Southwest Changes?

[RandomSoccerFan]

Yea... have you checked the number of teams in Texas? Its a tiny fraction of the total teams. NPL other than Cali is tiny. I wouldn't really call it a train.. more like a golf cart. If you check the NPL teams in Texas it immediately redirects you to the ECRL schedule. So no real NPL just ECRL There. North Texas has about 10 teams per age group. Very long way to go before this becomes a actual platform and many bumps along the way.

NPL Member Leagues

Take a look at our NPL Member Leagues across the country.

usclubsoccer.org

I think you may be missing the forest for the trees. It's not primarily about expanding the NPL name, and having teams convert over to join the NPL league from somewhere else. It's instead about normalizing ECNL-RL as the gateway from "mass-market" club soccer to ECNL. It's why the name of the top level NPL just was re-branded ECNL-RL. It's why you're seeing what you're seeing on the Texas site. If it becomes a primary pathway for clubs/teams to enter ECNL - it not only builds on itself, but it is a key part of that pyramid strategy listed by others here.

 

[Surfer_dad]

Agree on the steps you've defined. However i believe GA and ECNL are interchangeable.

Will NWSL choose to go against US Soccer and partner with ECNL to make NWSL Next happen? Or, will NWSL copy everything MLS has done with US Soccer and MLS Next when creating NWSL Next?

Add in that ECNL hasn't been playing nice with MLSN clubs lately and it seems like one direction is clear.

NWSL Next + GA + US Soccer aligns all the big groups and copies MLSN. Also this setup gives NWSL 90% control of NWSLN. (10% being US Soccer)

NWSL Next + ECNL means NWSL and ECNL would have 50/50 control of NWSLN and you'd have US Soccer in the background pissed about NWSL choosing ECNL causing problems.

But who knows maybe NWSLN will be completely independent of leagues and just provided to top clubs regardless of which league they play in. Although this would be a scheduling nightmare.

My opinion - I think your statement that GA and ECNL are interchangeable is very optimistic. For example, 2011's have 2 GA's in the top 10. The 10's have 1, the 09's have 1, the 08's have 1, and the 07's have -0- and the '05/'06's have 1. That is using Soccer Rankings which is in my experience the only ranking service worth its salt. Not saying to put down GA but in terms of numbers, it has a way to go.

I am very happy that the '11 Surf gets to play the two best GA teams in San Diego in the Club America tournament (City and SDSC). There just aren't many opportunities anymore due to top clubs not really motivated to enter tournaments let alone play them to win. This is due to ECNL league being the all important criteria for the national championships and therefore playing time is about winning. A policy in Surf (I don't totally agree with) is to go the opposite extreme and see tournaments as mostly giving non starters playing time which doesn't allow for good comparisons with teams played in the tournament. I just guess perhaps we have gone a little far in this "it's not about winning" approach. We need balance.

All in all, I am cheering for GA. Competition is what sport is all about and it rewards excellence and punishes complacency.

 

[Carlsbad7]

My opinion - I think your statement that GA and ECNL are interchangeable is very optimistic. For example, 2011's have 2 GA's in the top 10. The 10's have 1, the 09's have 1, the 08's have 1, and the 07's have -0- and the '05/'06's have 1. That is using Soccer Rankings which is in my experience the only ranking service worth its salt. Not saying to put down GA but in terms of numbers, it has a way to go.

I am very happy that the '11 Surf gets to play the two best GA teams in San Diego in the Club America tournament (City and SDSC). There just aren't many opportunities anymore due to top clubs not really motivated to enter tournaments let alone play them to win. This is due to ECNL league being the all important criteria for the national championships and therefore playing time is about winning. A policy in Surf (I don't totally agree with) is to go the opposite extreme and see tournaments as mostly giving non starters playing time which doesn't allow for good comparisons with teams played in the tournament. I just guess perhaps we have gone a little far in this "it's not about winning" approach. We need balance.

All in all, I am cheering for GA. Competition is what sport is all about and it rewards excellence and punishes complacency.

I'm looking at NWSLN and GA or ECNL from a business perspective only.

Free development sells itself.

Wherever NWSL lands, the associated youth league will be a winner.

 

[tjinaz]

I think you may be missing the forest for the trees. It's not primarily about expanding the NPL name, and having teams convert over to join the NPL league from somewhere else. It's instead about normalizing ECNL-RL as the gateway from "mass-market" club soccer to ECNL. It's why the name of the top level NPL just was re-branded ECNL-RL. It's why you're seeing what you're seeing on the Texas site. If it becomes a primary pathway for clubs/teams to enter ECNL - it not only builds on itself, but it is a key part of that pyramid strategy listed by others here.

Oh i agree that is the intent but most states/metro areas have one league for all the non letter leagues. NPL comes in and tries to establish a foothold, splitting off clubs from the existing leagues. Problem is there aren't enough non letter league teams to make it viable. NPL > ECRL > ECNL. Its a closed system all run by US Club Soccer. I get it.. US Club soccer in total control. The thing is they have to establish NPL as the lowest league to make that path work. Not many areas have enough teams to do that. That is what happened in AZ. NPL came in backed by all the ECNL clubs and split. Took over half the teams in the metro phoenix area. But it wasn't enough. Plus it really pissed off the local soccer community. Not sure if ECNL kicking both PHX Rising and RSL out of Boys ECNL had anything to do with it (timing is suspect) but the NPL league as well as SAAZ is folding. NPL lasted a year. PHX is the 5th largest city in the country if we don't have enough teams who will?

Are you saying ECNL is just going to start awarding ECRL to a bunch of clubs without NPL in the area? Not sure that works either. It might but they better get busy. For 2024-25 there are 5 new DPL teams in Metro Phoenix this year running from 2011s to 2007s So DPL just gained 25 teams adding to the existing 6. So 41 total. in AZ ECRL girls still at 15. EA awarded 2 to other clubs for a total of 8 EA clubs. ECNL is missing the boat.

 

[tjinaz]

Oh i agree that is the intent but most states/metro areas have one league for all the non letter leagues. NPL comes in and tries to establish a foothold, splitting off clubs from the existing leagues. Problem is there aren't enough non letter league teams to make it viable. NPL > ECRL > ECNL. Its a closed system all run by US Club Soccer. I get it.. US Club soccer in total control. The thing is they have to establish NPL as the lowest league to make that path work. Not many areas have enough teams to do that. That is what happened in AZ. NPL came in backed by all the ECNL clubs and split. Took over half the teams in the metro phoenix area. But it wasn't enough. Plus it really pissed off the local soccer community. Not sure if ECNL kicking both PHX Rising and RSL out of Boys ECNL had anything to do with it (timing is suspect) but the NPL league as well as SAAZ is folding. NPL lasted a year. PHX is the 5th largest city in the country if we don't have enough teams who will?

Are you saying ECNL is just going to start awarding ECRL to a bunch of clubs without NPL in the area? Not sure that works either. It might but they better get busy. For 2024-25 there are 5 new DPL teams in Metro Phoenix this year running from 2011s to 2007s So DPL just gained 25 teams adding to the existing 6. So 41 total. in AZ ECRL girls still at 15. EA awarded 2 to other clubs for a total of 8 EA clubs. ECNL is missing the boat.

To clarify DPL team (club) 2011 to 2007 is 5 age groups so 5 teams per club. DPL picked up 5 clubs so (5 age groups - 5 teams per club) 25 teams. We already had 6 existing (6 * 5 =30) so total is 55 DPL teams not 41. Only 3 clubs have ECRL and only girls so 5 *3 is 15 teams.

Why I say ECNL pissing off the big clubs by kicking them is a bad move nearly all the new DPL teams are from RSL and Rising or affiliated.

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

No, I don't think it's likely that they are able to establish NPL, then ECNL-RL, and make them both a new pathway into the letter leagues from whatever is already existing. I think that it's clear that the intent is to make ECNL-RL the target for the non-letter leagues to see as the next step upwards, on the path for teams and clubs to enter ECNL at some point if that's the goal for them (which if they want to both grow more talent and make more money, is likely a goal for many). If NPL is in good shape, make the top end of it ECNL-RL, and promote/relegate between the two. If NPL doesn't exist or is weak, promote ECNL-RL and make it easier for strong teams to join, not just complete clubs. In some places with a ton of available kids - make a second ECNL-RL league below the first, and promote from non letter leagues to that second league; from that second league to ECNL-RL, and see how that works.

PHX may be huge from a census standpoint, but AZ as a whole has less than 20 full girls clubs, and only ~30 boys clubs. By any measure that's a reasonable amount of kids - but it is still just a rounding error compared to the amount of clubs in CA, TX, or FL. If I weren't in one of those 3 states, I'd be looking at them now to see what's likely to be coming down the pike in the not so distant future for how youth soccer is organized.