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    ECNL adds 6 more teams.....ECNL only getting stronger.

    Beach FC, Legends FC, Oklahoma Energy, Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa and Utah Royals FC

    More on the way.

    Comment


      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      ECNL adds 6 more teams.....ECNL only getting stronger.

      Beach FC, Legends FC, Oklahoma Energy, Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa and Utah Royals FC

      More on the way.
      Is “more on the way” just a guess? The press release doesn’t have their standard verbiage they’ve used in prior years referring to additional clubs being announced in the coming weeks. Legends and Beach seemed to have cut a wink and a nod deal last year to have their teams play ecrl for a year (or, as it turned out, not play at all) and get picked over by their neighboring rivals in exchange for getting in this year, and didn’t put their top teams in GA. Tophat, FC Virginia, Nationals, FC United, Lonestar, Colorado Rush, and SC Del Sol (along with a few others, maybe including Reign based on where they were when DA collapsed although they seem fully committed to the GA now and lost a lot of top players last spring) would be obvious candidates for any neutral person trying to put together a league of the top clubs from around the country. But ego, politics and relationships have always been factors in who gets into ECNL. GA should be well positioned to continue growing into a solid alternative so long as they keep most of those clubs and add a few more.

      Comment


        Let's be honest though, the teams that were added in the NW are a step below in quality compared to current ECNL teams.

        Eugene Timbers
        Bridge City SA
        Washington Timbers
        Harbor Premier

        WA Timbers would be at the bottom of the table in the ECNL and the others would not be competitive.

        The idea of competition is great in theory but generally in sports there's only one high level league when everything hashes out. Here's what Lavers said about the ECNL adds: "We told these clubs, we're going to look at your performance in the regional league. Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa did very well in the regional league. That's why they're joining the ECNL. That is the pathway and transparency in place: Regional league to club competition. If a club struggles in the club competition, eventually they'll likely be moved to a regional competition."

        Honestly this system seems sound and at least superficially fair. Clubs starting in ECNL-RL with promotion/demotion to ECNL. The only thing that GAL brings to the table as a competitor to this system, is a check on ECNL-RL being truly open to new teams, as teams excluded from ECNL-RL have the option to join GAL. That's definitely an important dynamic but it doesn't speak to the long term potential of GAL to becoming girls' soccer's top league.

        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        Is “more on the way” just a guess? The press release GA should be well positioned to continue growing into a solid alternative so long as they keep most of those clubs and add a few more.

        Comment


          *just clarifying that those above teams were recently announced as new additions to GAL for 2021

          Comment


            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            Let's be honest though, the teams that were added in the NW are a step below in quality compared to current ECNL teams.

            Eugene Timbers
            Bridge City SA
            Washington Timbers
            Harbor Premier

            WA Timbers would be at the bottom of the table in the ECNL and the others would not be competitive.

            The idea of competition is great in theory but generally in sports there's only one high level league when everything hashes out. Here's what Lavers said about the ECNL adds: "We told these clubs, we're going to look at your performance in the regional league. Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa did very well in the regional league. That's why they're joining the ECNL. That is the pathway and transparency in place: Regional league to club competition. If a club struggles in the club competition, eventually they'll likely be moved to a regional competition."

            Honestly this system seems sound and at least superficially fair. Clubs starting in ECNL-RL with promotion/demotion to ECNL. The only thing that GAL brings to the table as a competitor to this system, is a check on ECNL-RL being truly open to new teams, as teams excluded from ECNL-RL have the option to join GAL. That's definitely an important dynamic but it doesn't speak to the long term potential of GAL to becoming girls' soccer's top league.
            Wait, you're saying that Lavers' decisions were/are based impartially on performance and data? Thanks for giving me such a good laugh!

            Comment


              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              Wait, you're saying that Lavers' decisions were/are based impartially on performance and data? Thanks for giving me such a good laugh!
              Moving forward....ECNL-R>GA, especially if they can figure out a way for either promotion or the top achievers to play in the same ECNL showcases against ECNL teams.

              Comment


                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                Let's be honest though, the teams that were added in the NW are a step below in quality compared to current ECNL teams.

                Eugene Timbers
                Bridge City SA
                Washington Timbers
                Harbor Premier

                WA Timbers would be at the bottom of the table in the ECNL and the others would not be competitive.

                The idea of competition is great in theory but generally in sports there's only one high level league when everything hashes out. Here's what Lavers said about the ECNL adds: "We told these clubs, we're going to look at your performance in the regional league. Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa did very well in the regional league. That's why they're joining the ECNL. That is the pathway and transparency in place: Regional league to club competition. If a club struggles in the club competition, eventually they'll likely be moved to a regional competition."

                Honestly this system seems sound and at least superficially fair. Clubs starting in ECNL-RL with promotion/demotion to ECNL. The only thing that GAL brings to the table as a competitor to this system, is a check on ECNL-RL being truly open to new teams, as teams excluded from ECNL-RL have the option to join GAL. That's definitely an important dynamic but it doesn't speak to the long term potential of GAL to becoming girls' soccer's top league.
                Why does it matter if Gal is ever the top league or not? There are plenty of players willing to pay for all levels of leagues. Gal is a way for those new clubs to play some new teams and have the opportunity to go to national showcases, where their top players can be scouted. It’s similar to ECNL-R and serves a desired purpose. Are any of the leagues, including ECNL, necessary? No. However, it’s the way things are for money streams. If it ends up not satisfying the customers, it will fail like GDA did. ECNL has the major advantage because they started first and built on their popularity and success. GAL can serve the same purpose as ECNL Regional League for clubs that could never get into ECNL. That’s a great thing. Only loser here is the local leagues like RCL, PSPL and Oregon’s OYSA. The majority of the pay to play soccer money actually comes from the masses of non-elite players, not from the few true top level players. A smart business person would go after that much bigger lower levels of the pyramid. Let ECNL have the tippy top and cater to the masses below that. Exactly why the ECNL created it’s regional league in the first place. It’s always all about the market share and the $$$.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  Moving forward....ECNL-R>GA, especially if they can figure out a way for either promotion or the top achievers to play in the same ECNL showcases against ECNL teams.
                  If I had to I’d bet on the league with the top teams from a bunch of clubs (including some that could compete with most of the ECNL clubs, albeit many that couldn’t), a commissioner who is trying to put out the best product it can, and support from top notch sponsors like adidas over ECNL’s second tier league, where all the clubs that are doing well are just trying to get to the top circuit and many of the teams are b or c teams of ECNL member clubs. ECNL-R isn’t the top priority for the people in and running it, which typically isn’t a recipe for success.

                  GA seems to have pulled off its first showcase very well despite some very challenging circumstances between the weather and the pandemic. And being in GA doesn’t seem to have been a downside at all on the recruiting and ynt front— so long as kids are getting the chance to get where they want to be many will stay with coaches and teammates they like, and now that it’s pretty clear the league will be around for the foreseeable future the GA clubs should have an easier time recruiting and retaining players.

                  I don’t see ECNL getting much bigger than it is now; if anything, it will ultimately split into a two divisions (as it already did for a while before GDA). It seems very unlikely that they’d fold in enough of the stronger GA clubs to cause much further damage to GA as almost all of
                  those clubs are right next door to ECNL clubs with representation on the ECNL board.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    Let's be honest though, the teams that were added in the NW are a step below in quality compared to current ECNL teams.

                    Eugene Timbers
                    Bridge City SA
                    Washington Timbers
                    Harbor Premier

                    WA Timbers would be at the bottom of the table in the ECNL and the others would not be competitive.

                    The idea of competition is great in theory but generally in sports there's only one high level league when everything hashes out. Here's what Lavers said about the ECNL adds: "We told these clubs, we're going to look at your performance in the regional league. Sporting Blue Valley and Sporting Iowa did very well in the regional league. That's why they're joining the ECNL. That is the pathway and transparency in place: Regional league to club competition. If a club struggles in the club competition, eventually they'll likely be moved to a regional competition."

                    Honestly this system seems sound and at least superficially fair. Clubs starting in ECNL-RL with promotion/demotion to ECNL. The only thing that GAL brings to the table as a competitor to this system, is a check on ECNL-RL being truly open to new teams, as teams excluded from ECNL-RL have the option to join GAL. That's definitely an important dynamic but it doesn't speak to the long term potential of GAL to becoming girls' soccer's top league.
                    Makes no sense other than clubs trying to hang onto their best players after years of watching them leave for more competitive clubs. Harbor has only 3 girls teams in the 11 age divisions of RCL Div 1. Washington Timbers has 5. I doubt any of those teams will compete for the top of Div 1 and for both clubs it is post ECNL age groups, which means they aren’t facing the A teams from those larger clubs.

                    I don’t blame them for trying...maybe enough parents will buy it? Frankly, I doubt it. If you are unable to compete in Div 1 of the RCL why ask your families to do extensive, costly travel to face what is intended to be stiffer competition? I guess we’ll see if there is a market for elite soccer with low expectations.

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      Makes no sense other than clubs trying to hang onto their best players after years of watching them leave for more competitive clubs. Harbor has only 3 girls teams in the 11 age divisions of RCL Div 1. Washington Timbers has 5. I doubt any of those teams will compete for the top of Div 1 and for both clubs it is post ECNL age groups, which means they aren’t facing the A teams from those larger clubs.

                      I don’t blame them for trying...maybe enough parents will buy it? Frankly, I doubt it. If you are unable to compete in Div 1 of the RCL why ask your families to do extensive, costly travel to face what is intended to be stiffer competition? I guess we’ll see if there is a market for elite soccer with low expectations.
                      This actually hurts a majority of these players and families on these teams that had no desire to pay the astronomically high fees for travel and such. These teams will still lose their best to better ECNL teams and also now lose players to Select or neighboring teams that dont want to travel.....now what are you left with?

                      Comment


                        Exactly, taking a div 2 team to national level competition. How many parents really wanted this?

                        Harbor has way to small of a player base to support a travel team. Good luck to them, but can't see it being a positive experience overall for the families.

                        Comment


                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          This actually hurts a majority of these players and families on these teams that had no desire to pay the astronomically high fees for travel and such. These teams will still lose their best to better ECNL teams and also now lose players to Select or neighboring teams that dont want to travel.....now what are you left with?
                          Those teams are already doing extensive travel to tournaments. The cost will be only slightly more and the other clubs are mostly at least one level down from ECNL so there will be parity in the NW league. The bonus is they will get to go to national GA showcases which will have much more college exposure than the normal tournaments they go to. I’m all for it. If it turns out to be a big waste of money, it’ll fold and the clubs can always go back to local leagues.

                          Comment


                            Gig Harbors population, like Maple Valley/Covington/Black Diamond is growing significantly. These areas deserve high level soccer

                            Comment


                              I don't see why they wouldn't just join ECNL-RL which has all the top RCL teams already. Sure they play against the B teams of Crossfire, SU, Eastside, PACNW etc but it's only local travel and if they dominate then they supposedly get to go up to ECNL.

                              Joining GAL just seems like they want to jump the line so they can immediately play in national tournaments. But even that makes no sense, maybe there's a little more visibility but if the general player level is sub-ECNL the coaches attending will be the same level they would normally see at their big tournaments anyway.

                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              Gig Harbors population, like Maple Valley/Covington/Black Diamond is growing significantly. These areas deserve high level soccer

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                                Those teams are already doing extensive travel to tournaments. The cost will be only slightly more and the other clubs are mostly at least one level down from ECNL so there will be parity in the NW league. The bonus is they will get to go to national GA showcases which will have much more college exposure than the normal tournaments they go to. I’m all for it. If it turns out to be a big waste of money, it’ll fold and the clubs can always go back to local leagues.
                                It’ll be a nice league for the clubs that can’t do ecnl. A step down from ecnl for sure but a step up from local leagues and a chance for national tournaments. Good all around.

                                Comment

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