The President of the LA Galaxy said on the radio Wednesday that they have spent "several million dollars" fully funding their girls development academy program (including improving a soccer field).
I wondered how that could be possible. The Galaxy is a for profit enterprise. How do they expect to get that money back? It's different from MLS teams that have sponsored similar boys teams. The Seattle Sounders, for example, benefited when Jordan Morris chose to come back and play for them as a "home grown" player. But girls DA players obviously will not play in the MLS. (Nor will they likely earn a livable wage playing professional women's soccer. The team cap, for all players combined, is $315,000 a year!)
So how can the Galaxy afford to invest millions of dollars for teenagers to practice soccer. Is it marketing - do they just hope to make it up in increased licensing fees from the affiliate LA Galaxy clubs (South Bay, Orange County, San Diego)?
And what about the other clubs? Are they fully funding their DA teams too? If so, then I guess they've now just set in stone a policy that full-pay families have to subsidize the top players (who may have no prior connection to the club). Is everyone okay with that?
I wondered how that could be possible. The Galaxy is a for profit enterprise. How do they expect to get that money back? It's different from MLS teams that have sponsored similar boys teams. The Seattle Sounders, for example, benefited when Jordan Morris chose to come back and play for them as a "home grown" player. But girls DA players obviously will not play in the MLS. (Nor will they likely earn a livable wage playing professional women's soccer. The team cap, for all players combined, is $315,000 a year!)
So how can the Galaxy afford to invest millions of dollars for teenagers to practice soccer. Is it marketing - do they just hope to make it up in increased licensing fees from the affiliate LA Galaxy clubs (South Bay, Orange County, San Diego)?
And what about the other clubs? Are they fully funding their DA teams too? If so, then I guess they've now just set in stone a policy that full-pay families have to subsidize the top players (who may have no prior connection to the club). Is everyone okay with that?