so the idea is if a club has ECRL2 and they are consistently good they will eventually be awarded ECNL? But wouldn't an existing ECNL have to lose it? HA! Has there ever been a club that lost GIRLS ECNL due to performance and relegated to only ECRL? Sure plenty of boys have that also had MLS Next because.. no one gives up MLS Next and ECNL got butt hurt as they only fielding 2nd teams for their "elite" league, but Girls? I don't think that will ever happen.
Socal Soccer League ECRL Division?
- Thread starter toucan
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RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
It's been discussed numerous times. What more likely happens instead of straight removal is that a poorly performing club is encouraged to merge with another club to see if that changes things. This has happened a number of times with ECNL.
Yea that makes more sense. That is like asking an MLS owner to move to USL. The value is in the league not the club. So do they give them an ultimatum? What if they say no or there isn't another club that will give them what they want? The club owners have made bad choices up to this point.. what makes them change.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Poorly performing clubs being removed or being asked to merge is speculation. All we have is one recent precedent where Strikers chose MLS Next over ECNL for their boys and ECNL removed that club (and replaced with Pats).
Code
GOLD
It was intended to work the other way around. Upcoming clubs with NPL level teams, could move those NPL teams into ECRL So Cal (ECRL2). The requirment is to have a team in every 11v11 age group. The club with the best combined record across all age groups at the end of the season would then be promoted into ECRL Southwest. NPL remained an option for the teams playing with clubs who couldn't field a team in every 11v11 age group.
What seems to have happened, is E64 teams from clubs who were already in ECNL and ECRL (Legends, Sporting USA, Blues/Strikers) used the opprotunity to get out of playing E64 and switched over to ECRL So Cal. While other independant NPL teams swiched affiliations to larger clubs to fill in as their ECRL So Cal team.
Then, the large clubs moved their D teams into the vacant E64 slots, and the E teams into the remaining NPL slots. While other NPL teams just disolved, put together a significanly new roster from thier Flight 2 and 3 players, or changed affiliations to the Mega clubs to take the E64 slot. I would expext to see a significant decline in the strength of the E64 league and NPL brackets this year.
In NorCal there are teams who play in GA and ECRL at the same time; or DPL/NPL, or DPL/ECRL. ECRL in NorCal is promotion/religation every year with thier NPL1, and NPL2, etc...
That exact thing happened to the two biggest clubs in AZ, RSL and Rising. Both got MLS then lost ECNL. The problem is we don't have a lot of clubs at that level, the replacement ECNL teams are a joke as those clubs simply don't have the players or the coaching. Now the mega clubs are all doing EA and making that league stronger. From our perspective ECNL really shot themselves in the foot on the boys side.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Who said it was intended to work that way? Sounds like either coaches/directors lying or parents hoping for things that were never promised by anybody with a say in the matter. ECRL 2 is not a bad idea. I think this will accelerate closure of the other leagues that make the landscape confusing (E64, NPL). Should just be ECNL/RL/RL2 and GA/DPL. Everybody else should just play regionally/locally with SoCal league or join one of the aforementioned leagues if they want to play in a national league.
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
Yep. Remember, NPL = ECRL already elsewhere, it's certainly possible it might be rebranded here as well.
But they can't 'just join' one of the aforementioned leagues even if their performance merits it, at least in SoCal. They have to join one of the mega franchises to get in. EC* is saturated unless they replace the AZ/NV teams.
Why ECRL2? Just leave it as NPL and give a pathway for the top NPL teams (including the independent clubs) to go to the ECRL playoffs and showcases. The US Club org especially is choking out independent clubs. I firmly believe there should be a pathway for independent clubs to compete at the highest level and this (as I expected) is closing another window.
I do believe if USYS had gotten their act together in 2010 and created the format they have now when it was still possible to attract the strongest teams, youth soccer would be in a better place, but that ship has sailed, so I keep foolishly hoping for the other leagues to open up just a little bit.
Agree on the ECNL2 comments. The only group that benefits is ECNL. It's odd that NPL would chose to give value to another league instead of their own.
Reguarding USYS it wouldn't have mattered. The way to make money with leagues is to group together all the top clubs. Then slowly let in other clubs that you deem worthy. For whatever reason people like the power of being able to exclude and others suffer from fomo. It's how country clubs, secret societies, fraternities/sororities, etc all function. ECNL just capitalized on it early.
But everything could change tomorrow if NCAA blows up and NWSL chooses to implement "NWSL Next".
I wouldn't mind if Frats/Sororities were a decent analogy for the franchises, but they don't prevent the rest of the student body from going to the same classes or getting your degree or becoming valedictorian. They have a few events that are just them and give preferential treatment to their own. Also they have a legacy of helping younger members take advantage of previous students work, but there are limits to their exclusion. They get graded on the same curve.
Unfortunately it's closer to the country club scenario.
NWSL Next wouldn't really change anything for the league dynamics if they go the same route as MLS, just shuffle the chairs a bit. Maybe locally they will look at more kids from a wider range of clubs like Galaxy does (who are really good at bringing in a wide range of players for training and camps regardless of league), but it won't change the closed competition circuits.
What MLS Next does for boys is weed out all the unicorns from the regular players who end up playing in closed leagues.
There's no equivalent for girls.
With girls there's no group weeding out the unicorns (maybe USYNT) so what you end up with is the top closed league teams/clubs tend to have all the unicorns.
Both end up with the same product (a team stacked with unicorns). But at least MLS Next has a very clearly defined and easy to understand unicorn pathway. With girls there's just too much nonsense involved with getting onto the superteams.
If you really want to understand the difference between girls vs Boys in soccer. Look at how much girls pay for camps. Then compare it to the amount boys pay for equivalent camps. What you'll see is girls camps are always $200-$300 more. This is because the girls pathway to success is paved in dollar bills much more than the boys. For top boys players camps are free. There's not as much need to spend $$$ to get noticed.
NPL and ECNL report to the same parent... US Club Soccer. Rest of the leagues do not That is why NPL and ECNL are lock step in their actions. In AZ the big clubs came in to provide an "alternative" to ASA (Arizona soccer association) backed by USYS. They trotted out NPL and US Club soccer. It lasted 1 year. US Club Soccer owns SoCal.. NPL/ECRL/ECNL all under the banner of US Club Soccer, the ECRL is just a further expansion of what is already there.
Leagues
US Club Soccer administers and sanctions leagues throughout the country for various age groups, competitive levels and geographic sizes and areas. These league platforms are all created with similar principles and guidelines, and collectively provide a full competition spectrum for modern clubs
usclubsoccer.org
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
I don't understand why people are fixated on their local club or allegiance to a league. Do what's best for your kid. Don't put too much trust into a league, club or coach. I could understand if an entire geographic community is not represented. But between ECNL/RL/GA/DPL you pretty much have access to any one of these many teams and national leagues if your kid is good enough to play.
I question the value of playing in a national league if a player is not good enough to be a starter on a good ECNL or top top GA team. Leagues will come and go. Associations that are struggling (e.g. USYS) will prey on parents ego and come up with new national leagues in a vain attempt to stay relevant.
I question the value of playing in a national league if a player is not good enough to be a starter on a good ECNL or top top GA team. Leagues will come and go. Associations that are struggling (e.g. USYS) will prey on parents ego and come up with new national leagues in a vain attempt to stay relevant.
Code
GOLD
The people who created the league and system said it was intended to work that way.
ECNL GIRLS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF ECNL REGIONAL LEAGUE - SOUTHERN CAL
The ECNL is excited to announce the formation of a new ECNL Girls Regional League in California. The ECNL Regional League - Southern Cal will launch next season to clarify and improve the player development pathway for the nation’s top clubs in Southern California.
theecnl.com
I agree there are too many leagues playing at the same level, but it is not confusing at all. ECNL should be playing Nationally, everyone else should be regional or local:
Tier 1 (National)-ECNL
Tier 2 (Regional)-ECRL and GA, because ECRL=GA.
Tier 3 (Local)-E64, ECRL So Cal, NPL, DPL, SOCAL FLT 1 because E64=ECRL So Cal(2)=NPL=DPL=SOCAL FLT 1
Tier 4 (Rec Level)-SOCAL FLT 2/3, DPLO, Community Leagues, because, SOCAL FLT 2/3=DPLO=Community Leagues
This is the reality parents need to understand to stop all the unnessasary fake letter league exploytation.
You don't understand that the different leagues are essentially different businesses. Each business will have its own top performers. The only time we really get to see how the top performers do against each other is the big tournaments like Surf Cup. Unfortunately as players get older they participate less and less in cross league events.The people who created the league and system said it was intended to work that way.
ECNL GIRLS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF ECNL REGIONAL LEAGUE - SOUTHERN CAL
The ECNL is excited to announce the formation of a new ECNL Girls Regional League in California. The ECNL Regional League - Southern Cal will launch next season to clarify and improve the player development pathway for the nation’s top clubs in Southern California.
I agree there are too many leagues playing at the same level, but it is not confusing at all. ECNL should be playing Nationally, everyone else should be regional or local:
Tier 1 (National)-ECNL
Tier 2 (Regional)-ECRL and GA, because ECRL=GA.
Tier 3 (Local)-E64, ECRL So Cal, NPL, DPL, SOCAL FLT 1 because E64=ECRL So Cal(2)=NPL=DPL=SOCAL FLT 1
Tier 4 (Rec Level)-SOCAL FLT 2/3, DPLO, Community Leagues, because, SOCAL FLT 2/3=DPLO=Community Leagues
This is the reality parents need to understand to stop all the unnessasary fake letter league exploytation.
For the most part all the same college recruiters attend all the different leage events looking fir talent.
I don't know that both ECNL and NPL using US Club Soccer for sanctioning means they're in "lock step".NPL and ECNL report to the same parent... US Club Soccer. Rest of the leagues do not That is why NPL and ECNL are lock step in their actions. In AZ the big clubs came in to provide an "alternative" to ASA (Arizona soccer association) backed by USYS. They trotted out NPL and US Club soccer. It lasted 1 year. US Club Soccer owns SoCal.. NPL/ECRL/ECNL all under the banner of US Club Soccer, the ECRL is just a further expansion of what is already there.
Leagues
US Club Soccer administers and sanctions leagues throughout the country for various age groups, competitive levels and geographic sizes and areas. These league platforms are all created with similar principles and guidelines, and collectively provide a full competition spectrum for modern clubs
What I see is 2 different leagues that are completely independent from US Soccer. Because they are independent from US Soccer they sanction through US Club Soccer.
BTW NPL (and technically ECNL) could sanction through GA not US Club Soccer if they wanted to. This is what US Soccer enabled earlier this year.
Girls Academy Achieves U.S. Soccer Federation Membership | Girls Academy League
girlsacademyleague.com
wow.. you really have been drinking the ECNL koolaid. Look at the rest of the country. On the east coast DPL teams beat ECNL teams regularly. Use the soccer rankings app and look at the top teams in other states. Just because this is what you see in SoCal doesn't make it so. US Club Soccer has owned SoCal since DA went down that is what 5 years? It will change again. That.. and that is just the girls side.. ECNL boys is way behind MLS Next and closer to EA.The people who created the league and system said it was intended to work that way.
ECNL GIRLS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF ECNL REGIONAL LEAGUE - SOUTHERN CAL
The ECNL is excited to announce the formation of a new ECNL Girls Regional League in California. The ECNL Regional League - Southern Cal will launch next season to clarify and improve the player development pathway for the nation’s top clubs in Southern California.
I agree there are too many leagues playing at the same level, but it is not confusing at all. ECNL should be playing Nationally, everyone else should be regional or local:
Tier 1 (National)-ECNL
Tier 2 (Regional)-ECRL and GA, because ECRL=GA.
Tier 3 (Local)-E64, ECRL So Cal, NPL, DPL, SOCAL FLT 1 because E64=ECRL So Cal(2)=NPL=DPL=SOCAL FLT 1
Tier 4 (Rec Level)-SOCAL FLT 2/3, DPLO, Community Leagues, because, SOCAL FLT 2/3=DPLO=Community Leagues
This is the reality parents need to understand to stop all the unnessasary fake letter league exploytation.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Got it. Well, they did say they'll commit to adding teams in fall 2025 so we'll see if they keep their promise.The people who created the league and system said it was intended to work that way.
ECNL GIRLS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF ECNL REGIONAL LEAGUE - SOUTHERN CAL
The ECNL is excited to announce the formation of a new ECNL Girls Regional League in California. The ECNL Regional League - Southern Cal will launch next season to clarify and improve the player development pathway for the nation’s top clubs in Southern California.
I agree there are too many leagues playing at the same level, but it is not confusing at all. ECNL should be playing Nationally, everyone else should be regional or local:
Tier 1 (National)-ECNL
Tier 2 (Regional)-ECRL and GA, because ECRL=GA.
Tier 3 (Local)-E64, ECRL So Cal, NPL, DPL, SOCAL FLT 1 because E64=ECRL So Cal(2)=NPL=DPL=SOCAL FLT 1
Tier 4 (Rec Level)-SOCAL FLT 2/3, DPLO, Community Leagues, because, SOCAL FLT 2/3=DPLO=Community Leagues
This is the reality parents need to understand to stop all the unnessasary fake letter league exploytation.
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
And you probably shouldn't cherrypick results to make a point either. An average ECNL team will beat an average DPL team anywhere in the country. A good DPL team will beat a terrible ECNL team anywhere in the country, and a good ECNL team will be expected to beat almost any DPL team. This is true in SoCal, as well as the rest of the country. Of course the delta between the top teams and the bottom teams in this league/conference is wider than the delta between the average team of many (most?) of the leagues themselves - which is the pattern if you look at almost any league from MLS through Flight 4.