Lonestar leaves DA for ECNL

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https://www.soccerwire.com/news/lone...-club-pyramid/

Will this be a trend or is this an isolated case?

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Neither ECNL or DA want clubs doing both and both will pressure clubs to pick or chose. To my knowledge it's the first boys club to pick ECNL over BDA. Multiple clubs dropped out of GDA to make ECNL their priority. Lonestar was a founding BDA member and a pretty solid club so their departure should worry USSF. With so many predicting MLS will be out of the league in a year or two I wouldn't be surprised if more of this starts to happen. Without MLS clubs then BDA is more like ECNL only with more restrictions.

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Neither ECNL or DA want clubs doing both and both will pressure clubs to pick or chose. To my knowledge it's the first boys club to pick ECNL over BDA. Multiple clubs dropped out of GDA to make ECNL their priority. Lonestar was a founding BDA member and a pretty solid club so their departure should worry USSF. With so many predicting MLS will be out of the league in a year or two I wouldn't be surprised if more of this starts to happen. Without MLS clubs then BDA is more like ECNL only with more restrictions.

Last year, Minnesota Thunder left BDA to go to boys ECNL. Minnesota was a bottom level DA club across all age groups. Seems logical that ECNL would be better fit. They play a spring league schedule so not sure how they will do in ECNL.

Lonestar is a solid club in a strong Texas landscape.

I would expect more of the tier 2 DA clubs to want to leave. I just don’t know how many of them the ECNL will take. Their are market’s where they will not add teams. Maybe they might add with the intention of dropping bottom dwelling programs.

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Last year, Minnesota Thunder left BDA to go to boys ECNL. Minnesota was a bottom level DA club across all age groups. Seems logical that ECNL would be better fit. They play a spring league schedule so not sure how they will do in ECNL.

Lonestar is a solid club in a strong Texas landscape.

I would expect more of the tier 2 DA clubs to want to leave. I just don’t know how many of them the ECNL will take. Their are market’s where they will not add teams. Maybe they might add with the intention of dropping bottom dwelling programs.

It seems ECNL wants to be exclusive and limit the number of clubs thus keeping it high level so I'll bet they wont take many. But will they be able to turn down the money if there is a rush of DA clubs who would join? If they do they risk watering down their league, and that wouldn't be the first time that has happened to a respectabe league.

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https://www.soccerwire.com/news/lone...-club-pyramid/

Will this be a trend or is this an isolated case?

this is 100% due to Austin FC setting up shop in their backyard and the club leaders seeing the future...boys in the area have the option of lodestar or an MLS DA club with an unreal new facility run by Claudio Reyna who took NYCFC from nothing to a top 5 boys DA program in the country

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this is 100% due to Austin FC setting up shop in their backyard and the club leaders seeing the future...boys in the area have the option of lodestar or an MLS DA club with an unreal new facility run by Claudio Reyna who took NYCFC from nothing to a top 5 boys DA program in the country

True it does have a more unique set of lical circumstances. However it is very likely MLS pulls out of DA in the near future. As it is now most non MLS teams almost never play the MLS teams which is a big attraction to the league. Take that away and I'm sure more will question if it's worth staying.

I don't have an issue with ECNL expanding and taking more DA clubs. DA is too big for its supposed exclusivity and focusing on the nation's top 5%. Many teams and players simply don't belong. They will never be pro or NT players and just want to play in college. Make the top of the pyramid really small and the next level ECNL, bigger.

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Make the top of the pyramid really small and the next level ECNL, bigger.

This was what they had hoped would happen with GDA but ECNL fought back because the clubs that run it did not want to become the second tier. For BDA there's a chance but there is so much bad blood between DA and ECNL already it is hard to see any agreement happening.

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This was what they had hoped would happen with GDA but ECNL fought back because the clubs that run it did not want to become the second tier. For BDA there's a chance but there is so much bad blood between DA and ECNL already it is hard to see any agreement happening.

No there will never be an agreement per se. But USSF made their bed when they decided to make GDA as big as ECNL. They didn't have to do that, but they chose market share over quality and have paid for it ever since.

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As is mentioned on this board often enough:

"This isn't Texas. Why should anyone be making any decisions based on what happens in Texas?"

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No there will never be an agreement per se. But USSF made their bed when they decided to make GDA as big as ECNL. They didn't have to do that, but they chose market share over quality and have paid for it ever since.

Well, if you are competing against ECNL you have to try to be as big as them. Also, the intent is to try to get to as many players as you can and to do so, you need a large league.

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Well, if you are competing against ECNL you have to try to be as big as them. Also, the intent is to try to get to as many players as you can and to do so, you need a large league.

Intent is to get as many rich players. A large cheap league run by USSF would have exploded with interest from the players but that is not in the interest of the deluxe leagues. Obviously, they can make A LOT more money from high income players then low income players.

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Intent is to get as many rich players. A large cheap league run by USSF would have exploded with interest from the players but that is not in the interest of the deluxe leagues. Obviously, they can make A LOT more money from high income players then low income players.

I'm in.

Just tell me how to make it cheap and trust me, I'm in.

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I'm in.

Just tell me how to make it cheap and trust me, I'm in.

start with massive reduction in unneeded expensive travel. That is the low hanging fruit. It is not important to developing youth soccer talent.

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start with massive reduction in unneeded expensive travel. That is the low hanging fruit. It is not important to developing youth soccer talent.

OK, where/who will you play?

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OK, where/who will you play?

ummmm...hello.........play the competition that is close rather then far away. anyone playing these leagues has experienced the frustration of driving right past half a dozen good teams in order to play against the one that is in the same league. So silly.