In Reply to: Soccer tell football to tell NCAA HOLD MY BEER posted by SehornBlew on October 25, 2024 at 19:50:26
It seems to imply that there will be some kind of investment in college soccer? Or, bigger tv money? I mean, all that stuff doesn't come for free. Where's the money going to come from.
But, ya, if they can make NCAA D1 a semi-pro league, or a pro league, w/ an education built in, I'd be happy about it.
NCAA soccer used to produce some guys that were damn good players that got to very good levels with club soccer. I'd love to have a really big pool of guys that were training up, and still getting an education. And, expanding the season like that would be great for development.
Surprising fact - 4 of the top 5 US-eligible goal scorers in MLS played multiple years in college:
White 15(2 assists) (Duke)
Jordan Morris 13(5) (Stanford)
Mihailovic 11 (14)
Agyemang 10 (5) (East Conn/URI)
McGuire 10(3) (Creighton)
I'm sure someone will correct me, but I don't think any of those are guys that MLS teams were chasing to develop. They are bonus's to the pool that came from college.
And, I'm not saying any of those will contribute to the national team (or, in Morris's case, contribute further). But, Agyemang is young and a rookie. Who knows? And, there's a guy named Farrington at Dallas who is coming on. And, this doesn't include Dike, who would be giving Pepi and Sargeant a hard run at the back-up-to-Balogun spot if he wasn't so injury prone.
And, this is with the super limited college season and training.
I'm not saying the NCAA will become a pipeline to the NT with this (though many of our current best keepers and centerbacks are college products). I'm saying it will greatly improve the second level of the pool, greatly broaden the pool, and give tons of guys a shot to develop so they can have a pro career - while also getting an education. I love it, if it happens.
And, I would really love it if this worked on the women's side, too. European club teams are putting a looot of money into their women's team and talent development. Since NWSL is not affiliated with MLS (Julie Foudy is an idiot), that kind of money is not going to come into the women's game in the US. If this kind of change came to NCAA women's soccer, that would be fantastic.
But, like I asked at the beginning, where's the money going to come from for this?