Tampa Bay Merger

[Unregistered]

Tampa Bay Area soccer needs a merger right now!

TBU, Flames, Chargers, Florida Premier we need to come together. Together we are monster, a titan an unremovable force.

It takes great imagination, will and a United vision. If you take every age group boys and girls and have the very best in the area playing on the same team, we will surely be a national force.

We need true leaders to put away self pride, ego and personal ambitions. We need a strong collaboration between public and private sectors to facilitate a move like this. If we keep going like the way we are, will never achieve greatness. We are too fractured. Particular teams will have a good run from time to time but the consistency will never be there. Teams will always be missing pieces.

You see the ECNL girls, there are 2 clubs that have almost all their age groups make the final four. This is no accident, this is by design.

I’m calling out the Head Directors of these clubs, have a meeting and air out all your differences and talk unity. You owe to the the Tampa Area soccer community. Hold a town hall meeting and let us the parents discuss what we would love to see happen for soccer in this community. We are TAMPA BAY. We are TBU, we are Florida Premier We are Clearwater Chargers We are West Florida Flames we want a Tampa Bay Area Soccer Club. We want to challenge the best around the country every year. We can do it, we have some of the best talent here. Who will be our soccer Mosses and unite us all?

Too much talk and no action! This has been the same argument for years. Tampa Bay Area people lets do this for the benefit of Tampa Bay Area children.

[Unregistered]

It sounds great and please include free meals, laptops, registrations and to pay the parents, Novi will sponsor

[Unregistered]

I believe you still need competition, but some consolidation would improve the product. If you had mega clubs in the area to push each other and compete rather than 4-5 big-ish clubs you'd have a better product and still competition to push each other. You still need some small clubs to service the market that wants to play more than rec but not the full financial commitment of the big clubs but you don't need that many of them so a few, like Lutz and Celtic, should be part of the consolidation.

Tampa Bay Area soccer needs a merger right now!

TBU, Flames, Chargers, Florida Premier we need to come together. Together we are monster, a titan an unremovable force.

It takes great imagination, will and a United vision. If you take every age group boys and girls and have the very best in the area playing on the same team, we will surely be a national force.

We need true leaders to put away self pride, ego and personal ambitions. We need a strong collaboration between public and private sectors to facilitate a move like this. If we keep going like the way we are, will never achieve greatness. We are too fractured. Particular teams will have a good run from time to time but the consistency will never be there. Teams will always be missing pieces.

You see the ECNL girls, there are 2 clubs that have almost all their age groups make the final four. This is no accident, this is by design.

I’m calling out the Head Directors of these clubs, have a meeting and air out all your differences and talk unity. You owe to the the Tampa Area soccer community. Hold a town hall meeting and let us the parents discuss what we would love to see happen for soccer in this community. We are TAMPA BAY. We are TBU, we are Florida Premier We are Clearwater Chargers We are West Florida Flames we want a Tampa Bay Area Soccer Club. We want to challenge the best around the country every year. We can do it, we have some of the best talent here. Who will be our soccer Mosses and unite us all?

Too much talk and no action! This has been the same argument for years. Tampa Bay Area people lets do this for the benefit of Tampa Bay Area children.

[Unregistered]

Tampa Bay Area soccer needs a merger right now!

TBU, Flames, Chargers, Florida Premier we need to come together. Together we are monster, a titan an unremovable force.

It takes great imagination, will and a United vision. If you take every age group boys and girls and have the very best in the area playing on the same team, we will surely be a national force.

We need true leaders to put away self pride, ego and personal ambitions. We need a strong collaboration between public and private sectors to facilitate a move like this. If we keep going like the way we are, will never achieve greatness. We are too fractured. Particular teams will have a good run from time to time but the consistency will never be there. Teams will always be missing pieces.

You see the ECNL girls, there are 2 clubs that have almost all their age groups make the final four. This is no accident, this is by design.

I’m calling out the Head Directors of these clubs, have a meeting and air out all your differences and talk unity. You owe to the the Tampa Area soccer community. Hold a town hall meeting and let us the parents discuss what we would love to see happen for soccer in this community. We are TAMPA BAY. We are TBU, we are Florida Premier We are Clearwater Chargers We are West Florida Flames we want a Tampa Bay Area Soccer Club. We want to challenge the best around the country every year. We can do it, we have some of the best talent here. Who will be our soccer Mosses and unite us all?

Too much talk and no action! This has been the same argument for years. Tampa Bay Area people lets do this for the benefit of Tampa Bay Area children.

Or just go to TBU.

[Unregistered]

Or just go to TBU.

Why? He isn't trying to go backwards....

[Unregistered]

I believe you still need competition, but some consolidation would improve the product. If you had mega clubs in the area to push each other and compete rather than 4-5 big-ish clubs you'd have a better product and still competition to push each other. You still need some small clubs to service the market that wants to play more than rec but not the full financial commitment of the big clubs but you don't need that many of them so a few, like Lutz and Celtic, should be part of the consolidation.

Well, only TBU has ECNL for Girls so the path forward seems clear.

[Unregistered]

Well, only TBU has ECNL for Girls so the path forward seems clear.

They also aren’t very good

[Unregistered]

And, on top of that, girls soccer is significantly smaller than boys soccer so building a club just around supposed better league access for 1 gender is myopic. The fantasy mergers discussed in this thread help both boys and girls soccer.

TBU is the perfect example of why, even with mergers, you need local competition. All they do is sell league access and sit back and recruit. A larger consolidated club with this mentality would be terrible for the local community. All clubs need to be pushed to do better than just offer leagues. They need to offer appropriate level leagues/tournament access to the level of players they have. They also need to be pushed to constantly focus on developing their players to a higher standard.

They also aren’t very good

[Unregistered]

And, on top of that, girls soccer is significantly smaller than boys soccer so building a club just around supposed better league access for 1 gender is myopic. The fantasy mergers discussed in this thread help both boys and girls soccer.

TBU is the perfect example of why, even with mergers, you need local competition. All they do is sell league access and sit back and recruit. A larger consolidated club with this mentality would be terrible for the local community. All clubs need to be pushed to do better than just offer leagues. They need to offer appropriate level leagues/tournament access to the level of players they have. They also need to be pushed to constantly focus on developing their players to a higher standard.

Like it or not, TBU does offer the highest leagues available on the boys and girls sides.

All other clubs should just accept their roles as feeder clubs to TBU.

[Unregistered]

They like to think they do, but it is not reality. They are just another member of the 1 year old MLS Elite league which is merely support for the MLS academies and offers a wide variety of levels of play which is comparable to the more established ECNL league. In it's first year of existence it was clear that the middle and top are at times better at times equivalent to the ECNL peers in the southeast, but the bottom is pretty poor. TBU's MLS Elite teams are the best MLS Elite teams in the Tampa area and are among the best teams in the state, ECNL or MLS, but not universally so. Their ECNL team, however, are dreadful.

As for the girls, ECNL is still probably the top league across the board for girls, but there are many GDA teams that are equal or better as well. Tophap, for instance, is pretty much better across the board that the SE ECNL teams. In some ages, Weston and WFF are better than the ECNL competitors in the state and in others they are not.

Like it or not, TBU does offer the highest leagues available on the boys and girls sides.

All other clubs should just accept their roles as feeder clubs to TBU.

[Unregistered]

People forget that some parents have boundaries and want to have lives. They have jobs
, Others kids, friends and family.

Super leagues are wonderful but they create massive mileage and time commitment. That is not for everyone no matter how good the player or committed the family. (Shocking to hear - I am sorry.)

[Unregistered]

100 percent true. The clubs need to provide levels for this so that families/kids can have more balance if they want, but also for those that want to top level, the depth to support that.

People forget that some parents have boundaries and want to have lives. They have jobs
, Others kids, friends and family.

Super leagues are wonderful but they create massive mileage and time commitment. That is not for everyone no matter how good the player or committed the family. (Shocking to hear - I am sorry.)

[Unregistered]

People forget that some parents have boundaries and want to have lives. They have jobs
, Others kids, friends and family.

Super leagues are wonderful but they create massive mileage and time commitment. That is not for everyone no matter how good the player or committed the family. (Shocking to hear - I am sorry.)

We traveled a lot more playing lower level leagues compared to playing ECNL. Big difference is ECNL travel is flying. Would rather fly to Houston than drive to Jax.

[Unregistered]

Tampa Bay Area soccer needs a merger right now!

TBU, Flames, Chargers, Florida Premier we need to come together. Together we are monster, a titan an unremovable force.

It takes great imagination, will and a United vision. If you take every age group boys and girls and have the very best in the area playing on the same team, we will surely be a national force.

We need true leaders to put away self pride, ego and personal ambitions. We need a strong collaboration between public and private sectors to facilitate a move like this. If we keep going like the way we are, will never achieve greatness. We are too fractured. Particular teams will have a good run from time to time but the consistency will never be there. Teams will always be missing pieces.

You see the ECNL girls, there are 2 clubs that have almost all their age groups make the final four. This is no accident, this is by design.

I’m calling out the Head Directors of these clubs, have a meeting and air out all your differences and talk unity. You owe to the the Tampa Area soccer community. Hold a town hall meeting and let us the parents discuss what we would love to see happen for soccer in this community. We are TAMPA BAY. We are TBU, we are Florida Premier We are Clearwater Chargers We are West Florida Flames we want a Tampa Bay Area Soccer Club. We want to challenge the best around the country every year. We can do it, we have some of the best talent here. Who will be our soccer Mosses and unite us all?

Too much talk and no action! This has been the same argument for years. Tampa Bay Area people lets do this for the benefit of Tampa Bay Area children.

Let the clubs make the decision & you keep writing the checks.Some parents are never happy & your one of them.

[Unregistered]

$$$$

Some people can't afford all that flying to Houston.

And I'd prefer to avoid both cities.

We traveled a lot more playing lower level leagues compared to playing ECNL. Big difference is ECNL travel is flying. Would rather fly to Houston than drive to Jax.