or who would coach the ECNL teams.
 
A lot of hysteria being projected here based on a general Tweet...let's all keep the toilet paper on the shelves.

What is likely? DA is not going to leave all of its clubs hanging without a league for this next year---to begin a few months from now. If they are going to get out of providing a league, it will be a phase out and announced well in advance.

More likely is that they will announce a cancellation of the rest of this season (duh), and will keep their league operating, just make changes to rules/restrictions--eg, allowing high school. Maybe also expand the division system as they have experimented with in a couple age groups on the boys side.

ECNL has no incentive to let other clubs in -- they don't need 'em. Especially since their only competitor is floundering.

One thing for sure...look for clubs to try and get your money asap so you're locked in with them. As usual in club soccer, the kids are an afterthought. Advice to youngers parents...find another sport. The BS in this youth sport isn't worth it.
 
From the Spot said:
Can you see a situation where the DA clubs just create their own league separate from US Soccer but maintaining the DA structure?
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I can't on a national basis. I think that's possible regionally, but for areas with an ECNL presence it seems much more likely the majority of DA teams will look to join that existing framework.
 
oh canada said:
A lot of hysteria being projected here based on a general Tweet...let's all keep the toilet paper on the shelves.

What is likely? DA is not going to leave all of its clubs hanging without a league for this next year---to begin a few months from now. If they are going to get out of providing a league, it will be a phase out and announced well in advance.

More likely is that they will announce a cancellation of the rest of this season (duh), and will keep their league operating, just make changes to rules/restrictions--eg, allowing high school. Maybe also expand the division system as they have experimented with in a couple age groups on the boys side.

ECNL has no incentive to let other clubs in -- they don't need 'em. Especially since their only competitor is floundering.

One thing for sure...look for clubs to try and get your money asap so you're locked in with them. As usual in club soccer, the kids are an afterthought. Advice to youngers parents...find another sport. The BS in this youth sport isn't worth it.
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IDK, they rolled out the DA pretty fast and they can take it away even faster.
 
oh canada said:
A lot of hysteria being projected here based on a general Tweet...let's all keep the toilet paper on the shelves.

What is likely? DA is not going to leave all of its clubs hanging without a league for this next year---to begin a few months from now. If they are going to get out of providing a league, it will be a phase out and announced well in advance.

More likely is that they will announce a cancellation of the rest of this season (duh), and will keep their league operating, just make changes to rules/restrictions--eg, allowing high school. Maybe also expand the division system as they have experimented with in a couple age groups on the boys side.

ECNL has no incentive to let other clubs in -- they don't need 'em. Especially since their only competitor is floundering.

One thing for sure...look for clubs to try and get your money asap so you're locked in with them. As usual in club soccer, the kids are an afterthought. Advice to youngers parents...find another sport. The BS in this youth sport isn't worth it.
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ECNL needs Legends, Surf, Beach and one top Blues team to make this a complete done deal. I welcome them. I also like the idea of a super socal league with international rules for the super goats. No hs and all in mentality. All free too.
 
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