ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News from our club.

They strongly believe MLS Next will publish a statement during near MLS Next Fest (starting December 4th) regarding 2026/27 age cutoffs.

I was betting on 12/19 at about 5 pm.

For a league who wanted nothing to do with the age change, they’ve certainly become all about the age change.

[Anonymous]

Yeah that means they are switching 1 and 2 to SY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah that means they are switching 1 and 2 to SY

So bring everyone to Arizona and announce they are breaking up all the teams next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are announcing next week my guess is they will switch to SY for the non academy team. Otherwise easy to send something out now to stay BY.

But time shall tell.

So what you're saying is theyre going to stay BY or change to SY.

Thats some Nostradamus level insight

Saying if they were just going to keep it the same they would of said that already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah that means they are switching 1 and 2 to SY

So bring everyone to Arizona and announce they are breaking up all the teams next year?

Yup

[Anonymous]

MLS on the youth level is relatively new, but if this is to be the pro pathway (according to their own hopes/claims) their lack of organization and communication is staggering. Yes, growing pains are understandable, and the age change was a curve ball for them... but, well... hard to have confidence in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are announcing next week my guess is they will switch to SY for the non academy team. Otherwise easy to send something out now to stay BY.

But time shall tell.

So what you're saying is theyre going to stay BY or change to SY.

Thats some Nostradamus level insight

Saying if they were just going to keep it the same they would of said that already

People have said this same thing for months now. I think originally they were not going to change and didn’t say anything because either they didn’t think they had to (dumb) or they were told not to say anything by USSF.

That allowed a ton of tension to build and none of the MLSN1 or 2 P2P clubs knew what was going on. Then they were forced to re-evaluate (or evaluate for the first time) and here we are.

All that being said, I still wouldn’t put it past them to just say ‘we’re not changing anything’. They haven’t acted rationally before, they could certainly do it again. So I don’t think you can look for logic in their silence.

[Anonymous]

According to our club MLS Next decided some weeks ago to move Academy (MLSN2) to SY, and keep Homegrown (MLSN1) at BY. Actually, that was the internal notification that our club received.

However, many p2p clubs with teams at both MLSN1 and MLSN2 divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, because it would be a big organizational problem for them (having two different age cutoffs at same year).

Then, MLS Next retired that proposal and notified they would need more time to reconsider the whole issue until reaching a final decision.

And here we are, waiting for it …

I would say MLS Next managers are between two opposite direction forces: p2p clubs asking for SY, and academies preferring BY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to our club MLS Next decided some weeks ago to move Academy (MLSN2) to SY, and keep Homegrown (MLSN1) at BY. Actually, that was the internal notification that our club received.

However, many p2p clubs with teams at both MLSN1 and MLSN2 divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, because it would be a big organizational problem for them (having two different age cutoffs at same year).

Then, MLS Next retired that proposal and notified they would need more time to reconsider the whole issue until reaching a final decision.

And here we are, waiting for it …

I would say MLS Next managers are between two opposite direction forces: p2p clubs asking for SY, and academies preferring BY.

Does this mean the City announcement from October is correct and mlsn1 is staying BY and mlsn2 is currently being evaluated or are both 1 and 2 being evaluated?

[Anonymous]

Our club is potentially moving up from MLSN2 to MLSN in the next year. That would be a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to our club MLS Next decided some weeks ago to move Academy (MLSN2) to SY, and keep Homegrown (MLSN1) at BY. Actually, that was the internal notification that our club received.

However, many p2p clubs with teams at both MLSN1 and MLSN2 divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, because it would be a big organizational problem for them (having two different age cutoffs at same year).

Then, MLS Next retired that proposal and notified they would need more time to reconsider the whole issue until reaching a final decision.

And here we are, waiting for it …

I would say MLS Next managers are between two opposite direction forces: p2p clubs asking for SY, and academies preferring BY.

Our club got different info than this. In April we were told MLSN 1 and 2 would be BY. This has since been redacted and we wer told MLSN now reconsidering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to our club MLS Next decided some weeks ago to move Academy (MLSN2) to SY, and keep Homegrown (MLSN1) at BY. Actually, that was the internal notification that our club received.

However, many p2p clubs with teams at both MLSN1 and MLSN2 divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, because it would be a big organizational problem for them (having two different age cutoffs at same year).

Then, MLS Next retired that proposal and notified they would need more time to reconsider the whole issue until reaching a final decision.

And here we are, waiting for it …

I would say MLS Next managers are between two opposite direction forces: p2p clubs asking for SY, and academies preferring BY.

They will both get their wishes. There is a reason why the Academy plays up this season and gets destroyed. The academy just cannot play up 1 year and still be competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to our club MLS Next decided some weeks ago to move Academy (MLSN2) to SY, and keep Homegrown (MLSN1) at BY. Actually, that was the internal notification that our club received.

However, many p2p clubs with teams at both MLSN1 and MLSN2 divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, because it would be a big organizational problem for them (having two different age cutoffs at same year).

Then, MLS Next retired that proposal and notified they would need more time to reconsider the whole issue until reaching a final decision.

And here we are, waiting for it …

I would say MLS Next managers are between two opposite direction forces: p2p clubs asking for SY, and academies preferring BY.

Our club got different info than this. In April we were told MLSN 1 and 2 would be BY. This has since been redacted and we wer told MLSN now reconsidering.

Every club got different info or (in the case of MLSN2 clubs) zero info because they never put anything official out. So anything these clubs reported was inferred 2nd or 3rd hand info. And not worth anything.

The only thing the clubs have gotten that has been directly from MLSN on this topic was the very recent ‘hey we’re still considering this’ statement. That’s it. Anything else is just the clubs speculating like all of us based on rumors and conjecture.

[Anonymous]

I don't see how they can have Mlsn1 go BY and Mlsn 2 go SY. If a Q4 gets bumped due to RAE, then they not only would have to play on the second team, but they'd have to do that a level down (with their appropriate school year). Basically going down two levels, even though they would surely make the MLSN 1 at their grade level. Most Q4 would probably move to ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how they can have Mlsn1 go BY and Mlsn 2 go SY. If a Q4 gets bumped due to RAE, then they not only would have to play on the second team, but they'd have to do that a level down (with their appropriate school year). Basically going down two levels, even though they would surely make the MLSN 1 at their grade level. Most Q4 would probably move to ECNL.

I don't think the really care about that. The bigger issue is just the optics. It kinda blows up the idea of MLSN1 and 2 even being connected. There is no supposed 'pathway' anymore (not like it really existed before) and would make any crossover or event pretty complicated.