ECNL-DA club jumping season is upon us

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Solar & Top Hat are the two big targets. If/when that happens other dominoes will quickly start to fall.

Look for a 16th team to be added to the NE conference. Probably from the southern end.

Wouldn’t NEFC be the target

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Teams will already be a mess after Covid-19 settles down. The recruiting timeline for high school players will be further compressed. It would actually make sense to go to grade based teams again.

So this raises an interesting opportunity. ECNL could use COVID as reason for return to AY.
compressed calendar needs players grouped by recruiting year.

will they do it?
Is there anything that US Soccer provides (e.g. insurance) that makes this hard?

[Unregistered]

Wouldn’t NEFC be the target

Are you new here?

[Unregistered]

Wouldn’t NEFC be the target

ECNL is a national league. What is going on in New England is not high on their to do list.

[Unregistered]

A good number of these clubs won't exist in the fall so all this talk is moot.

[Unregistered]

Wouldn’t NEFC be the target

Yes, Top Hat & Solar are on the phone with the ECNL office right now, but have been place on hold while the ECNL board feverishly tries to reach NEFC and begs them to come back.

[Unregistered]

The approach so far has been to snag a few clubs per region then announce on a rolling basis. There's still a few regions that never announced but may have already been in the pre Covid pipeline. Games, tryouts etc are all on hold for everyone and frankly families are more worried about other things right now. Given the economic fallout there's no doubt there will be club and league consolidation. So do the remaining GDA clubs decide to go with a more stable league (ECNL, they've survived GDA and will survive Covid too) or one that was already a wee bit wobbly?

[Unregistered]

The approach so far has been to snag a few clubs per region then announce on a rolling basis. There's still a few regions that never announced but may have already been in the pre Covid pipeline. Games, tryouts etc are all on hold for everyone and frankly families are more worried about other things right now. Given the economic fallout there's no doubt there will be club and league consolidation. So do the remaining GDA clubs decide to go with a more stable league (ECNL, they've survived GDA and will survive Covid too) or one that was already a wee bit wobbly?

Not necessarily for those Clubs to decide. As long as ECNL leadership fears competition in their backyard, they will pick and choose who they want.

[Unregistered]

Fear competition from whom?

[Unregistered]

A good number of these clubs won't exist in the fall so all this talk is moot.

This. Talk is there may be nothing until Fall, and if the virus flares up again, there may be nothing until next year.

No vaccine for 12-18 months. Treatments aren't 100% effective. We won't know how close we actually are to herd immunity until testing has ramped up significantly, thus too many unknowns to even guess when soccer starts up again.

My guess, nothing this spring or summer. How many clubs will be around in the fall? How many families will still want to pay thousands to have their seasons cut short or cancelled and no refunds? This disruption will change the soccer landscape dramatically.

[Unregistered]

ECNL is a national league. What is going on in New England is not high on their to do list.

1. Secure the big fish (Top Hat, FC Dallas, Solar)

2. Fill in holes in the club map

If you look at the ECNL club map there are holes in some areas (for example the Heartland) so i'd expect to see some of those areas shored up for better travel.

3. Even out some of the 9, 11, 15 team divisions to make them even numbered for better scheduling.

[Unregistered]

This. Talk is there may be nothing until Fall, and if the virus flares up again, there may be nothing until next year.

No vaccine for 12-18 months. Treatments aren't 100% effective. We won't know how close we actually are to herd immunity until testing has ramped up significantly, thus too many unknowns to even guess when soccer starts up again.

My guess, nothing this spring or summer. How many clubs will be around in the fall? How many families will still want to pay thousands to have their seasons cut short or cancelled and no refunds? This disruption will change the soccer landscape dramatically.

If we continue to have the nation shut down into the fall, soccer won't be the only landscape that is changed.

[Unregistered]

True this.
if only boys mattered

They don’t make $.78/$1.00 when they graduate.

[Unregistered]

1. Secure the big fish (Top Hat, FC Dallas, Solar)

2. Fill in holes in the club map

If you look at the ECNL club map there are holes in some areas (for example the Heartland) so i'd expect to see some of those areas shored up for better travel.

3. Even out some of the 9, 11, 15 team divisions to make them even numbered for better scheduling.

The “Heartland” doesn’t have the population density and club depth to offer the ECNL any clubs with any level of competition. However there are areas throughout the East Coast that can make each ECNL region far more efficient (traveling and competition quality) than they currently are. Traveling 300 miles to play a single soccer game (or even 2) is insane. So many quality clubs in ECNL, DA and even ODP throughout the more densely populated and competitive Easy Coast regions of the country that can actually also afford it.