Girls DA/ECNL in VA: who will survive?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Small background on the new owners of FCV. You can read the utter and true passion for soccer in the brief bios:

Never said they were "passionate" about soccer. That is not a pre-requisite for investing and owning a business, especially for capital investment types. However, what they are passionate about is getting more members and expanding the services to those members so that they get a good ROI. This will be inclusive of expensive training for youth players, and possibly IMG style academy / sports agent services. Their press release already talked about expanding in Fairfax and PW counties.

The sports agent approach (if they pursue this) is a paid representative that helps your kid navigate and get 1) a college scholarship; and/or 2) a pro contract (only lucrative for boys, and mostly with foreign clubs more than MLS, but MLS too). By focusing in on DA and quality ECNL programs they would narrow their pool of players to those most likely to want, pay for, and deserve these type of agent services. In the meantime, they would have expanded their customer base (players and parents and referred friends) to whom they will sell their "sport entertainment and wellness" services too. They are going to expand, of that there is no doubt. Whether they buy some other assets in the elite "NOVA" soccer space or not, maybe, maybe not.

Sports agents? They bought a girls soccer club.

They built a facility that cost somewhere close to $200M - a slightly larger endeavor than buying a girls soccer club. That is why when the person critiqued the bios, they sounded like whiney child that cannot compile intelligent thoughts. The bios cover the entire facility and services not the FCV transaction.

The point is they acquired an asset that they are hoping to receive a ROI from. A soccer club or youth soccer is not their primary focus, memberships are. Look at the disaster Spirit was when the DA player pool was looked at as nothing more than revenue. The St James was smart enough to recognize that DA affiliation will draw in players and thus potential membership. But how much of the bottom line will affect roster decisions down the road?

At some point investor oversight will begin to rear its ugly head when it soon learns how thin the margins are with running a soccer club and that the only real money is found in volume which is certainly a lesson that Spirit taught the region.

Lol. You know so little about business and even less about soccer.

Well by all means please demonstrate the business model of this acquisition.

Comparing this to the Spirit situation is where you come off as ignorant here. So little is known about what is happening with STJ and its soccer ambitions that any comparison like that is a fool's errand.

Neither of us are a party to the transaction, so all you are doing (AGAIN) is guessing. There are multiple theories possible but as one previous poster said, this acquisition is a drop in the bucket for this facility. The smart money would be on a guess that this is a small piece of the soccer plan there and what that plan is can only be a guess unless you expect us to believe you are advising the STJ leadership. Either way, unless this all happens very quickly, it likely won't affect most of the children represented by the parents here. So again, why do you care?

Or it is just the only piece of the soccer plan. It is a gym after all. This purchase may be nothing more than offering a smoothie bar and may garner no more attention than that and that is the concern. It is a small piece and not really a focus of the St James.

And you care why again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Small background on the new owners of FCV. You can read the utter and true passion for soccer in the brief bios:

Never said they were "passionate" about soccer. That is not a pre-requisite for investing and owning a business, especially for capital investment types. However, what they are passionate about is getting more members and expanding the services to those members so that they get a good ROI. This will be inclusive of expensive training for youth players, and possibly IMG style academy / sports agent services. Their press release already talked about expanding in Fairfax and PW counties.

The sports agent approach (if they pursue this) is a paid representative that helps your kid navigate and get 1) a college scholarship; and/or 2) a pro contract (only lucrative for boys, and mostly with foreign clubs more than MLS, but MLS too). By focusing in on DA and quality ECNL programs they would narrow their pool of players to those most likely to want, pay for, and deserve these type of agent services. In the meantime, they would have expanded their customer base (players and parents and referred friends) to whom they will sell their "sport entertainment and wellness" services too. They are going to expand, of that there is no doubt. Whether they buy some other assets in the elite "NOVA" soccer space or not, maybe, maybe not.

Sports agents? They bought a girls soccer club.

They built a facility that cost somewhere close to $200M - a slightly larger endeavor than buying a girls soccer club. That is why when the person critiqued the bios, they sounded like whiney child that cannot compile intelligent thoughts. The bios cover the entire facility and services not the FCV transaction.

The point is they acquired an asset that they are hoping to receive a ROI from. A soccer club or youth soccer is not their primary focus, memberships are. Look at the disaster Spirit was when the DA player pool was looked at as nothing more than revenue. The St James was smart enough to recognize that DA affiliation will draw in players and thus potential membership. But how much of the bottom line will affect roster decisions down the road?

At some point investor oversight will begin to rear its ugly head when it soon learns how thin the margins are with running a soccer club and that the only real money is found in volume which is certainly a lesson that Spirit taught the region.

Lol. You know so little about business and even less about soccer.

Well by all means please demonstrate the business model of this acquisition.

Comparing this to the Spirit situation is where you come off as ignorant here. So little is known about what is happening with STJ and its soccer ambitions that any comparison like that is a fool's errand.

Neither of us are a party to the transaction, so all you are doing (AGAIN) is guessing. There are multiple theories possible but as one previous poster said, this acquisition is a drop in the bucket for this facility. The smart money would be on a guess that this is a small piece of the soccer plan there and what that plan is can only be a guess unless you expect us to believe you are advising the STJ leadership. Either way, unless this all happens very quickly, it likely won't affect most of the children represented by the parents here. So again, why do you care?

Or it is just the only piece of the soccer plan. It is a gym after all. This purchase may be nothing more than offering a smoothie bar and may garner no more attention than that and that is the concern. It is a small piece and not really a focus of the St James.

Head in the sand. Love it. Hammer to fall.

[Anonymous]

They're not getting bodies into their 'gym' at the rate they need to be sustainable, so they are looking to pull in a captured market...feed mom hot yoga and dad golf lessons while the kids practice and be in a family's pocketbook for $750-$1000 per month, between STJ family membership, FCV, additional programs and upsells for the parents and kids. I know some want to believe this is part of some elaborate plan to build a soccer empire, but all of their 'soccer' moves have been rather lame to date. No offense to the staff they hired, But that would be #1 and 2nd would be partnering with NCSL.

[Anonymous]

Asking why someone is interested is not actually a point.

Statements like “head in the sand” also do not really address any of the issues raised either.

If those are the best arguments you have it is indeed you who has their head in the sand.

And for the record, anyone who is either at the club or is interested in going to the club should be interested in what the plan is for FCV. And even those who are not involved with the club or even soccer should be interested in how a purchase like this shakes out and resonates across youth sports. It is a copycat world we live in and acquisitions of youth sports clubs is indeed becoming more and more a business model then our pay to play system will only be getting worse. But, hey, you can afford it so why should I care right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking why someone is interested is not actually a point.

Statements like “head in the sand” also do not really address any of the issues raised either.

If those are the best arguments you have it is indeed you who has their head in the sand.

And for the record, anyone who is either at the club or is interested in going to the club should be interested in what the plan is for FCV. And even those who are not involved with the club or even soccer should be interested in how a purchase like this shakes out and resonates across youth sports. It is a copycat world we live in and acquisitions of youth sports clubs is indeed becoming more and more a business model then our pay to play system will only be getting worse. But, hey, you can afford it so why should I care right?

Good try at deflection. Sitting here thinking there is some great conspiracy to fool people every day is the issue. FCV GDA is going to see negligible change next year in terms of travel and zero change in terms of cost. If that changes for the year after next, then the changes need to be considered and families can adapt. Not rocket science. In the meantime, if you’re not at FCV, then just enjoy the decision you've made for next year for at least a few months before getting all envious and crazy about what others are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asking why someone is interested is not actually a point.

Statements like “head in the sand” also do not really address any of the issues raised either.

If those are the best arguments you have it is indeed you who has their head in the sand.

And for the record, anyone who is either at the club or is interested in going to the club should be interested in what the plan is for FCV. And even those who are not involved with the club or even soccer should be interested in how a purchase like this shakes out and resonates across youth sports. It is a copycat world we live in and acquisitions of youth sports clubs is indeed becoming more and more a business model then our pay to play system will only be getting worse. But, hey, you can afford it so why should I care right?

Good try at deflection. Sitting here thinking there is some great conspiracy to fool people every day is the issue. FCV GDA is going to see negligible change next year in terms of travel and zero change in terms of cost. If that changes for the year after next, then the changes need to be considered and families can adapt. Not rocket science. In the meantime, if you’re not at FCV, then just enjoy the decision you've made for next year for at least a few months before getting all envious and crazy about what others are doing.

Well of course the prices are the same for next year because they announced the sale AFTER people paid their deposits and where under contract already.

[Anonymous]

*were

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asking why someone is interested is not actually a point.

Statements like “head in the sand” also do not really address any of the issues raised either.

If those are the best arguments you have it is indeed you who has their head in the sand.

And for the record, anyone who is either at the club or is interested in going to the club should be interested in what the plan is for FCV. And even those who are not involved with the club or even soccer should be interested in how a purchase like this shakes out and resonates across youth sports. It is a copycat world we live in and acquisitions of youth sports clubs is indeed becoming more and more a business model then our pay to play system will only be getting worse. But, hey, you can afford it so why should I care right?

Good try at deflection. Sitting here thinking there is some great conspiracy to fool people every day is the issue. FCV GDA is going to see negligible change next year in terms of travel and zero change in terms of cost. If that changes for the year after next, then the changes need to be considered and families can adapt. Not rocket science. In the meantime, if you’re not at FCV, then just enjoy the decision you've made for next year for at least a few months before getting all envious and crazy about what others are doing.

Well of course the prices are the same for next year because they announced the sale AFTER people paid their deposits and where under contract already.

$3K for an npl team is normal at FCV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asking why someone is interested is not actually a point.

Statements like “head in the sand” also do not really address any of the issues raised either.

If those are the best arguments you have it is indeed you who has their head in the sand.

And for the record, anyone who is either at the club or is interested in going to the club should be interested in what the plan is for FCV. And even those who are not involved with the club or even soccer should be interested in how a purchase like this shakes out and resonates across youth sports. It is a copycat world we live in and acquisitions of youth sports clubs is indeed becoming more and more a business model then our pay to play system will only be getting worse. But, hey, you can afford it so why should I care right?

Good try at deflection. Sitting here thinking there is some great conspiracy to fool people every day is the issue. FCV GDA is going to see negligible change next year in terms of travel and zero change in terms of cost. If that changes for the year after next, then the changes need to be considered and families can adapt. Not rocket science. In the meantime, if you’re not at FCV, then just enjoy the decision you've made for next year for at least a few months before getting all envious and crazy about what others are doing.

Well of course the prices are the same for next year because they announced the sale AFTER people paid their deposits and where under contract already.

So what’s the problem? Same price and 80% of training locations won’t change.

[Anonymous]

FCV parents got fleeced. It sucks but too late to do anything about it. Club took the cash first.

[Anonymous]

An honest club would have done 1 of 3 things:

1) Announced prior to taking deposits so families could decide what is best for them. They may have lost some but would have picked up interest from Springfield area families.

2) Promise to make no location changes during the announcement.

3) Recognize the issue and offer deposits back.

None of this happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An honest club would have done 1 of 3 things:

1) Announced prior to taking deposits so families could decide what is best for them. They may have lost some but would have picked up interest from Springfield area families.

2) Promise to make no location changes during the announcement.

3) Recognize the issue and offer deposits back.

None of this happened.

I dunno, at the end of the day its essentially a 1 year contract when you sign up at a club and they are making people whole for 2019-20. Unfortunately some families will have to make a change next year if they cannot accept whatever changes occur. Thems the breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An honest club would have done 1 of 3 things:

1) Announced prior to taking deposits so families could decide what is best for them. They may have lost some but would have picked up interest from Springfield area families.

2) Promise to make no location changes during the announcement.

3) Recognize the issue and offer deposits back.

None of this happened.

I dunno, at the end of the day its essentially a 1 year contract when you sign up at a club and they are making people whole for 2019-20. Unfortunately some families will have to make a change next year if they cannot accept whatever changes occur. Thems the breaks.

The only people complaining aren’t with the club. Folks in the club are paying attention and will make appropriate decisions IF something changes. Don’t you get sick of saying the same thing everyday about a club you’re not even with? Hope you spend this much energy on your own club.

[Anonymous]

Fitness Center Virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fitness Center Virginia

At Evergreen for the near future at least.