Richmond Strikers and Kickers Merging

[Anonymous]

^^^^And what are we shouting about there?

[Anonymous]

“The new tier of MLS NEXT is a tremendous development for soccer in the United States."

New tier = renamed second tier

[Anonymous]

So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

MLSN probably received a ton of applications from ECNL/NON-ECNL clubs this past year. The clubs were a little hesitant to join because they were worried ECNL would kick the girls out leaving them no league to play in..

MLSN says hold my beer, and forms an alliance with GA.

then they go back to the clubs and say, we got this, come on in..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

MLSN probably received a ton of applications from ECNL/NON-ECNL clubs this past year. The clubs were a little hesitant to join because they were worried ECNL would kick the girls out leaving them no league to play in..

MLSN says hold my beer, and forms an alliance with GA.

then they go back to the clubs and say, we got this, come on in..

lol nailed it!

[Anonymous]

Strikers is unbelievably saturated with players. Rostering 18 players per team and having very limited access to fields is causing issues. For the girls, the merger will just create a ECNL RL RU team. The Kickers program is not strong at all on the girls ECNLRL side of things.

Grove Girls program will poach many girls players in the Richmond area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

MLSN probably received a ton of applications from ECNL/NON-ECNL clubs this past year. The clubs were a little hesitant to join because they were worried ECNL would kick the girls out leaving them no league to play in..

MLSN says hold my beer, and forms an alliance with GA.

then they go back to the clubs and say, we got this, come on in..

lol nailed it!

Bingo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

MLSN probably received a ton of applications from ECNL/NON-ECNL clubs this past year. The clubs were a little hesitant to join because they were worried ECNL would kick the girls out leaving them no league to play in..

MLSN says hold my beer, and forms an alliance with GA.

then they go back to the clubs and say, we got this, come on in..

lol nailed it!

Yeah but any ECNL club on the girls side that got booted from ECNL could just easily walk into GA even before the "Strategic Alliance"... Especially with GA losing it's top teams to ECNL over the past couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, this announcement is interesting...do the boys top level team try to get MLSNext and the -RL teams go to this 2nd Tier. But, what happens on the girls side.

Man, lots of excitement to start 2025. Two weeks!

MLSN probably received a ton of applications from ECNL/NON-ECNL clubs this past year. The clubs were a little hesitant to join because they were worried ECNL would kick the girls out leaving them no league to play in..

MLSN says hold my beer, and forms an alliance with GA.

then they go back to the clubs and say, we got this, come on in..

lol nailed it!

Yeah but any ECNL club on the girls side that got booted from ECNL could just easily walk into GA even before the "Strategic Alliance"... Especially with GA losing it's top teams to ECNL over the past couple of years.

Do you not see what’s happening?

MLSN has fully positioned themselves to take on ECNL as a whole. Not just boys.

MLSN needed to have a girls side to challenge ECNL Girls….That is what the alliance was for.

MLSN Needed a true 2nd division to challenge ECRL…that’s what just happened.

[Anonymous]

ECNL could previously force clubs to put their top boys teams in ECNL if they wanted to have girls ECNL because they had the market power. If they no longer have that market power, then it would be foolish to kick good teams out of ECNL girls because they move boys to MLSNext.

If they do do this out of spite, then they will wither and die and cease to become the best league.

The smart move would be to retrench to focus on girls, drop the ECNL boys linkage nonsense and continue to be the dominate league for girls. Given MLS Academies and their money, there never was a chance ECNL Boys was going to become what ECNL girls is.

[Anonymous]

We left one of those clubs in the last couple of years. What they were working towards then was 2 ECNL teams for Richmond United. RU North ECNL which would cover northern areas and RU South ECNL that would cover the city and South. Driver for this was parent driving time and trying to limit it.

[Anonymous]

Seems far fetched to think they are just going to be given ECNL. I’ll believe it when I see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ECNL could previously force clubs to put their top boys teams in ECNL if they wanted to have girls ECNL because they had the market power. If they no longer have that market power, then it would be foolish to kick good teams out of ECNL girls because they move boys to MLSNext.

If they do do this out of spite, then they will wither and die and cease to become the best league.

The smart move would be to retrench to focus on girls, drop the ECNL boys linkage nonsense and continue to be the dominate league for girls. Given MLS Academies and their money, there never was a chance ECNL Boys was going to become what ECNL girls is.

100% on your assessment.

The problem with ECNL giving up on the boys is that over time MLSN + GA will slowly take the top ECNL girls clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we were with Richmond United, there were rumors about merging of Richmond Kicker and Strikers every winter. Not sure if it will happen in 2025, but rumor was youth soccer part of Strikers (they organize more sports than just soccer) would basically merge into Kickers. Then both Kicker's first (current Richmond United) and second teams (kicker RL +Striker RL) will play in ECNL.

Why would Strikers go into Kickers and not the other way around?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL could previously force clubs to put their top boys teams in ECNL if they wanted to have girls ECNL because they had the market power. If they no longer have that market power, then it would be foolish to kick good teams out of ECNL girls because they move boys to MLSNext.

If they do do this out of spite, then they will wither and die and cease to become the best league.

The smart move would be to retrench to focus on girls, drop the ECNL boys linkage nonsense and continue to be the dominate league for girls. Given MLS Academies and their money, there never was a chance ECNL Boys was going to become what ECNL girls is.

100% on your assessment.

The problem with ECNL giving up on the boys is that over time MLSN + GA will slowly take the top ECNL girls clubs.

Where do you come up with this stuff?