MLS Next expects to 'more than double' number of clubs, players with new competition tier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The league that's been signing up teams like crazy in NC is NPL not NAL.

Despite all the shade being thrown about ENCL, as an ENCL-RL parent of a DS - I'd be thrilled if we could have one high quality league for boys with multiple tiers. The lower tiers could restrict travel and be involved in the state level competitions.

Something like -
MLS Next Academies
MLS Next non academies + ENCL teams
MLS N2 with ENCL-RL, NPL, NAL

Allow for team specific promotion/regulation as PP mentions and it'd be super interesting.

Naturally nothing like this will happen. Instead maybe boys ENCL dies or becomes more of a sideshow to MLSN which in turns dies when the MLS owners decide its not working for them.

I'd go a step further and say that I'd love an overarching governing body and every league to be pro/rel so that a team can rise or fall as far as it's play will take it. That's even more impossible

[Anonymous]

Everyone talking about promotion and relegation in YOUTH soccer is wild. MLS pro doesn’t have promotion or relegation why would they do it to youth soccer.

Logistically it would be difficult to have promotion relegation. If a team or club gets relegated all those kids will leave which then in turn crumble that club or team. if a team or club is promoted then the league would need to make sure that club or team can cover the expenses and all the paperwork behind the scenes. Now imagine all that every year with hundreds of clubs or teams across the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The league that's been signing up teams like crazy in NC is NPL not NAL.

Despite all the shade being thrown about ENCL, as an ENCL-RL parent of a DS - I'd be thrilled if we could have one high quality league for boys with multiple tiers. The lower tiers could restrict travel and be involved in the state level competitions.

Something like -
MLS Next Academies
MLS Next non academies + ENCL teams
MLS N2 with ENCL-RL, NPL, NAL

Allow for team specific promotion/regulation as PP mentions and it'd be super interesting.

Naturally nothing like this will happen. Instead maybe boys ENCL dies or becomes more of a sideshow to MLSN which in turns dies when the MLS owners decide its not working for them.

MLS Acadamies want to play MLS P2P clubs. This is the hook with MLS.

If a MLS P2P player kicks butt against the Academy team they WILL recruit them. Also the P2P MLSN clubs understand that playing on the Academy team is a huge + is something that could lead to $$$ and playing professionally so they encourage the action.

There's no equivalent to this on the girls side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone talking about promotion and relegation in YOUTH soccer is wild. MLS pro doesn’t have promotion or relegation why would they do it to youth soccer.

Logistically it would be difficult to have promotion relegation. If a team or club gets relegated all those kids will leave which then in turn crumble that club or team. if a team or club is promoted then the league would need to make sure that club or team can cover the expenses and all the paperwork behind the scenes. Now imagine all that every year with hundreds of clubs or teams across the country.

It makes sense for 2nd and 3rd level leagues.

I agree it doesn't make sense for the 1st level leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone talking about promotion and relegation in YOUTH soccer is wild. MLS pro doesn’t have promotion or relegation why would they do it to youth soccer.

Logistically it would be difficult to have promotion relegation. If a team or club gets relegated all those kids will leave which then in turn crumble that club or team. if a team or club is promoted then the league would need to make sure that club or team can cover the expenses and all the paperwork behind the scenes. Now imagine all that every year with hundreds of clubs or teams across the country.

Yet somehow EDP manages and NCSL manages. The reason is that clubs sell themselves on league affiliation and the treat of relegation would be a threat to their business model.

[Anonymous]

In NC at the state level there is already Pro/Rel. Multiple divisions exist and teams can move up to a higher level league by winning and there's a top league per age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids play in NCSL for a small club. Our director was telling us about this and how they might switch the club to MLS Next. I had no clue what he was talking about, but now it makes sense. Will be interesting how it pans out.

NCSL to MLSNext is wild. Totally money grab.

It made me chuckle.

It’s when all tournament brackets are : elite, premier, championship

Not: muddling, average, etc

The shysters know if they put “premier elite” in the name they’ll be able to extract more &.

\

Is double platinum higher or lower than blue diamond?

'Hope Diamond' is the top bracket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In NC at the state level there is already Pro/Rel. Multiple divisions exist and teams can move up to a higher level league by winning and there's a top league per age group.

Pro/Rel works when clubs are primarily represented by 1 team. It also works with lower level leagues because there's not as much to lose

You have to keep in mind that pro/rel if you're talking about a league like MLSN would need to be at the club level not the individual team level or things get messy really quick.

If you have an entire club that might include 20-30 teams playing in a league get relegated. They're going to look at their options and this would include playing in a different league over playing down a level. Leagues dont want to lose clubs this way.

As you can see pro/rel just doesn't work at the highest levels of youth soccer. But it might work at lover levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In NC at the state level there is already Pro/Rel. Multiple divisions exist and teams can move up to a higher level league by winning and there's a top league per age group.

Pro/Rel works when clubs are primarily represented by 1 team. It also works with lower level leagues because there's not as much to lose

You have to keep in mind that pro/rel if you're talking about a league like MLSN would need to be at the club level not the individual team level or things get messy really quick.

If you have an entire club that might include 20-30 teams playing in a league get relegated. They're going to look at their options and this would include playing in a different league over playing down a level. Leagues dont want to lose clubs this way.

As you can see pro/rel just doesn't work at the highest levels of youth soccer. But it might work at lover levels.

It works with multiple teams in the same group in other leagues. Fear of embarrassing a top team or large club would be the only reason it couldn’t work at higher levels

[Anonymous]

Reasonably at the top tier, MLS Academies, you'd not do pro/rel as pro Academy teams are strictly for kids on a pro track and winning is not necessarily their primary goal.

[Anonymous]

Pro/Rel is not useful in youth soccer where the player rosters change so much from season to season. Last year’s roster may be substantially different. It will just encourage bad behaviors.

I’m not sure what problem pro/rel is meant to solve? Having too many lopsided games? There are always going to be teams at top and bottom of the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pro/Rel is not useful in youth soccer where the player rosters change so much from season to season. Last year’s roster may be substantially different. It will just encourage bad behaviors.

I’m not sure what problem pro/rel is meant to solve? Having too many lopsided games? There are always going to be teams at top and bottom of the table.

it solves league jumping by clubs and helps to solve player jumping following league jumps. If you know that a team will be at a certain level and will only move up or down based on performance, you have more stability

[Anonymous]

Right now we have an absurd amount of team jumping in our area. The team, ECRL, turns over 50% a season. One hope of pro/rel would be teams staying together for longer as they are in actual charge of their fate instead of team switching being required to play better leagues.

I'm sure its not a panacea by any means, it would just give some vibrancy to a league with multiple tiers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pro/Rel is not useful in youth soccer where the player rosters change so much from season to season. Last year’s roster may be substantially different. It will just encourage bad behaviors.

I’m not sure what problem pro/rel is meant to solve? Having too many lopsided games? There are always going to be teams at top and bottom of the table.

it solves league jumping by clubs and helps to solve player jumping following league jumps. If you know that a team will be at a certain level and will only move up or down based on performance, you have more stability

No it doesn't.

If a club or team is relegated often they jump to a different league.

If a club or team is relegated all the players will leave that club or team and find other places to play.

These are the primary reasons leagues won't implement pro/rel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pro/Rel is not useful in youth soccer where the player rosters change so much from season to season. Last year’s roster may be substantially different. It will just encourage bad behaviors.

I’m not sure what problem pro/rel is meant to solve? Having too many lopsided games? There are always going to be teams at top and bottom of the table.

it solves league jumping by clubs and helps to solve player jumping following league jumps. If you know that a team will be at a certain level and will only move up or down based on performance, you have more stability

No it doesn't.

If a club or team is relegated often they jump to a different league.

If a club or team is relegated all the players will leave that club or team and find other places to play.

These are the primary reasons leagues won't implement pro/rel.

Yet it works just fine for EDP and NCSL. Clubs won't implement it because league affiliation is marketing and that's what matters to them. They would rather a team get blown out every game in an elite league than compete in an appropriate league