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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]ECNL would not let Loudoun keep the DA relationship with FCV if the granted them a license - because they want to compete against the DA out there - not co-exist.  ECNL is not content with being labeled as the #2 league.  There is a war being waged.  The terms of the original Spirit deal were terrible BTW.  There was a large sum of money requested up front from each club, and they also had to give up their top players to Spirit - with no coaching or training control.  That would greatly hurt small clubs like BYRC who only keep one elite team per age, maybe two, and it would gut the top squads for the other clubs even though they are bigger.  Losing their top players would only have given them them ability to brag their player was sent to Spirit DA, but not help club in any other way.  For example, the Arlington boys deal with DC United works that way - they leave the club and go play with DC United Academy.  They would not continue to play on Loudoun Red or Arlington Red.  They would be gone.  They were in essence asked to be feeder clubs to Spirit - and what club that is of any decent size or ability would agree to that?  The deal Spirit eventually cut with Reston (after the first deal wit the other teams fell apart) did not have the big money ask (which was a main cause for the previous deal to die) and Reston was desperate to stay relevant - so they were OK with feeding players in.   They also brought tons of field space to the table for Spirit to leverage in VA (a premium asset).  Also, the DA on the girls side in Virginia and in other states is not some powerhouse (yet).  Only 1 Spirit team between MD and VA is in playoff standings.  VDA girls team are mid to lower of each bracket. Only FCV has good teams across all ages.This landscape is going to have several more drastic changes before it settles down.   CCL, WAGS, NCSL will slowly die and merge to be regional leagues for non top teams.  NPL will survive as a tier 3 league because its national.  Many smaller clubs will have to merge to stay relevant.  There are too many clubs in NOVA. [/quote]

This is the problem with Soccer in the States. Clubs all feel they need to be THE DESTINATION. Clubs can't be happy with their niche. So lets take a look at your reasons why the "Spirit deal was bad for clubs"

I'll grant you the money issue. But the rest are all pretty much about the club and not the kid. Comments like "[b]They would not continue to play on Loudoun Red or Arlington Red.[/b][i]" Now tell me, in who's best interest is this? For the sake of argument lets just pretend that DA is head and shoulders the best league in the land and Spirit is a "power house." Under those conditions it is in the players best interest to be moved into that environment if they would benefit. For a club like Loudoun or BRYC to worry about the affects on their "elite" teams over the development of deserving players is terrible.

There are lots of players out there and there should be ample opportunity for all kids to play and develop at their appropriate level. But when clubs and organizations deam themselves to be THE ELITE place it serves nobody.

So Loudoun gets ECNL. Now they keep their players in ECNL and likely very few kids end up going to Loudoun. What has Loudoun really done? Have they become a destination or the king of "retention"? Loudoun will tell their kids, "stay here, ECNL will serve what you need." But their teams will go largely unchanged, talent will remain diluted but hey, Loudoun or BRYC didn't lose any of their top players right? They were able to convince parents and kids against the best possible interest of the kids.  [/quote]

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