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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Fans of Liverpool and Valencia aren't fans because they feel like it, they genuinely follow them as their local team.  The path of creating tiers is too long, and frankly un-American.  If we are going to stand a chance of creating stars in football, the only path I see working in the next 10-20 years is constructing soccer fields, blacktop or grass, and then have a decentralized network of soccer programs that are cheap and just allow for the programs to schedule games.  The children interested in improving will improve on their own.  Let the rich families enjoy theor private coaching and cross-country national championships.

Then US Soccer would only be responsible for identifying players worthy of of being brought to US training grounds free of charge away from school, classmates, families for a series of extended stays.  We have shown that when it comes to our kids, we Americans are willing to pay high prices for just an opportunity, so it will be impossible to remove the $ from the selection.  But if we have the same program and training for all individuals seen with potential, it may help with keeping the playing field.

This would require coaches with an eye for potential 15 years down the road, and not next Sunday's game.  Also, this would HAVE to mean that partipating in the USYS and US Club Soccer nat'l championships and Nat'l League would be meaningless to those coaches looking for players with high potential in their twenties.

Giving up bragging rights for parents and $$$ for all the private soccer academies, trainers, camps, and travel club teams won't be easy, but is the price we will have to pay. [/quote]

Your proposition was so beautiful that I'm still wiping my tears as I type this. There is just one flaw in your actually ill conceived plan as it relates to American sports and youth.

1. All of our sports rely on a player draft. Which means players rights are managed by leagues versus clubs. 
2. The ability for clubs to recoup costs on player development via transfer fees. I don't see how we can overcome this legal barrier in the current legal and league structure.
3. The lack of tiered professional leagues for players to develop within.
4. College soccer and amateur rules. Kids have to make a decision to either get an education at a greatly reduced cost or try and go pro. With so few leagues to develop within most DA quality players choose College and College is where development goes to die. And players have to do college first because if they make one cent as a pro they are ineligible to even play in college much less receive a scholarship. Most players choose the safer path and play in college without ever following through on what a couple of years as pro might do to elevate their game in the prime years of 18-22 years old. 
5. Work visas which greatly hinder truly elite players the ability to train and play in Europe at younger ages without European passports.

At the end of the day money needs to be made by somebody and there needs to be an incentive. Currently MLS, NWSL and other leagues both need profitable clubs. But they need to be profitable in more ways than just concessions, ticket sales and jerseys sales. They need an incentive to develop players that speak to their bottom line more than just  development that leads to slightly cheaper in-house signings. The sale of a Rooney from Everton to Man U is the type of transaction that funds a clubs academy system, not ticket sales. Until the players become the product to be nurtured and developed for sale the U.S. will lag behind the rest of the world.

The first thing I mentioned was a draft. This is important because if you fail to sign in house talent that player can be drafted for FREE by another club. How much money is a club willing to invest in any player if a majority of them simply walk out the door for free and those that stay only generate revenue through ticket and jersey sales with their numbers. And then they can still go to college and still possibly get drafted later by a MLS club.

Many NFL clubs would fold if not for revenue sharing that comes from huge TV contracts. Parking, hot dog and beer sales even at the NFL level are not enough money to provide a very expensive development pyramid that is fully funded that soccer requires.

But these boards would be very different if we had a more professional academy system in place here. It is hilarious how people bicker about what club is better or what happened at Vienna or Arlington now when you are just year to year. Imagine the prospect of signing your kid over to a club at 13-14 years old and the kid is now essentially theirs. And at any moment your kid can wash out from the club and be sent home for good, relegated to the youth soccer world of club soccer, now known as rec.

[/quote]
I don't think there is a need to be sarcastic to someone who took the time to write a sincere post, but I agree with everything you've written. Too bad college can't be a time of development like it is for football and basketball players (putting aside the NCAA corruption issues).  That would make at least some positive difference. [/quote]

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