Fee negotiation

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Has anyone had any success with negotiating a much lower fee upon making a move to an academy club? Is it worth the risk to even try?

[Unregistered]

Has anyone had any success with negotiating a much lower fee upon making a move to an academy club? Is it worth the risk to even try?

Can always ask for a scholarship. Most have them available but requirements vary by club.

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If your kids real good then ya I see some even pay nothing.

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Has anyone had any success with negotiating a much lower fee upon making a move to an academy club? Is it worth the risk to even try?

Absolutely you should try to negotiate, especially if your child is talented. The only thing they'll say is "sorry, no".

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Absolutely you should try to negotiate, especially if your child is talented. The only thing they'll say is "sorry, no".

Sjeb will negotiate , just tell them you are going to leave for PDA South. They will hook you up a discount.

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Depends on the individual club needs and the talent of your child. We have been offered a scholarship to our leave current club before, but we did not accept. It is not common and we would have needed to pay for uniform and other add-ons. This was not the reason we didn’t accept, but wanted to share that it would still have expenses.

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Sjeb will negotiate , just tell them you are going to leave for PDA South. They will hook you up a discount.

Real simple, if they are desperate for players they will give you a discount in a second. Remember their business is to have teams, no teams equals no business. Now you don’t want to be the full paying customer (I mean sucker) in these situations. So if you suspect some are getting a major discount (like for example a lot of times when they steal a bunch of players from other teams), just negotiate for yourself or ask for transparency. Good luck, pretty shady youth football world out there.

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Sjeb will negotiate , just tell them you are going to leave for PDA South. They will hook you up a discount.

Not entirely true, they have to want you first.

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Has anyone had any success with negotiating a much lower fee upon making a move to an academy club? Is it worth the risk to even try?

The fees are just the tip of the iceberg... in normal times it is the travel required of the national leagues that puts costs over the top.... we are talking, flights, rental cars, hotels, food, gas, tolls, plus possible time off from work. It’s all great if you can afford it, but reducing club fees still will not make it affordable. You can be talking upwards of 10,000 all in for a normal year, depending on how many flights are required.

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We once negotiated a lower fee when we moved to an Academy club. As soon as we agreed, I told them to keep the fee as-is, and use the difference for a scholarship for a player who maybe could use it more. Not saying we are rich by any means, but I felt with our situation and what was provided, the costs were reasonable to me.

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Some clubs will discount for studs they really want.
Some clubs have financial need scholarships but you have to prove need.

Full paying families (the vast majority) have no issue with the latter but they don't like hearing about the former. Never hurts to ask but be prepared for a "we don't do that" response.

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The fees are just the tip of the iceberg... in normal times it is the travel required of the national leagues that puts costs over the top.... we are talking, flights, rental cars, hotels, food, gas, tolls, plus possible time off from work. It’s all great if you can afford it, but reducing club fees still will not make it affordable. You can be talking upwards of 10,000 all in for a normal year, depending on how many flights are required.

Absolutely true the majority of the costs are not the actual fees and that’s why the sport is completely unaffordable to so many lower income families. We can afford it and I did the math on what we spent in 2019 all in....roughly $11,000.

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Absolutely true the majority of the costs are not the actual fees and that’s why the sport is completely unaffordable to so many lower income families. We can afford it and I did the math on what we spent in 2019 all in....roughly $11,000.

We've ranged from $8-12k. But, speaking specifically for our family, we are small and do things together. So, we used those trips as vacations. Therefore, we've managed to visit 20 or so states in the last several years. We've seen up and down the Atlantic Coast, the Pacific Coast, skied in Colorado, took in baseball games in several stadiums, etc.

I'm not a "sit at the beach and read a book in the sand for two weeks" guy anyway, so for me I've had no issues with it. Catching my daughter play some morning and going on a brew pub tour in the afternoons is, for me, perfect.

So, yes, costs are expensive but when I consider it comes from my vacation budget, it palatable.

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We've ranged from $8-12k. But, speaking specifically for our family, we are small and do things together. So, we used those trips as vacations. Therefore, we've managed to visit 20 or so states in the last several years. We've seen up and down the Atlantic Coast, the Pacific Coast, skied in Colorado, took in baseball games in several stadiums, etc.

I'm not a "sit at the beach and read a book in the sand for two weeks" guy anyway, so for me I've had no issues with it. Catching my daughter play some morning and going on a brew pub tour in the afternoons is, for me, perfect.

So, yes, costs are expensive but when I consider it comes from my vacation budget, it palatable.

Can you imagine someone from a low income family having a vacation budget of $8-12k a year??? Says it all when it comes to how unaffordable high level elite soccer is here in the USA, basically excluding so much of the population, especially minorities.

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If you have two kids, or if you have a financial need the best clubs will give you relief. The big clubs will not generally give you money because your kid is a good player.