ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So bottom line: ECNL and MLS Next launched into an all-out war against each other. And school year (ECNL) vs birth year (MLSN) is just a tool that ECNL is hoping gives them an upper hand in who parents pay?

The biggest loser in this 'war'? The boys and girls that want to play soccer competitively.

Is this a real thing?

Is it real that two businesses are competing for customers? Yeah, that’s real.

[Anonymous]

We added a good dozen pages this week with no real news. Nice work gang, 1000 is in sight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The end game has always been a pro pathway. The academies and maybe a small select group of teams will be MLSN and the rest will be 2.

The ones with ego maniacs for directors won’t accept the 2 and will play ECNL and pretend to be special. This is one of the reasons DA imploded. Some people couldn’t accept tier 2.

Now MLS is moving on without them and ECNL will be an irrelevant league.

This has to take the cake for one of the most out of touch posts in 850+ pages. In the short run MLSN will be fine, but 5 years from now when all the development done at the U12 and under level favors the Q4 kids, the BY switch is going to make MLSN less competitive. I don't care about ECNL vs. MLSN, no skin in the game either way, it's just very basic logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The end game has always been a pro pathway. The academies and maybe a small select group of teams will be MLSN and the rest will be 2.

The ones with ego maniacs for directors won’t accept the 2 and will play ECNL and pretend to be special. This is one of the reasons DA imploded. Some people couldn’t accept tier 2.

Now MLS is moving on without them and ECNL will be an irrelevant league.

This has to take the cake for one of the most out of touch posts in 850+ pages. In the short run MLSN will be fine, but 5 years from now when all the development done at the U12 and under level favors the Q4 kids, the BY switch is going to make MLSN less competitive. I don't care about ECNL vs. MLSN, no skin in the game either way, it's just very basic logic.

💯…. unless MLSN1/2 fully changes to SY.

[Anonymous]

Guys.... Change is coming. Just wait for it.

MLS will happily go SY for EVERYTHING if it means owning youth soccer in America.

They are well on the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So bottom line: ECNL and MLS Next launched into an all-out war against each other. And school year (ECNL) vs birth year (MLSN) is just a tool that ECNL is hoping gives them an upper hand in who parents pay?

The biggest loser in this 'war'? The boys and girls that want to play soccer competitively.

Is this a real thing?

Is it real that two businesses are competing for customers? Yeah, that’s real.

That’s obviously true. But are they going to require members to be full members of their leagues? Meaning no more MLSN for boys and ECNL girls for one club.

[Anonymous]

Recent changes to the club landscape here in Charleston support some of what is being discussed here.

SC Surf Girls GA switched from GA to ECRL. Not sure why it wasn't to ECNL (their boys have both ECNL and ECRL). Perhaps they will have to earn their way up.

Charleston SC and JIYSC boys, the two other larger clubs here joined two other clubs (Wake -which had two teams in NPL - and Carolina Velocity) and departed the South Atlantic NPL for MLS2. Joining them were several clubs that were pushed down from MLS Next 1 (Queen City, Triangle, and Tormenta among them).

No word yet from Charleston or JIYSC Girls, which operate in the NPL. Neither are strong as the pool in our area isn't big enough for three competitive teams of girls here.

It appears that as MLS Next expanded, that range in quality widened which justified the tiers.

[Anonymous]

Why didn’t SC Surf get ECNL? Who will they play in RL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recent changes to the club landscape here in Charleston support some of what is being discussed here.

SC Surf Girls GA switched from GA to ECRL. Not sure why it wasn't to ECNL (their boys have both ECNL and ECRL). Perhaps they will have to earn their way up.

Charleston SC and JIYSC boys, the two other larger clubs here joined two other clubs (Wake -which had two teams in NPL - and Carolina Velocity) and departed the South Atlantic NPL for MLS2. Joining them were several clubs that were pushed down from MLS Next 1 (Queen City, Triangle, and Tormenta among them).

No word yet from Charleston or JIYSC Girls, which operate in the NPL. Neither are strong as the pool in our area isn't big enough for three competitive teams of girls here.

It appears that as MLS Next expanded, that range in quality widened which justified the tiers.

It’s clear:
MLS
MLS Next Pro
MLSN
MLSN2
This is what they want and will get

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recent changes to the club landscape here in Charleston support some of what is being discussed here.

SC Surf Girls GA switched from GA to ECRL. Not sure why it wasn't to ECNL (their boys have both ECNL and ECRL). Perhaps they will have to earn their way up.

Charleston SC and JIYSC boys, the two other larger clubs here joined two other clubs (Wake -which had two teams in NPL - and Carolina Velocity) and departed the South Atlantic NPL for MLS2. Joining them were several clubs that were pushed down from MLS Next 1 (Queen City, Triangle, and Tormenta among them).

No word yet from Charleston or JIYSC Girls, which operate in the NPL. Neither are strong as the pool in our area isn't big enough for three competitive teams of girls here.

It appears that as MLS Next expanded, that range in quality widened which justified the tiers.

It’s clear:
MLS
MLS Next Pro
MLSN
MLSN2
This is what they want and will get

ECNL will be the boutique league for rich parents who can’t accept being tier 2. What MLS is offering is a legit pathway that all teams can participate in not a pay to play boutique league for rich parents and clubs who desire monopolies.

[Anonymous]

FWIW our club had several ECNL teams and left them for MLSN2 this upcomimg year, while staying with MLSN as top tier team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why didn’t SC Surf get ECNL? Who will they play in RL?

ECNL has really sold the dream to the RL clubs that they can get promoted to NL. If they were to let Surf come in and jump the line, it would have been a bad look. Expect Surf to get promoted in a year or two. I don’t think ECNL is going to put clubs right into NL anymore unless they’re your top dog GA clubs (think Tophat, City, etc.). They’ve got plenty of top clubs on their own and want to build the second level to have a true path to NL. I expect GA is going to try something similar with the Aspire league.

[Anonymous]

Until ECNL starts relegating teams who don’t win 10% of games it will be a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recent changes to the club landscape here in Charleston support some of what is being discussed here.

SC Surf Girls GA switched from GA to ECRL. Not sure why it wasn't to ECNL (their boys have both ECNL and ECRL). Perhaps they will have to earn their way up.

Charleston SC and JIYSC boys, the two other larger clubs here joined two other clubs (Wake -which had two teams in NPL - and Carolina Velocity) and departed the South Atlantic NPL for MLS2. Joining them were several clubs that were pushed down from MLS Next 1 (Queen City, Triangle, and Tormenta among them).

No word yet from Charleston or JIYSC Girls, which operate in the NPL. Neither are strong as the pool in our area isn't big enough for three competitive teams of girls here.

It appears that as MLS Next expanded, that range in quality widened which justified the tiers.

It’s clear:
MLS
MLS Next Pro
MLSN
MLSN2
This is what they want and will get

Heard MLS academy is going SY starting Fall 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recent changes to the club landscape here in Charleston support some of what is being discussed here.

SC Surf Girls GA switched from GA to ECRL. Not sure why it wasn't to ECNL (their boys have both ECNL and ECRL). Perhaps they will have to earn their way up.

Charleston SC and JIYSC boys, the two other larger clubs here joined two other clubs (Wake -which had two teams in NPL - and Carolina Velocity) and departed the South Atlantic NPL for MLS2. Joining them were several clubs that were pushed down from MLS Next 1 (Queen City, Triangle, and Tormenta among them).

No word yet from Charleston or JIYSC Girls, which operate in the NPL. Neither are strong as the pool in our area isn't big enough for three competitive teams of girls here.

It appears that as MLS Next expanded, that range in quality widened which justified the tiers.

It’s clear:
MLS
MLS Next Pro
MLSN
MLSN2
This is what they want and will get

Heard MLS academy is going SY starting Fall 2026

Do you have a source or is this just speculation?