Tuesday, May 31, 2022

After watching European games last weekend I agree with MLS fans and owners... #ProRelForUSA would be bad for soccer here.

 

Photo by Scott Abbott

 

Taking a few hours last weekend and tuning in to ESPN+ and watching, among other things, the Nottingham Forest promotion playoff and the subsequent celebration after their victory over Huddersfield convinced me. Y'all are right, I was wrong... American soccer fans would absolutely HATE #ProRelForUSA.

 
@loucityfc or @RiverhoundsSC fans would just absolutely despise experiencing something like this. It would be HORRIBLE for those fans.
Nobody would mark a promotion to the top level of the game as one of the most exciting points of their sports fandom and create the kind of long lasting family memories that create soccer culture in a way we don't do now. Yes MLS, I get it now. I just absolutely see it clearly now.
 
I don't know what I was ever thinking. Could you imagine @SacRepublicFC fans while their team is getting promoted? I am sure they would absolutely not be this invested in their success because they know it is more important that MLS owners have their balance sheet protected from competition than anything like this existing.
 
 

 

American soccer fans are just too smart to think this is a good idea. They actually understand that closed leagues deliver better ROI for a limited group of early investors and that is actually much more important than the game, communities, players, or fans. We aren't in it for the game, the emotions, the wins... just that sweet sweet clickity clack of an accountants keyboard adding another zero to the end of the asset column on a balance sheet. 

We would absolutely walk out on a celebration like this. Who wants to see a trophy lifted for some scrub city with an owner who can't pay a giant fee to enter the league?

As the smartest soccer fans in the world we all know that guaranteeing that Stan Kroenke can benefit from a system designed to deliver artificial scarcity to a limited group of mostly rich white guy owners is way more important than something like this. This would just end up being a ghost town of zero celebrations because we just know what is the most important thing here. Increasing the billionaires net worth.

Let me not forget the players... they know. They know better than all of us that American's find Relegations story lines just worthless. Who would want to follow along with those, get invested in them, or god forbid want to play for a team in that kind of situation?

Not a single American player ever would. Especially not one of the best ones.... 


 

After watching some Segunda Division games in Spain I am also super glad someone like Ronaldo hasn't been able to have a team in the 2nd Division in the US and achieve promotion. We have to make sure we protect the initial investors in MLS balance sheet right @Flight_19 ? 

We are far too smart to allow this.

 

I am now absolutely sure the fans of the Ft Lauderdale Strikers are just ecstatic that things worked out the way they did with their former teams former owner in Spain. It was absolutely what was best for soccer in the US.

I for one am glad Robert Kraft has had his net worth increase thanks to how we do soccer instead of allowing fans to experience any of this. 

It was a great trade off.

I mean who would want the women's game in the US delivering the kind of stories that promotion and relegation deliver, clubs working their way to the top, and 2nd division teams playing in front of crowds of over 5,000 during their push for promotion? Obvioulsy not us. We know what is most important... and it isn't allowing every community to participate in the game, increasing the diversity of who owns teams, the increased power of players and coaches to leave if being abused because of the much larger pool of clubs to play/coach for, and the power of the fans to create the kind of culture within the club they want... we are far too smart for that. 

Those sweet sweet ROI numbers are what matter!  

 

Yes, MLS owners... I see it now. 

#ProRelForUSA would be TERRIBLE for soccer in the US. How else would we all be able to guarantee your balance sheet growth if you had to compete to stay at the top against every single club who wanted to try to work their way up the pyramid?

Us fans, coaches, players, clubs, owners, investors, and people on the ground floor of soccer in the US appreciate what you've done for us. It is all worth it... we love making you money by giving away our ability to grow and compete. 

 Thanks. 

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Thursday, December 10, 2020

How Do We Stop The Largest Cities From Monopolizing The 1st Division?

 


 

When I first started this blog it was with the intent to answer the most common questions, misconceptions, and mischaracterizations about what #ProRelForUSA means, would do, and its potential implementation in the United States. 


Yesterday on Twitter I saw this wonderful question. 


 

Simply put... How do we make sure that the largest few cities do not dominate their entire first division of soccer in the United States?

It is a great question and a very valid concern. With the massive economic power of the largest cities in the United States clubs in those cities could very well dominate a top division that only features 16 to 20 teams. New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles could easily host 3 clubs each and have 67% of a Bundesliga sized 18 team 1st Division leaving the rest of the nation underrepresented.


 

By dividing the United States up in to 4 geographic "Conferences" we now have guaranteed access across all regions of the country for top division soccer. We can begin to think of it in the same way as the Power 5 in college sport. The 4 Conference model gives many more places, between 64 and 80 total, in the new larger competition allowing for far more communities to be potentially represented. 

This ALSO allows these large cities to have more than 1 or 2 clubs without blowing up the system. New York City should be able to have multiple clubs, Los Angeles should be able to have multiple clubs, Chicago should be able to have multiple clubs... we have amazing soccer cities all across this nation that should be able to have more than one club. This set up allows this to happen without it coming at the expense of every other mid and small sized city in the country.

With the qualifications for the Super League of America being earned every season (just like Champions League births in Europe or the NCAA Basketball Tournament) we guarantee that each of the 4 regions are also represented in this national competition. 

The United States geography and population distribution requires us to come up with a uniquely "American" solution to how we are going to structure and manage a much needed unified pyramid with #ProRelForUSA. This 4 Conference and Super League of America solution solves the issue of the monopolization of a European sized 1st Division by a few clubs in each of the largest 3 or 4 cities. 

Just think... right now we already have 12 professional teams in the northeast. This isn't even counting the rumored but not yet announced USL1 and NISA teams from the area. 12 Professional teams competing for Super League spots. MANY driving distance road games for fans.

Northeast Region

DC United

New England Revolution

NYCFC

New York Red Bulls

Philadelphia Union

Hartford Athletic

Pittsburgh Riverhounds

Richmond Kickers

Maryland Bobcats

New York Cosmos

New Amsterdam FC

New Jersey Teamsters

 

Doesn't this look exciting? It does to me...




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Tuesday, December 8, 2020

How Much Money Is Wasted On All These Leagues?

 


 

 

This great graphic from Evan Wiseman on Twitter today got me started on this subject again.  

 

The fact that we have multiple competing leagues, both national and regional, spread across all parts of the United States makes running a lower division club in the United States much more expensive than it needs to be.

The new and exciting Midwest Premier League has 12 teams across this Midwest/Great Lakes region of the country.  Five other national amateur leagues also have 21 more teams in this area of the country.

There are 33 teams in these across this region... they all don't play each other... they drive past each other... stay in hotel rooms hours beyond closer competition... don't create rivalries against near by opponents... 


NPSL Midwest Conference

Carpathia FC - 

FC Indiana - 

Fort Wayne FC - 

Kalamazoo FC - 

Muskegon Risers - 

Toledo Villa FC - 


NPSL North Conference

FC Milwaukee Torrent -

LC Aris FC -


USL2 Great Lakes Division

AFC Ann Arbor -

Flint City Bucks -

Grand Rapids FC -

Oakland County FC -

South Bend Lions -


USL2 Heartland Division

Chicago FC United -

Des Moines Menace -

Peoria City -

 

UPSL Midwest Conference East

Bafana United FC -

City United FC -  

Detroit United FC - 

Rebels FC - 

Wayne County Sporting - 

 

There are state and local leagues all across this region as well containing dozens and dozens (if not hundreds) of other teams at a lower level of local play. Just the other day I wrote an article about the thousands of youth clubs there are in the United States and their drive to create a "first team" experience for their players. We are currently holding back the growth of existing clubs and the inclusion of many new clubs by this disjointed system that we call lower division soccer in the United States.

The increased travel costs that these clubs have because of the fractured nature of lower division soccer puts a giant burden on them that doesn't need to be there. Many of these leagues charge really large franchise fees for exclusive control of "markets". Many of these leagues charge very high yearly league fees just to maintain membership. So much money is wasted on travel, franchise fees, and high league fees... it is as simple as that. It is wasted.

Nothing about how this system works is designed to help the clubs grow, help players develop, fans express their fandom, or "grow the game" of soccer in the United States. This system is delivering exactly what it is designed to deliver. 

Control and profits for gatekeepers. 

Which system would offer a more stable and cost effective environment for clubs to develop in? One that currently could feature 33 teams in the region or a hodgepodge of teams across 5 leagues plus a 12 team Midwest Premier League ?

I think we all know the answer is a unified pyramid. 

There is so much more to "promotion and relegation" than just moving teams up and down the pyramid... it is about creating a rock solid foundation for our small community clubs to exist in. It is about lowering costs for these smallest clubs. It is about allowing fans to enjoy local rivalries. It is about engaging every single fan in every single community with the dream. 

Unification of the pyramid will allow these small local (and quite often fledgling) clubs to invest in their clubs instead of hotel rooms a 10 hour bus ride away. 



 


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Thursday, December 3, 2020

Where would the clubs come from?

 


 

It is absolutely true that we need a solution to how to structure a pyramid in the United States that is uniquely American. We can look to the rest of the world for what needs to happen but how we are going to make a unified pyramid with Promotion and Relegation work for our geography and sports landscape? We need our own way to do things.



 

"American sports" like football, baseball, and basketball thrive off of the hyper local nature of high schools and the regional rivalries of college sports. HS and college sports are most sports fans in the United States live and in person access to the game . This local and regional nature to sports in the US has to be recreated in our pyramid. 

The EUFA Champions League is the epitome of what the "best of the best" that American sports fans love and is the world standard for high end club soccer...  and if you take in to account how people in the US consume sports it is really what the NFL and NBA playoffs are and something like it has to be included. A national competition of the best of the best...

Everyone involved with soccer at the elite youth level knows we need 1st teams for our youth players in every community to drive development and competition. That is why ECNL and USL are both starting similar youth leagues.

 



 


 

It is going to take 1000's of clubs to fill out the men's and women's pyramids. The most obvious question to ask is "Where are all of these clubs going to come from?"

Beau Dure has started a database of youth clubs in the United States and is already over 1450 of the over 9000 youth clubs that exist in the United States... 

 

 



 

The most obvious answer is right here. We have thousands of youth clubs all across the country... 

These youth clubs are already starting "1st Team" type of environment to compete in the two aforementioned leagues along with the adult u20 league that exists this year within the existing USYS National and Regional League system. 

When you add these youth clubs to the existing thousands of adult teams, the hundreds of "Elite Amateur Clubs", and the professional clubs already in existence we see that filling out a pyramid is going to happen much quicker than many people expect. 



 

 

 

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Thursday, July 9, 2020

We still don't have a strategic plan or vision.



I've been writing about this since 2018, a national non-profit with the ability to win the bidding to host the massively complex World Cup has at the same exact time been operating our domestic game like a start up ran off of a kitchen table. They have been without a strategic plan or vision for more than a decade. It is truly unimaginable to think that they have been allowed, and thought that it was fine to just make it up as they go along for so long.

If you are interested in reading the "business plan" from 2000

CLICK HERE AND SEE THE FOUR PHASES

Be prepared to have a high level of disappointment...  it is not good.



I am tired of watching the leaders of the game of soccer in this country aimlessly navigate without a plan. We have wasted years... more than a decade even... just wandering along as a soccer nation.

FIX IT NOW!
 

P.S. It has been 3,908 days since USSF President Sunil Gulati made the quote above... think where the men's game would be 3,908 days later if we would have had a plan.
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Saturday, June 13, 2020

We need action not words from the United States Soccer Federation.



I think all of us know that we have strengths and weaknesses..  writing is not one of my strengths... I know that... I have know it for a long time... I just can't NOT write about this.


I saw these three tweets from Miriti Murungi last night and they so perfectly stated what I've felt for a long time.



We have been given nothing but words... we have been given no action attempting to solve the issues that underpin the inequality in the game in the United States.

Back in 2016 there was a great article written about the results of all of these systemic issues that was accurately titled "It's Only Working For the White Kids". Nothing has changed in the last 4 plus years, quite possibly things have gotten worse since then.



The Federation has cared so little about diversity over the last few years that they removed the Diversity Task-force as a standing committee. 


I am going to say this as succinctly as I can...

The soccer system in the United States is not "broken" the system is working exactly as designed. 


By continually saying that it is "broken" it hides the fact that the system from top to bottom has been purposely designed to work the way that it does by the people in power within the game. The rules and regulations that govern every aspect of the game were not random occurrences.  These bylaws and policies were put on paper with the intent of creating the system that we have.

By saying that "soccer is broken" we are stating as fact that "Soccer leadership in the United States designed this system over the last several decades to work in a different way but through things out of our control it ended up giving us these bad results". That just isn't true... the system of how soccer is managed has been designed in the United States to create artificial scarcity from youth soccer through adult soccer along with creating a series of gatekeepers who get to decide who is allowed to participate and in what way.

That is not a design flaw... that is the design. 

Until the United States Soccer Federation decides to change how soccer works in this country nothing is going to change.We can not "change gate keepers" our way out of a purposely exclusionary system.



Having a new person in charge of a league or even the Federation isn't going to magically give access to the game to all the people who want to be participants. It is going to take a redesign of the rules that govern the way the game works in the United States to do that.

Having a SINGLE unified system for soccer in the United States that anyone can join and merit determines your place in is how we fix soccer in the US. If we actually want soccer to be for everyone, we must allow everyone to be able to participate.



Think about the rules that exist in soccer in the United States from youth soccer, through amateur adult soccer, all the way to the top levels of professional soccer. A club has to apply and be accepted (and pay an expansion fee!) or you don't get to participate. Those are the rules... that is how the system was designed.

It was DESIGNED to exclude those that the ones in power did not want to participate. It was DESIGNED to create artificial scarcity. It was DESIGNED to limit competition.

That isn't a broken system.

This is how soccer leadership in the United States WANTED it to work.

If you don't want to see soccer in the United States work this way any more please speak up for systemic change, please speak up for #ProRelForUSA, please speak up for changes in the Professional League Standards, please speak up for changes in how membership is decided in your State Association, in your league, in every league, please speak up for CHANGE. We are who are going to have to fight for change. We can't expect changing a single gatekeeper to "fix" whats "broken".





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