They are not ducking out. It’s just as high a priority as all the other events they play in. There are only so many they can do so they need to choose. Top teams already have their national events, league games, high end tournaments, plus high school seasons they need to contend with. Fact is state cup takes a back seat to these other events. |
| how can something for the lower tier teams be called a "state cup"? its so weird. |
Because no one will sign up for a best third team in the state cup |
Same way there are multiple "national" championships. ECNL, GA, etc. Is baseball's "world" series really worldwide? You can name a tournament anything you want |
The same thing happens with futsal. I think I’ve seems a few “regional” competitions leading to separate “national” competitions… I think one was by US futsal, another was done by futsalRVA, US youth futsal and United futsal… which one is the more prestigious one? |
| VYSA had the "only" state cup in Virginia for a long time. The US Club version is pretty new. VYSA is changing their format this spring so there is a round robin weekend where teams play three games and the bracket winners advance. US Club is self- scheduled and generally its the ECNL Regional League teams between U12 and U14 playing that one. VYSA added a group for U11s a couple of years ago but it does not seem to be attracting much attention from clubs. Some of the Regional League teams are playing VYSA's version but the cards are different so that may be a consideration for how teams choose which to do. Like everything else, this is (IMO) a case of too many groups all trying to get their hands on money. Even without the ECNL teams, one state cup could be a great, competitive environment. Two just waters it down. VYSA making everyone go to Fredericksburg for a whole weekend isn't a great move either to me, but I guess we will see how it goes for them. The old way with VYSA State Cup on Saturdays was much easier and didn't involve rescheduling a bunch of games. |
Teams can play in the VPSL state cup even if they're not a VPSL member, they just have to pay a slightly higher fee. This is more of USCS trying to come into something that already existed and wanted to capitalize. |