ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GA goes SY without a doubt; they can’t risk standing alone. MLSN could risk it but do they want to reduce their potential player pool and make life difficult for clubs?

People keep saying this. But it’s just not true, and it’s not what GA argued for with USSF when this was in committee.

GA is better off being aligned with MLS, international standards and with YNTs. It’s how they differentiate from ECNL.

There is ZERO risk to GA with no change, and big potential competitive upside after ECNL’s change to SY.

If you can’t see that, you’re either too obtuse, too biased, or too insecure about your DD’s opportunities.

Aligned with MLS how, exactly? What does that even mean? This is youth soccer. Not professional soccer. They’re going to go SY like their competition (this is a business!), the other youth leagues. If you can’t see that then, well, I guess you’re too obtuse, biased, or too insecure about your own DD’s opportunities.

“This is a business” is exactly why GA won’t change and “follow” ECNL. What a dunce.

GA is going school year. Now go sit in the corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

Exactly. GA has to follow ECNL or risk falling further behind. The gap between ECNL and GA is much wider than the gap between MLSN and ECNL on the boys side.

If GA doesnt then a top Q3 or Q4 (best players in the grade) will jump to ECNL in a heartbeat. And maybe some of the bench Q1 and Q2 ECNL will move to GA but who cares? Those are not the players making a difference.

This will never happen as long as MLS Acadamies exist. But you can larp all you want

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

There is an entire thread that is nothing more than a pissing match between GA parents and ECNL parents. Let’s keep this pissing match between BY and SY.

[Anonymous]

ECNL made the solid chess move with promoting SY as it fell in line with their college pathway but they were also also banking on Mlsn staying birth year, otherwise they dont benefit as much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

Surf G10 NL will beat City 5:0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

Surf G10 NL will beat City 5:0.

Not likely to happen but good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

Surf G10 NL will beat City 5:0.

Not likely to happen but good luck.

Actuallyi take that back.

Surf will schedule City to play their ECRL team in Surf Cup. But when they play City most of the players will be ECNL. Just like Legends tried to do but still lost.

Basically your ECRL player will ride the bench when it matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

Surf G10 NL will beat City 5:0.

Not likely to happen but good luck.

Actuallyi take that back.

Surf will schedule City to play their ECRL team in Surf Cup. But when they play City most of the players will be ECNL. Just like Legends tried to do but still lost.

Basically your ECRL player will ride the bench when it matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got an outline from our club that MLSN 1 and 2 will be staying BY come 2026 and other platforms within the club will be SY 8/1.

I have been on the no way MLSN can stay BY train, but it seems like a done deal that they will in fact stay BY.

That’s very concerning to me as a parent of a child with a fall birthday. Not that mlsnext isn’t changing but the possibility of having to skip u12 because u8-u12 will be 8/1. Before anyone says “just play up,” that isn’t something that is done at our club except for extremely rare occasions. Will be anxious as to how our club will handle it.

This is exactly why US soccer should have made a universal decision. 1/1 or 8/1… who cares. This is going to be a disaster.

No its not.

You'll complain +nobody will care.

MLSN will still be the top tier for youth boys soccer.

It will be a disaster for the majority of August-December birthdays going forward. They were always at a disadvantage being the back half of the birth year and now will have to skip a year to play mlsnext. This group would have been much better off if all of youth soccer stayed 1/1.

Give me a break.

With biobanding it doesn't matter.

Biobanding provides the biggest advantage for Jan-Apr kids for clubs. Too little of a benefit to bother biobanding Sep-Dec kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter.

As someone that was at both GA and ECNL playoffs this year I can tell you unequivocally, that there is a difference between the top ten and the top 30. Friendlies mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. Playoffs and open tournaments mean something.

And even if the Citys of the world occasional compete with Surf or Blues the point is that there are 19 ECNL team to 1 GA team in the top 20.

But the pp is correct this is not the appropriate forum for discussion. You can see on the other thread that it simply isnt a contest. And there is plenty of data to back it up.

[Anonymous]

This has been mentioned briefly, but for all the complaints about August players playing down and being misaligned, why can’t ECNL/US Soccer firmly say this is not allowed? During the registration cycle is it that hard to generate a bubble for parents to select their kids grade level? Every parent knows the grades of every kid on the team. Would be pretty dumb to go SY and have kids teams being gutted senior year when 6-8 players chose to play in the wrong and graduate a year early. Why even entertain that when they are taking positions from kids who are actually in that grade level? Is this really that hard to police? Honest question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

I think the more aggressive pro-GA folks said next year would be the year for bigger clubs to switch (maybe contracts are involved, who knows?).

As far as rankings, which ones and when did we get an official system endorsed by all in an ecosystem where the top leagues really don't play each other? Seems like they are done by websites or twitter users with a business interest where their readers are also potential customers instead of objective observers.

Regardless, ECNL for girls historically and currently clearly is the stronger league. Still, the nonstop punching down on GA here is telling and continues to be quite unnecessary.

I end by saying the whole thing and how it all works could change in a blink of an eye. Big time changes are brewing for all of youth sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/business/youth-sports-private-equity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Vk8.pqW_.jvxY2xIKFGaW&smid=url-share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of wishcasting going on for both sides; all or nothing thinking too. If I’m ECNL, I am hoping MLSN stays BY as it differentiates them and gives a landing pad to many of the A team kids up to u12, who have received the RAE benefits (better coaching and competition). MLSN clubs will have to resift through mostly B team kids come u13. Not the end of the world but those clubs could lose many players they have invested a lot in over the years.

Now take the same logic and apply it to the girls side. 😉

The difference is with girls theres no Academy teams (yet).

Which means all GA has to do highlight the top performing clubs (already happening) and bring over top ECNL clubs (already happening)

Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA.

The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game.

Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20.

I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL.

I think the more aggressive pro-GA folks said next year would be the year for bigger clubs to switch (maybe contracts are involved, who knows?).

As far as rankings, which ones and when did we get an official system endorsed by all in an ecosystem where the top leagues really don't play each other? Seems like they are done by websites or twitter users with a business interest where their readers are also potential customers instead of objective observers.

Regardless, ECNL for girls historically and currently clearly is the stronger league. Still, the nonstop punching down on GA here is telling and continues to be quite unnecessary.

I end by saying the whole thing and how it all works could change in a blink of an eye. Big time changes are brewing for all of youth sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/business/youth-sports-private-equity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Vk8.pqW_.jvxY2xIKFGaW&smid=url-share

We all saw what PE did to TSJ. I hope this doesn’t become a trend. If we think soccer is P2P now, one can only imagine if PE gets more involved.