National 1 League? - what is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Level below ECNL RL (see link).

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSa4f_4kVmC/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=c6b88b7f-335c-4188-86ac-756c19f9e512

It's team based not club based, so top teams in each age group will make a playoff next summer combined with mid-level RL teams that don't make the RL playoffs.

No promotion to RL based on performance since that is based on club overall performance (U13-U19). But then in 2027-2028, top teams would compete against each other in a "National" tier.

But the 'National' tier would still be below RL.

Yes

It depends who you ask - there's definitely a believe amongst some clubs that N1 will sit next to RL especially in some regions like the North East where you have some vast disparity between good RL teams and bad ones. Like when you have multiple teams that win 0 games in RL brackets. Most of the clubs looking at N1 by us are not happy to have to play in playoff structures with low level RL teams but if you don't have strong teams across 6 age groups (which with the MLSN expansion is pretty tough now), you don't really have much of a choice now.

The reality is that if your club can come out and finish top of table in all six age groups in your region, then that club will get an offer to move to RL. Thus RL would consume the top clubs in N1.
My experience is on the girls side, and N1 will be below RL there easily. But good point with two levels of MLS and two Levels of ECNL on boys side, I could see a lot of N1 teams beign better than RL and MLS Academy teams.

There is going to be no incentive to stay on a good N1 team that can beat ECNL RL teams, if they will never get moved up to RL because the other teams at their club are not strong enough. Why not just move to an RL team if you're a good enough player? At least in this area where we have lots of options. The N1 thing makes more sense in a rural area where the only ECNL RL clubs are too far away. Then you at least get a chance to play against them at the end of the season.

[Anonymous]

N1 is rebrand of USYS National League+Club Premier (formerly E64).

They needed the addition of the other leagues/merger because in the last year a bunch of former top clubs left for either MLSN OR GA OR ECNL RL.

It hopefully simplifies things BUT at the end of the day maybe makes winning your state cup even less important than ever -- which would be too bad.

[Anonymous]

So in Vienna's case for example, will the Eagles/Phoenix teams move to N1 or is it for the Red teams (2nd team)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It hopefully simplifies things BUT at the end of the day maybe makes winning your state cup even less important than ever -- which would be too bad.

I do wish that all but the pro academies competed for the state cup.

[Anonymous]

For Vienna, it is red teams. And I don't think they are entering all of their red teams.

[Anonymous]

I think people are missing the fact that this is indeed a national thing. It's not an "NCSL rebrand."

A few ways to look at it:

- Capitulation by USYS that it will no longer attempt to have elite-level competition on its own. This is essentially a merger of NL (USYS) and NPL (US Club).

- *Finally*, some sensible mergers that will increase the odds of playing teams in your own region instead of bundling up to rural New Jersey to play Game 5 of a five-game schedule because heaven forbid DS plays in (gasp) NCSL and is home from games in time for dinner.

Now merge MLS Next, GA and ECNL, and we might have a coherent structure at last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It hopefully simplifies things BUT at the end of the day maybe makes winning your state cup even less important than ever -- which would be too bad.

I do wish that all but the pro academies competed for the state cup.

Some people at USYS always looked at the Little League World Series with envy, wondering why the same attention wasn't paid to their national championships.

If we had competitions with all the clubs other than pro academies, that might draw enough interest.

This might be a step in that direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Where did you see MLSN clubs would be participating? That's a completely separate eco system.

Correct. National 1 League is under the ECNL pyramid.
1. ECNL
2. ECNL RL
3. National 1 League

MLS Next pyramid:
1a. MLS Academies / 1b. MLS Next HG
2. MLS Next Academy (MLSN2)
3. NAL

The above is a general ranking of each pyramid. I didn't post this to reopen the MLSN vs. ECNL debate, which has been discussed ad nauseam.

Some GA clubs are also joining the new league. It's generally their second or third teams, depending on age groups.