Less than $4.3k to go!!
Posted on 03/01/2014 3:53:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
It's a common question: Is soccer in the United States really growing, beyond the mere literal sense of the word?
Answer: Yes and no – though even some instances of “no” actually point to “yes.”
Let me try to explain, starting with a brief flyover of central Virginia youth soccer.
A few months ago the Richmond Strikers and Richmond Kickers youth clubs, fierce rivals and longtime members of the US Soccer Development Academy, announced that they were merging their Developmental Academy programs into a new entity called “Richmond United". This new joint venture would pool both clubs' talent and coaching resources in order to improve their competitiveness and overall developmental environment. Like some (but not all) academies, players selected will pay no fees to participate.
“This is a great opportunity for our two nonprofit organizations to work together to further our missions by providing the most promising male soccer players in the Richmond area in these age groups with the opportunity, regardless of financial means, to train and compete at the national level,” chair of the board of the Richmond Strikers John Mumford said in a press release.
Earlier this year the clubs replicated the same arrangement for their top girls teams in the female equivalent of the Developmental Academy, the Elite Clubs National League.
Though casual soccer fans may be more familiar with the Kickers thanks to their well-established USL PRO team, in a youth context the Kickers and Strikers are peers. They're crosstown adversaries in every sense of the word, competing ferociously for primacy in a region of 1.2 million people. Traditionally there's very little love lost between them.
So why have they reversed years of history and thrown their lots in together? And why I am telling you about this in the first place?
While it's not always easy to discern, competition for places is increasing across the soccer landscape. In many contexts, this is happening on multiple levels. That's almost always a good thing.
Those two old enemies in Richmond have carved out plenty of success both in terms of results on the field and player development over the years. Yet, they've found it tough going amid the merciless nationwide competition of the Developmental Academy, where market size can be just as influential as coaching, facilities, and other “root to fruit” infrastructure.
The Kickers and Strikers Developmental Academy teams usually finish at or near the bottom of the Atlantic division standings, behind clubs in more populous regions with deeper talent pools in the Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York/New Jersey areas. Many observers believe that their central Virginia “catchment area” is simply not big enough to support two successful Developmental Academy and Elite Clubs National League organizations.
So whether or not it was mutual self-awareness that prompted them to put aside old mentalities, they've crafted a new partnership that enables them to hang together instead of hanging separately, to borrow a line from Benjamin Franklin.
Similar scenarios have played out in Connecticut, Georgia, California, and elsewhere as youth clubs form alliances. Coming to terms with the sobering reality that not everyone can be truly “elite” might be easier now than it's ever been. A rising tide of professionalism is ever so gradually making that term less subjective.
Another reminder of this evolution played out on Thursday when, after months of rumors and rumblings, the official news broke that Major League Soccer had purchased Chivas USA from Mexican billionaire Jorge Vergara. That choice ended a decade-long experiment that degenerated into a farce which neither MLS nor ownership could afford any longer.
It wasn't just the years of red ink, bad press and bad soccer that put to rest the vague hopes of extending the Chivas Guadalajara brand. It was the burgeoning value of MLS membership testing MLS commissioner Don Garber's patience – and with good reason.
Chivas USA cost its original ownership a reported $10 million expansion fee in 2005, and last year NYCFC's entry apparently set back their investor/operators 10 times that figure. A stated desire to deny owners control of multiple clubs going forward further increases values, as the long-running MLS talking point of “growing the footprint” comes into clearer focus.
Many quibble, with justification, about the methods used by MLS to grow those numbers. A less selective approach to expansion in the lower divisions may or may not reinforce the point.
In the youth setting, the Developmental Academy is far from the only option for the massive ranks of excellent talent playing outside its limited confines. The issue of choosing either the Developmental Academy or high school soccer is important. There's still plenty of work to be done from plenty of organizations with a stake in the sport.
Other metrics, like year-on-year increases in USMNT interest and popularity and a tighter-than-ever race for USMNT World Cup roster spots, may be more prone to ebbs and flows, but recently suggest a positive trend line as well.
Complex realities tend to be resistant to simple observations. All the same, signs of advancing efficiency in American soccer are most welcome.
No.
Yes, that might work. It would also depend on the season. If it were kept to the summer, it would only have to compete against baseball, so that would make it more competitive for fans.
Thank goodness that soccer players would never be guilty of “flopping”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioyt2zzm530
It's the xenoestrogens in the food and water...we'll all be watching/playing soccer before you know it...
If you watched the English matches from the 70s it was a much tougher game then. Things that would be a straight Red card today went on all the time without so much as a foul being given.
It's the exact opposite.
Check out this amazing goal, probably the greatest ever, and probably the greatest example of teamwork in any sport.
No question - it’s comical to watch sometimes. But that said, there’re some pretty incredible athletes playing the game...
LOL!! That looks like a clip from the WWE! Only with soccer uniforms.
I’ll see you Wilshere and raise you Dennis Bergkamp..Plus it’s worth it just to hear the Dutch commentator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZkCFoqSBs
If I were Czar, and I mean real Czar and not some wimpy Obama czar, I would ban soccer and make lacrosse the official alternate Spring sport to baseball. It has every thing soccer does not: scoring, contact, lack of thespianism, and it requires opposable thumbs.
Soccer...indisputable proof that the rest of the world really IS that f#*%$d up.
Yes, yes, yes and yes!
Hehe, I have no idea what the context of that is, they look like they are on the same team.
I don’t really dislike soccer, when I see it being promoted in this country, it always seems to be by liberals. That is just my impression, don’t know if it is true or not. Probably not.
I guess it is a euro thing, so I feel obliged to poke at it. God knows they poke at our eyes a lot more than we poke at theirs!
Could be said of a lot of things. Look at professional football...sure, a guy like Ben Davidson was extreme, but he wasn’t so far away from a lot of guys who played in that day.
Crazy stuff.
precisely
You understand!
I think hockey is growing. My son played hockey all through school, then juniors hockey in Minnesota. My 3 grandsons play and soon 1 granddaughter and another grandson will play. In fact my grandson, who’s 12, played against Ben Sasse’s daughter. Her team won. She’s a pretty good player.
Thank you. Yes, yes I believe I do.
My son played soccer as a little kid. Then, about a dozen years ago, he played H.S. lacrosse for 3 years. I loved spectating lacrosse.
It’s time to start paying attention, I expect there will be some good college lacrosse on ESPN soon. And I have a Roku for ESPN3 now.
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