GA & MLS NEXT Form Strategic Alliance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best women players will go to European leagues. That’s where the big money is (see Naomi Girma going to Chelsea). Sure NWSL had a head start on women’s soccer but before long european leagues will dominate women’s soccer the way it does men. Your pipe dream of European style youth academies and pathways for women will happen, but in Europe.

Yup bc we prioritize college here and the boom ball that 80% of clubs here play

That happens for sure but it’s not the cause. The truth is that soccer is not a top tier sport in the US in terms of popularity and culture. It is in Europe.

You would be an idiot not to prioritize college over pro. Unless you were 1 of maybe 100 girls per year. The future for all but a very few is college and not pro soccer. This is especially true in the US where pay to play had made girl’s soccer a UMC or UC sport. These girls have other futures that failing at pro soccer and ending up a soccer coach.

You prioritize pro over college because it develops a higher level player.

- A pro player can play in college
- A college player can't always play pro

Can they? For women's soccer, the quality of the school, not just the ability to play matters. If you start enrolling girls in barely accredited schools where academics are an after thought, will Stanford want them? UNC? What about the ones heading to ivies or DIII

UNC women’s soccer is awful compared to professional women’s soccer. Just compare the first touch, it’s like HS vs pros. College soccer IS grassroots soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UPDATE: I hear that this process has been moving along this month, per numerous sources I've talked to on this matter.

It is believed that, at a recent coaching convention and via a recent conference call, during the month of January that further progress has been made.

Most sources I've spoken to believe that 2026-27 is when these changes would be put into place, although I don't yet know for a fact that 2025-26 has been ruled out.

The belief I've heard is that there was a recent vote on a conference call that included All ACC and Big 10 men's soccer programs to move forward with leaving the NCAA and joining the professional ranks.

Numerous sources have mentioned that many top programs are already starting to plan in a way that recognizes this coming shift.

This move would be with the backing of US Soccer Federation and this is a move to professionalize college soccer. The season would be 9-10 months long.

Speculation is that USL League One offered these programs the chance to join their league structure as professional teams, while MLS has been pushing back on this idea to USSF because they believe this move could hurt the place of their development league, MLS Next Pro, within in the professional pyramid.

Where exactly these college programs would fit in the pro pyramid is not yet clear after the discussions I've had on this matter.

Questions are swirling about exactly which programs will be involved. The answer varies, depending on who you talk to. As best as I can ascertain, no one really doubts that the ACC and Big 10 programs are on board.

Beyond that, my belief is that there are other programs, but it is not all of D1 Mens College Soccer at this point.

Some will tell you traditional power 4 conference sports schools, others say top 40-50 college soccer programs, others believe it's not split as much on prestige lines and is more a case by case basis outside of those two conferences.

Sources have mentioned that the process is chaotic and fluid, and a lot of the exact details, such as which programs are on board, is ever-changing.

There's also the likelihood of realignment of conferences in Division 1 Mens College Soccer if the professional ranks takes a segment of the programs and others end up staying.

The big picture is that there continues to be optimism that at least a sizable segment of the top men's college soccer programs are going to break away from the NCAA and professionalize in the next year or two.

Let's correct a few things. There were no votes. Any votes would have to be disclosed by the conferences. Also there has not been any official consultation with member schools. If there was, the public schools would have had to disclose it by now. This is not serious. Even in the ACC there would not be the votes to do this. This is not what is going on.

I don't believe a single sport from a university can not participate in their conference, i.e. ACC or Big10. The schools membership in a conference is usually driven by the football team followed by basketball. That's where the schools make the most money. I'm not aware of any D1 school where the soccer program makes the call for the athletic department.

Yea…not correct. Look at Howard’s multiple conferences for example locally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best women players will go to European leagues. That’s where the big money is (see Naomi Girma going to Chelsea). Sure NWSL had a head start on women’s soccer but before long european leagues will dominate women’s soccer the way it does men. Your pipe dream of European style youth academies and pathways for women will happen, but in Europe.

Yup bc we prioritize college here and the boom ball that 80% of clubs here play

That happens for sure but it’s not the cause. The truth is that soccer is not a top tier sport in the US in terms of popularity and culture. It is in Europe.

You would be an idiot not to prioritize college over pro. Unless you were 1 of maybe 100 girls per year. The future for all but a very few is college and not pro soccer. This is especially true in the US where pay to play had made girl’s soccer a UMC or UC sport. These girls have other futures that failing at pro soccer and ending up a soccer coach.

You prioritize pro over college because it develops a higher level player.

- A pro player can play in college
- A college player can't always play pro

Can they? For women's soccer, the quality of the school, not just the ability to play matters. If you start enrolling girls in barely accredited schools where academics are an after thought, will Stanford want them? UNC? What about the ones heading to ivies or DIII

UNC women’s soccer is awful compared to professional women’s soccer. Just compare the first touch, it’s like HS vs pros. College soccer IS grassroots soccer.

So all of those players from UNC that play professionally have a bad first touch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best women players will go to European leagues. That’s where the big money is (see Naomi Girma going to Chelsea). Sure NWSL had a head start on women’s soccer but before long european leagues will dominate women’s soccer the way it does men. Your pipe dream of European style youth academies and pathways for women will happen, but in Europe.

Yup bc we prioritize college here and the boom ball that 80% of clubs here play

That happens for sure but it’s not the cause. The truth is that soccer is not a top tier sport in the US in terms of popularity and culture. It is in Europe.

You would be an idiot not to prioritize college over pro. Unless you were 1 of maybe 100 girls per year. The future for all but a very few is college and not pro soccer. This is especially true in the US where pay to play had made girl’s soccer a UMC or UC sport. These girls have other futures that failing at pro soccer and ending up a soccer coach.

You prioritize pro over college because it develops a higher level player.

- A pro player can play in college
- A college player can't always play pro

Can they? For women's soccer, the quality of the school, not just the ability to play matters. If you start enrolling girls in barely accredited schools where academics are an after thought, will Stanford want them? UNC? What about the ones heading to ivies or DIII

UNC women’s soccer is awful compared to professional women’s soccer. Just compare the first touch, it’s like HS vs pros. College soccer IS grassroots soccer.

Of course college soccer isn’t comparable to pro. There are like 300 D1 college teams. That’s like 7000 players. Of those, maybe 10 become pros every year. So by definition 99.8% of college players are not pro level. Why would anyone think college should be comparable to pros? The gap from college to pros is large, just like the leap from HS to college because only a few make that jump either.

By the way this same dynamic exists in other college sports. Very few college football players make it to the NFL. Outside of the handful of top teams you see on TV, most college players are nowhere near pros it’s like watching a different game.