US Soccer Splits Boys DA U18/U19 clubs into two tiers

Iknownothing said:
We need to get rid of the rule that states you cant leave the Country until your 18.. unless you have an European passport. Let it be a free system. Let a player choose. Let a youngster choose Europe if he’s that good and got teams looking at him. Right now a players only option is MLS because Europe isn’t looking at our 14 yr olds. The only option is MLS and that’s only the case if it’s in the kids neighborhood. This would also force MLS academies to develop instead of just recruiting knowing they couldn’t just swap kids out every other season. MLS academies would now have to compete like the rest of the world for talent. Idk.. it’s all dumb. We can’t run soccer like the NFL, NBA, and MLB. It’s different. It’s a different pathway. F it.
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This is a FIFA rule, not a US rule so it is unlikely to change. Here is a good breakdown of the transfer rules for minors:
https://www.thomascooperlaw.com/guide-fifa-rules-international-transfer-minors/

Europe is most definitely looking at our 14 year olds. I personally know multiple who go over regularly so the clubs that are watching them can get a close look. Unless they have a legitimate (ie: non-soccer, or at least pretends to be non-soccer) reason to move to Europe, they can't. But they are definitely being tracked.

As for opening up the exploitation of minors to the system of free-enterprise. I just do not see how that is a good idea. These rules exist for the protection of children the same way that we have other rules for the employment of minors.
 
Since there are good clubs/teams in each tier, I really don't see US Soccer and college scouts ignoring good players in the "other" tier. Especially since there are geographic limitations. And the "other" tier is still under the US Soccer umbrella (unlike on the girls side where the "other" tier is ECNL and US Soccer is not scouting those players). I have a boy in DA and a girl in ECNL. With the girls, same number of college scouts come to watch the ECNL games as the DA games--most of the time the same exact scouts. I expect that will be the same going forward with this if they lower the ages.

If MLS continues to grow at the rate it is, then eventually yes it could have its own league. But right now the country is still too big and there are not enough teams to keep travel costs down. And remember, MLS is a pyramid-scheme. The league is not profitable, but the value of franchises keeps going up because there is no shortage of rich dudes wanting to own their own team. Eventually, that bubble will burst just like the dot-coms. This article is a great summary: https://deadspin.com/is-mls-a-ponzi-scheme-1797509617
 
oh canada said:
But right now the country is still too big and there are not enough teams to keep travel costs down.
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I am not sure that is true anymore. If you look at the Colorado Rapids U18/19 schedule. They only play 4 non-MLS teams. Three of those involve flights to play the away game. Real Salt Lake plays the same four non-MLS teams and has to fly to all of them. It would be very little cost difference to swap out those 4 non-MLS teams with Sounders, Timbers, Galaxy, and LAFC (and in a couple of years Austin FC).

Also, Audi is giving up to $1,000,000 in 2019 to the MLS academies through the Audi Goals program. Currently that money is supposed to go towards making it easier for players to access the academies and academy education programs, but I am sure they could pitch it to Audi for travel costs for next year. That money split evenly among the MLS DA teams could probably come close to covering the U15 and U17 travel costs to have them travel with the U18/19s.
 
justneededaname said:
I am not sure that is true anymore. If you look at the Colorado Rapids U18/19 schedule. They only play 4 non-MLS teams. Three of those involve flights to play the away game. Real Salt Lake plays the same four non-MLS teams and has to fly to all of them. It would be very little cost difference to swap out those 4 non-MLS teams with Sounders, Timbers, Galaxy, and LAFC (and in a couple of years Austin FC).

Also, Audi is giving up to $1,000,000 in 2019 to the MLS academies through the Audi Goals program. Currently that money is supposed to go towards making it easier for players to access the academies and academy education programs, but I am sure they could pitch it to Audi for travel costs for next year. That money split evenly among the MLS DA teams could probably come close to covering the U15 and U17 travel costs to have them travel with the U18/19s.
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Fair points. St. Louis now announced as joining in 2022 too. And, more to come.

The Audi money an easier sell if going toward education than travel, however. But still a valid point.
 
I agree the DA has served its purpose and should be shelved. MLS clubs can transition to make up the DA (and could even bring in affiliate clubs in certain areas that don’t have MLS). They can all do their own thing with residences and all that from u15 and up.
Other clubs move back to traditional club programs and funnel top kids to MLS or Europe, which is happening anyways. These hybrid DA clubs who have 90% of the kids who want to go to college and want high school years to be filled with hard classes, homecoming, track in the spring, ASB and all can’t compete with MLS clubs anyways and the kids don’t even want to be pros but do want to play at a high level in their area. Then those non mls clubs can focus on getting kids to college and building their business with a high rate of alums playing at the next level and every once in a while sending a unicorn up to an mls team.
 
From the press release, are not these two consecutive sentences conflicting?

The Academy is guided by the principle of increased training sessions and fewer, but more meaningful games. The DA Cup adds a number of significant matches to every club's schedule at each stage of the competition, while

Are they removing regular season games from the calendar? If not, how many games throughout the season will DA teams be playing at u15 (14/15 year old kids) now?
 
oh canada said:
From the press release, are not these two consecutive sentences conflicting?

The Academy is guided by the principle of increased training sessions and fewer, but more meaningful games. The DA Cup adds a number of significant matches to every club's schedule at each stage of the competition, while

Are they removing regular season games from the calendar? If not, how many games throughout the season will DA teams be playing at u15 (14/15 year old kids) now?
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The DA cup fall group stage games are the first 5-7 games of the season and the first stage. Regular schedule after that: 26-28 games total + showcases or DA cup, playoffs depending on how well a team does?

Second stage is the 32 team winter cup in Dec or showcases for those teams that didn't get out of the group stage, either way 3 additional games

8 group winner from winter cup advance to Spring Cup for 3 or more games.

Playoffs is 3 games group stage+ knockout rounds (2-4 additional games depending on age group)

The number of games in DA has actually decreased over the years as regular season used to be 30+ until 18-19.
 
timbuck said:
If a true "Academy" system is what we want and building professional level soccer players is what we want - Then all acadamies should be residential with world class facilities. And they should be fully funded - Player fees, housing, uniforms, travel, etc.
If MLS teams are the only one's that can afford this type of set up - So be it. Sure, some kids in areas that don't have an MLS club nearby might get missed. Or they may have to move to an MLS city to be part of the academy. Not much different than the way the rest of the soccer world does things.
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BruceDern said:
Can you give more examples, trying to make sense of it...thx
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In SoCal the non-MLS DAs can be more competitive... some.
Also, I assume LAG would rather play other MLS or MEX teams than beat Nomads 5-0, Surf 7-1 and 8-0... (actually U18/19 scores in recent years)
Of course there are anomaly teams but the presumption is that the top teams tend to be the fully-funded MLS teams with a clear pathway to MLS/pro. Yes, there are great clubs that charge and great clubs that develop apart from a pro path.... while I don't personally like it, I do think it's fair for the top clubs to say we'd rather play each other... If I own an MLS club, it's not my responsibility to develop other clubs or even develop the national team. I would want what is best for me to make good players I can sell off or save on signing fees.
 
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