ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

MLS wanted USSF to make everyone stay BY. Now that everyone else is SY, going to be hard for MLS to stay BY on their own. They could still make the decision to stay BY, will make ecnl more competitive though by pushing many August-December birthdays there so they don’t have to skip an age group. Lots of changes coming in the next few years!

No that wont be happening. As long as MLSN has academies nothing will change.

This is why the girls parents are watching NWSL so closely.

Academies may do something different than p2p mlsnext clubs.

People have talked big plans for girls for decades. San Diego FC has plans for a fully funded girls program. In 30 years I’ve yet to see anything actually come to fruition. I am a girl parent so hope you are right.

P2P will go SY for sure, otherwise their pipeline loses a year of development (and revenue).

My bet is that MLSN creates 2 tiers.

The top tier has the top p2p clubs and they play against MLS Acadamies. This league stays BY and maybe expands biobanding. MLS2 has all the rest of the p2p clubs and no acadamies this league changes to SY without biobanding. Every season MLSN1 pro/rels the top and bottom clubs between both leagues.

Pro/Rel between two leagues with different age groupings is the dumbest idea in the thread lol

SY and BY with 5 biobands is pretty much the same thing. Also MLSN doesnt really care if p2p clubs abuse biobanding rules. This just gives the Acadamies better competition to play against.

I wish p2p parents understood how the academy system works.

You should first understand what Biobanding is, which is grouping players by physical attributes in spite of their actual age (not because of it). If you blanket Bioband to bridge SY/BY it loses its purpose and meaning. You also create at 17 month age system which is neither BY or SY.

Either way it doesnt matter.

You can split hairs on the perfect use of biobanding. Acadamies dont care. They just want high level competition.

Academies may or may not care, but parents, kids, clubs, and tournament directors in the P2P system will, and rightfully so.

No they wont.

MLSN is the top league for boys. P2p clubs will be able to fill teams with player without even reaching out.

If mlsnext stays BY, ecnl gets stronger. Maybe not strong enough to overtake mlsnext and maybe mlsnext doesn’t care, but ecnl will be stronger because of it.

Nope, ECNL is going to be fighting with MLSN2 for players.

And when MLS drips the hammer on clubs theyre going to switch to GA on the Girls side.

Then you have ecnl for August-December birthdays and ga/mlsnext for January-July birthdays. Still gives ecnl a share of the boys market they didn’t have before.

MLS academies are the only place that offers a different experience. P2P Mlsnext/ga/ecnl all offer basically the same thing. Boys don’t need mlsnext to be recruited to an mls academy. They would recruit a kid out of rec if he was good enough.

You are assuming everyone wants Mlsn or mls for that matter, including the best players at u13, u14, u15. Very very few really know they want pro AND can demonstrate the talent until 16 or so. By splicing BY and SY, the number of potential kids and the quality will be lessened. In fact they will be sifting through mostly B team players at u13 bc of RAE being with the SY kids to that point. This makes the competition pool in the Mlsn pipeline weaker than now which can’t be good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

Their is much more money in youth soccer than pro (MLS). So MLSN academies need to get subsidized by youth soccer, like MLSN P2P, instead of pro soccer for their business model to work. They will be begrudgingly follow the cash, aka SY.

What? For boys college recruitment is much different than girls.

#1 is MLSN Acadamies
#2 is Foreign Acadamies
#3/4 is MLSN and ECNL p2p
#5 is everyone else

They aren’t talking about college recruitment, they are talking about money. The only people making money in youth soccer are the p2p clubs. Academies are almost all losing money.

Academies make money earn players turn pro. This funds the rest of the players until another goes pro.

There is no money tree. Selling a player every few years is marketing for P2P MLSN, where the real cash is that needs to get funnelled up to the MLSN academies because the bulk of the players go to college not pros and the few that go pro lean toward being lower level players in MLSN and USL for low wages (this can be a great life, not dissing the players goals at all). Player sales is a tiny fraction of an academies' costs. DA went away when it expanded to the girls side. MLSN expanding to MLS2 will save the MLSN or bury it. Interesting play that only time will tell if it works. MLS is tiring of dragging a money pit.

Don't forget that US Soccer is working with NCAA to create some kind of college league. If this happens it will likely look much more like pro soccer and less like College / High School soccer.

And will look much more like USL than MLS so very little pay except for a handful of players. USL2 and USL Super league are new great opportunities for players but the pay won't be the basis for generational wealth.

[Anonymous]

They will be closer to ECRL for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

MLS wanted USSF to make everyone stay BY. Now that everyone else is SY, going to be hard for MLS to stay BY on their own. They could still make the decision to stay BY, will make ecnl more competitive though by pushing many August-December birthdays there so they don’t have to skip an age group. Lots of changes coming in the next few years!

No that wont be happening. As long as MLSN has academies nothing will change.

This is why the girls parents are watching NWSL so closely.

Academies may do something different than p2p mlsnext clubs.

People have talked big plans for girls for decades. San Diego FC has plans for a fully funded girls program. In 30 years I’ve yet to see anything actually come to fruition. I am a girl parent so hope you are right.

P2P will go SY for sure, otherwise their pipeline loses a year of development (and revenue).

My bet is that MLSN creates 2 tiers.

The top tier has the top p2p clubs and they play against MLS Acadamies. This league stays BY and maybe expands biobanding. MLS2 has all the rest of the p2p clubs and no acadamies this league changes to SY without biobanding. Every season MLSN1 pro/rels the top and bottom clubs between
both leagues.

Uhm- MLS already has 3 tiers. MLS Academy (Tier 1), MLS Next (Tier 2) and the new MLS Next 2 (Tier 3). No matter how you slice it MLS is watering itself down by adding this third tier. What's happening is that they are are trying to mirror ECNL--with a National P2P league (Next) and a Regional League (Next2). None of these is the MLS Academy.

I agree with you reguarding the leagues levels. But, its splitting hairs if theres 2 or 3 MLSN levels. Yes Acadamies are the top level but p2p teams they play against can be considered level 1 or level 2.

The one thing I think is clear is that MLSN2 is being put together to compete against ECNL.

Yup. But even with MLSN2, on the boys side, the ECNL ecosystem including ECRL is going to be what, around 30- 50% bigger than the MLSN plus MLSN2 ecosystem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

MLS wanted USSF to make everyone stay BY. Now that everyone else is SY, going to be hard for MLS to stay BY on their own. They could still make the decision to stay BY, will make ecnl more competitive though by pushing many August-December birthdays there so they don’t have to skip an age group. Lots of changes coming in the next few years!

No that wont be happening. As long as MLSN has academies nothing will change.

This is why the girls parents are watching NWSL so closely.

Academies may do something different than p2p mlsnext clubs.

People have talked big plans for girls for decades. San Diego FC has plans for a fully funded girls program. In 30 years I’ve yet to see anything actually come to fruition. I am a girl parent so hope you are right.

P2P will go SY for sure, otherwise their pipeline loses a year of development (and revenue).

My bet is that MLSN creates 2 tiers.

The top tier has the top p2p clubs and they play against MLS Acadamies. This league stays BY and maybe expands biobanding. MLS2 has all the rest of the p2p clubs and no acadamies this league changes to SY without biobanding. Every season MLSN1 pro/rels the top and bottom clubs between
both leagues.

Uhm- MLS already has 3 tiers. MLS Academy (Tier 1), MLS Next (Tier 2) and the new MLS Next 2 (Tier 3). No matter how you slice it MLS is watering itself down by adding this third tier. What's happening is that they are are trying to mirror ECNL--with a National P2P league (Next) and a Regional League (Next2). None of these is the MLS Academy.

I agree with you reguarding the leagues levels. But, its splitting hairs if theres 2 or 3 MLSN levels. Yes Acadamies are the top level but p2p teams they play against can be considered level 1 or level 2.

The one thing I think is clear is that MLSN2 is being put together to compete against ECNL.

Yup. But even with MLSN2, on the boys side, the ECNL ecosystem including ECRL is going to be what, around 30- 50% bigger than the MLSN plus MLSN2 ecosystem?

Maybe not really sure.

One thing i do know is that MLSN has identified that they need to address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

MLS wanted USSF to make everyone stay BY. Now that everyone else is SY, going to be hard for MLS to stay BY on their own. They could still make the decision to stay BY, will make ecnl more competitive though by pushing many August-December birthdays there so they don’t have to skip an age group. Lots of changes coming in the next few years!

No that wont be happening. As long as MLSN has academies nothing will change.

This is why the girls parents are watching NWSL so closely.

Academies may do something different than p2p mlsnext clubs.

People have talked big plans for girls for decades. San Diego FC has plans for a fully funded girls program. In 30 years I’ve yet to see anything actually come to fruition. I am a girl parent so hope you are right.

P2P will go SY for sure, otherwise their pipeline loses a year of development (and revenue).

My bet is that MLSN creates 2 tiers.

The top tier has the top p2p clubs and they play against MLS Acadamies. This league stays BY and maybe expands biobanding. MLS2 has all the rest of the p2p clubs and no acadamies this league changes to SY without biobanding. Every season MLSN1 pro/rels the top and bottom clubs between both leagues.

Pro/Rel between two leagues with different age groupings is the dumbest idea in the thread lol

SY and BY with 5 biobands is pretty much the same thing. Also MLSN doesnt really care if p2p clubs abuse biobanding rules. This just gives the Acadamies better competition to play against.

I wish p2p parents understood how the academy system works.

You should first understand what Biobanding is, which is grouping players by physical attributes in spite of their actual age (not because of it). If you blanket Bioband to bridge SY/BY it loses its purpose and meaning. You also create at 17 month age system which is neither BY or SY.

Either way it doesnt matter.

You can split hairs on the perfect use of biobanding. Acadamies dont care. They just want high level competition.

Academies may or may not care, but parents, kids, clubs, and tournament directors in the P2P system will, and rightfully so.

No they wont.

MLSN is the top league for boys. P2p clubs will be able to fill teams with player without even reaching out.

If mlsnext stays BY, ecnl gets stronger. Maybe not strong enough to overtake mlsnext and maybe mlsnext doesn’t care, but ecnl will be stronger because of it.

Nope, ECNL is going to be fighting with MLSN2 for players.

And when MLS drips the hammer on clubs theyre going to switch to GA on the Girls side.

Then you have ecnl for August-December birthdays and ga/mlsnext for January-July birthdays. Still gives ecnl a share of the boys market they didn’t have before.

MLS academies are the only place that offers a different experience. P2P Mlsnext/ga/ecnl all offer basically the same thing. Boys don’t need mlsnext to be recruited to an mls academy. They would recruit a kid out of rec if he was good enough.

You are assuming everyone wants Mlsn or mls for that matter, including the best players at u13, u14, u15. Very very few really know they want pro AND can demonstrate the talent until 16 or so. By splicing BY and SY, the number of potential kids and the quality will be lessened. In fact they will be sifting through mostly B team players at u13 bc of RAE being with the SY kids to that point. This makes the competition pool in the Mlsn pipeline weaker than now which can’t be good for them.

Not assuming everyone wants the academy/pro path at all. Only stating that this path is different and completely agree with you, it’s not for every player or every family. P2P leagues are all mostly the same with the experience they offer. For all the talk otherwise, P2P mlsnext and ecnl offer more or less the same thing. A player who wants the academy/pro path also doesn’t need to go through mlsnext, they can and do get recruited from ecnl or any other acronym league.

I don’t see p2p mlsnext being able to stand on its own and stay BY, it’s not different enough from it’s competitors and fundamentally doesn’t offer a different enough product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLS is the shadow government of USSF why do people think MLSN will not stay BY?

It seems like the big 3 wanted SY but because MLS wanted to stay BY USSF decided to not side with the majority and instead just decided to let leagues do what they wanted.

What was the purpose of that? Unless some league want to stay BY long term?

MLS wanted USSF to make everyone stay BY. Now that everyone else is SY, going to be hard for MLS to stay BY on their own. They could still make the decision to stay BY, will make ecnl more competitive though by pushing many August-December birthdays there so they don’t have to skip an age group. Lots of changes coming in the next few years!

No that wont be happening. As long as MLSN has academies nothing will change.

This is why the girls parents are watching NWSL so closely.

Academies may do something different than p2p mlsnext clubs.

People have talked big plans for girls for decades. San Diego FC has plans for a fully funded girls program. In 30 years I’ve yet to see anything actually come to fruition. I am a girl parent so hope you are right.

P2P will go SY for sure, otherwise their pipeline loses a year of development (and revenue).

My bet is that MLSN creates 2 tiers.

The top tier has the top p2p clubs and they play against MLS Acadamies. This league stays BY and maybe expands biobanding. MLS2 has all the rest of the p2p clubs and no acadamies this league changes to SY without biobanding. Every season MLSN1 pro/rels the top and bottom clubs between both leagues.

Pro/Rel between two leagues with different age groupings is the dumbest idea in the thread lol

SY and BY with 5 biobands is pretty much the same thing. Also MLSN doesnt really care if p2p clubs abuse biobanding rules. This just gives the Acadamies better competition to play against.

I wish p2p parents understood how the academy system works.

You should first understand what Biobanding is, which is grouping players by physical attributes in spite of their actual age (not because of it). If you blanket Bioband to bridge SY/BY it loses its purpose and meaning. You also create at 17 month age system which is neither BY or SY.

Either way it doesnt matter.

You can split hairs on the perfect use of biobanding. Acadamies dont care. They just want high level competition.

Academies may or may not care, but parents, kids, clubs, and tournament directors in the P2P system will, and rightfully so.

No they wont.

MLSN is the top league for boys. P2p clubs will be able to fill teams with player without even reaching out.

If mlsnext stays BY, ecnl gets stronger. Maybe not strong enough to overtake mlsnext and maybe mlsnext doesn’t care, but ecnl will be stronger because of it.

Nope, ECNL is going to be fighting with MLSN2 for players.

And when MLS drips the hammer on clubs theyre going to switch to GA on the Girls side.

Then you have ecnl for August-December birthdays and ga/mlsnext for January-July birthdays. Still gives ecnl a share of the boys market they didn’t have before.

MLS academies are the only place that offers a different experience. P2P Mlsnext/ga/ecnl all offer basically the same thing. Boys don’t need mlsnext to be recruited to an mls academy. They would recruit a kid out of rec if he was good enough.

You are assuming everyone wants Mlsn or mls for that matter, including the best players at u13, u14, u15. Very very few really know they want pro AND can demonstrate the talent until 16 or so. By splicing BY and SY, the number of potential kids and the quality will be lessened. In fact they will be sifting through mostly B team players at u13 bc of RAE being with the SY kids to that point. This makes the competition pool in the Mlsn pipeline weaker than now which can’t be good for them.

Not assuming everyone wants the academy/pro path at all. Only stating that this path is different and completely agree with you, it’s not for every player or every family. P2P leagues are all mostly the same with the experience they offer. For all the talk otherwise, P2P mlsnext and ecnl offer more or less the same thing. A player who wants the academy/pro path also doesn’t need to go through mlsnext, they can and do get recruited from ecnl or any other acronym league.

I don’t see p2p mlsnext being able to stand on its own and stay BY, it’s not different enough from it’s competitors and fundamentally doesn’t offer a different enough product.

This. MLSN and ECNL are basically the same - top level leagues for club’s boys teams. If these leagues are still going to compete for players, MLSN will go SY. There is not nearly enough MLS or college level talent playing in either of these P2P leagues to justify going against the grain and having two separate systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Development money - paid when a player signs their first pro-contract - is the only reason MLSNext exists at all. Of course, it is also the reason pro teams around the world have youth programs.

Peanuts

It’s pretty big money. That’s why the Rush sued and took it all the way to the international sport court - where they won. That was for the world famous player known as Yedlin, and his development money was just shy of $1,000,000.

That’s why the big clubs maintain youth programs. It’s all about the money.

After the Yedlin decision, US Soccer was more than happy to help the MLS ownership group screw the youth clubs across the country. So they shut down the Development Academy program, in less than a year, and started MLSNext. Entirely to control the development money.