MLSN vs ECNL

[Anonymous]

Things will keep evolving, but let’s be clear there is a hierarchy among leagues. That said, hierarchy doesn’t mean guarantees. A team in one league can absolutely compete with, and beat, a team from another.

My son played youth soccer at VDA and, during his high school years, never lost to DC United, competed consistently with SYC and Alexandria, and somehow tied (prob should of loss) to an ECNL-R team in Florida. The league label alone never told the full story.

As a parent, the way I evaluate these leagues is simple: the overall level of play and the likelihood of playing beyond youth soccer whether that’s college or professionally.

Using that lens:

MLS NEXT (DCU): Roughly 1 out of 100 will go pro

MLS NEXT: Most starters will earn college offers

ECNL: About half of the starting lineup will play in college, primarily D3 or lower-tier D1

ECNL-R / MLS Next 2: 1-4 players will play in college, typically low D3 at best

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, we are thinking of going to ECNL because of the absurd tournament travel of MLS Next.

Don't you have far drives for weekend games? I heard it's worse for ECNL than MLSN

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, we are thinking of going to ECNL because of the absurd tournament travel of MLS Next.

MLSN1 has crazy travel, MLSN2 has MLS Fest but then a regional tournament and that's it if they don't progress. The game travel is certainly no worse than ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If MLSN 2 teams had a different badge (like ENCL RL and GA-A does) it would totally change the perception. best thing MLSN did was just allow them to use the same badge. Great parlor trick.

The dilution is real. All the AD teams conveniently leave off the AD when submitting info for tournaments hoping that nobody notices. The real losers in this are the HG teams and players…AD got to use the Academy designation, the MLS patch, and Fest participation and HG got nothing but dilution….Good on MLS for leaning into the money making model- ripping a page from the ECNL playbook. Meanwhile the geniuses as ECNL are chasing NPL partnerships and presenting it as a pathway which basically just dilutes their ECRL product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or who is jumping to ECNL from MLS2 given the age group change? I suspect there are many Q3 and Q4 boys on MLS2 teams.

My DS's HS age MLS2 team has exactly 1 player with a birthday after July 31st. The age groups above and below have ~5 each.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, we are thinking of going to ECNL because of the absurd tournament travel of MLS Next.

I would research that. I heard directly from an ECNL parent the travel is crazy.

Look at the rankings app to look at the previous teams track record of tournaments.

I honestly do not think 95% of our kids need to travel outside of the DMV to be challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things will keep evolving, but let’s be clear there is a hierarchy among leagues. That said, hierarchy doesn’t mean guarantees. A team in one league can absolutely compete with, and beat, a team from another.

My son played youth soccer at VDA and, during his high school years, never lost to DC United, competed consistently with SYC and Alexandria, and somehow tied (prob should of loss) to an ECNL-R team in Florida. The league label alone never told the full story.

As a parent, the way I evaluate these leagues is simple: the overall level of play and the likelihood of playing beyond youth soccer whether that’s college or professionally.

Using that lens:

MLS NEXT (DCU): Roughly 1 out of 100 will go pro

MLS NEXT: Most starters will earn college offers

ECNL: About half of the starting lineup will play in college, primarily D3 or lower-tier D1

ECNL-R / MLS Next 2: 1-4 players will play in college, typically low D3 at best

Division 2 exists and some of those lower level MLS Next players and ECNL players will end up there as well. Plus, simply looking at club names on college roster bios, there are more roster spots on most college teams held by players from what would now be ECNL-R/MLSN2 level clubs than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things will keep evolving, but let’s be clear there is a hierarchy among leagues. That said, hierarchy doesn’t mean guarantees. A team in one league can absolutely compete with, and beat, a team from another.

My son played youth soccer at VDA and, during his high school years, never lost to DC United, competed consistently with SYC and Alexandria, and somehow tied (prob should of loss) to an ECNL-R team in Florida. The league label alone never told the full story.

As a parent, the way I evaluate these leagues is simple: the overall level of play and the likelihood of playing beyond youth soccer whether that’s college or professionally.

Using that lens:

MLS NEXT (DCU): Roughly 1 out of 100 will go pro

MLS NEXT: Most starters will earn college offers

ECNL: About half of the starting lineup will play in college, primarily D3 or lower-tier D1

ECNL-R / MLS Next 2: 1-4 players will play in college, typically low D3 at best

Division 2 exists and some of those lower level MLS Next players and ECNL players will end up there as well. Plus, simply looking at club names on college roster bios, there are more roster spots on most college teams held by players from what would now be ECNL-R/MLSN2 level clubs than you think.

80% of the NCAA division 1 champions roster from Washington was ECNL club players

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, we are thinking of going to ECNL because of the absurd tournament travel of MLS Next.

MLSN1 has crazy travel, MLSN2 has MLS Fest but then a regional tournament and that's it if they don't progress. The game travel is certainly no worse than ECNL.

Can your DC even make MLSNext? ECNL is an inferior product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MLSN 2 teams had a different badge (like ENCL RL and GA-A does) it would totally change the perception. best thing MLSN did was just allow them to use the same badge. Great parlor trick.

The dilution is real. All the AD teams conveniently leave off the AD when submitting info for tournaments hoping that nobody notices. The real losers in this are the HG teams and players…AD got to use the Academy designation, the MLS patch, and Fest participation and HG got nothing but dilution….Good on MLS for leaning into the money making model- ripping a page from the ECNL playbook. Meanwhile the geniuses as ECNL are chasing NPL partnerships and presenting it as a pathway which basically just dilutes their ECRL product.

Fool’s take. We know which teams are the scrubs on both sides.