(Editorial) – The future of the MLS Academy system is brighter than ever. Fans have been treated to the growth of academy products like Bill Hamid, DeAndre Yedlin, and Gyasi Zardes coming into their own. Every club’s fanbase is now looking to their USL affiliate, academy teams, and the MLS SuperDraft for the next young star.
Possibly the most valuable source for these players are Homegrown Players out of the team’s academy. Hamid, Yedlin, and Zardes are all HG players along with many of the other young stars in the league. The rule was put in place in 2006 to allow clubs to sign young players within the local region in which the club is based. Those players can earn much more than the league minimum salary. Like Generation Adidas players, HG contracts do not count against the salary cap.
With this rule, there is an incentive to players to try and earn one of these contracts. There are incentives for the clubs to invest in academies to develop talent and reap the benefits of a salary cap free player. One of these players can become one of their core players. It could also provide a cash pay out if the player is sold. Those funds can be reinvested back into the club and the academy.
MLS restricts teams to certain geographic regions for recruiting HG players. The rules are a bit complicated and case specific, but the most common MLS Academy territory is a 75 mile radius around the club’s home stadium or training facility. Several clubs have larger territories that are agreed upon by the club and MLS.
Brotherly Game over at SB Nation made an excellent visual guide map showing each club’s region of control. They also provided the updated map and rule with the two 2015 expansion team territories included. Go check it out.
Got the idea? Good. Now, why does these MLS Homegrown territories exist in the first place?
These restrictions exist as part of the single entity structure to prevent a nation-wide free market competition for players. This helps reduce travel and personnel costs for scouting and recruiting. A free market would increase costs for all teams to maintain healthy academy enrollment numbers. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes an entire academy team to produce one player with professional potential. MLS clubs already spend upwards of half a million dollars annually on their academy.
An open market would further exacerbate the difference between the haves and have-nots in the league. There’s enough of that with the discrepancy in Designated Player signings.
While the ’75 mile radius around the home stadium/training facility’ is the general rule of thumb, not all talent pools are created equal. Teams like the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas have the luxury of being based in youth soccer hotbeds. Other clubs, such as the Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids have access to their entire home state, giving them a larger population to draw players from.
As MLS grows into the coined version ‘MLS 3.0,’ the league could run into some interesting and potentially conflicting situations. As it has come to be expected, there’s the question of whether the league is making up the rules as they go along. Even if they do have a plan, it’s probably not being released to the public.
The complication with MLS Academy region restrictions is that there are so many examples where a precedent has already been established. Treating each team or region on a case-by-case basis could give some clubs an inherent advantage. These advantages could help the smaller clubs catch up or give bigger clubs a greater advantage. Let’s break down some of the potential conundrums that could occur.
Teams Expanding Their Area
As of 2013, only five (of then 19) MLS clubs follow the ’75 mile radius from home stadium’ rule. In 2010, Real Salt Lake established an Arizona based academy, a land mark for MLS. With the smallest home market population in the league, they strategically chose a state adjacent to Utah with a large population. Phoenix, AZ has the 6th largest metro population in the country. MLS granted them exclusive access to the entire state of Arizona, the 15th most populated state the country.
Similarly, Sporting KC has a vast academy network with affiliate youth programs and a territory consisting of the states of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The LA Galaxy follow the ’75 mile radius’ rule, but recently created an affiliation with a youth club in San Diego.
Obviously, this expansion costs money. Building these facilities requires upfront capital. Coaches and scouts need to be paid. Even with players playing tuition, there’s equipment, travel, etc. The league must have some criteria for awarding these regions.
If the front office has a quality vision and the ability to make it happen, the league appears willing to give them the desired territory. If this expansion is good for the club and will improve the overall US Soccer youth development program, the league won’t get in the way. At least that’s what these decisions indicate.
The Philadelphia Union invested in their own resident high school academy, yet their academy territory has them competing with DC United to the south and New York Red Bulls and NYCFC to the north. No other MLS team is based in the state of Pennsylvania. The Union certainly have an argument that they are as invested in their academies as RSL and Sporting. Yet, they have serious competition with other clubs, something most don’t have to deal with. Why not petition to the league to have access to a larger portion of the Quaker state if not all of it?
The Houston Dynamo have a 125 mile radius territory around their training facility, yet their instate rivals, FC Dallas, have access to the entire northern chunk of the state of Texas. If Houston were to show the ability and desire to invest, could they claim a larger region that would include nearby Austin and San Antonio?
Houston’s new USL affiliate, RGVFC, are going to start their own academy system. As their affiliate, would Houston have exclusive MLS access to these players even though they are based outside their region of influence?
With the New England Revolution being the only professional club in the New England region (Hartford will be getting an NASL team in 2017), why not see if MLS will let you annex the entire northeastern chunk of the country? They’ve certainly invested well in their academy and gotten results.
The San Jose Earthquakes agreed with MLS to have a 100 mile radius territory around Avaya Stadium. Their 25 mile addition strategically gives them access to the Sacramento metro area. Similarly, Orlando City SC has access to all of Florida to the north of their stadium. This gives them the majority of the Tampa Bay region as well as Jacksonville (the 12th most populated city in the US). Will the league give similar access to clubs in the future that want to expand to have access to another market in the region?
These are just some examples of academy region issues MLS could run into as it enters MLS 3.0. Clubs could make arguments for their interests based on the precedent of the league’s past decisions. MLS could also see resistance/compromise from the NASL or the USL should they feel threatened by MLS clubs invading to plunder their talent pools. What affect could MLS-USL affiliations have the MLS rights of USL academy products? Most NASL and USL academies are still in their infancy. This could be Pandora’s Box.
Expansion Teams Moving Into An Existing Team’s Territory
On that note of potential resistance from the second and third division, several MLS clubs have potential conflicts with clubs on the MLS expansion short list. Take San Jose and a potential MLS team in Sacramento Republic FC. Sacramento Republic’s current stadium and potential Soccer-Specific Stadium location are both inside the Quakes’ territory thanks to the 25 mile radius addition. Sacramento started their academy teams this year.
What happens if and when Sacramento joins the league?
In the case of the Union and Red Bulls, the clubs are not allowed to recruit a HG player who lives within a 25 mile radius of the other’s home stadium. The Red Bulls cannot sign a HG player from North Philly. The Union cannot sign one who lives in Newark.
The Earthquakes have an expanded area though. Would the league reduce their radius of influence? Would they keep it and just give Sacrament the exclusive 25 mile radius region?
A similar issue arise RSL’s Arizona academy. Arizona United FC is a Phoenix based USL team. If they join MLS, what becomes of RSL’s satellite campus? Would they share Arizona? Would RSL still have access to the state but be restricted to outside a certain range of Arizona United’s facilities?
There are USL teams in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and St. Louis. All of these cities reside in Sporting’s territory. If Saint Louis FC joined MLS, would they petition to have exclusive access to half of if not the majority of Missouri? Would Sporting be kicked out of Oklahoma entirely if Tulsa and OKC join the league?
A unique and new situation arose with the arrival of NYCFC. Yankees Stadium and Red Bull Arena are less than 15 miles apart. Their 75 mile regions overlap almost entirely. The league put no restrictions on the two New York sides signing players within a certain range of the other’s home stadium.
NYCFC already has eleven affiliate teams, seven of whom are based within 25 miles of Red Bull Arena. The New York Soccer Wars are even taking place on at the youth level.
If the New York Cosmos and a potential Baltimore-based team every join MLS, recruiting a HG player in the mid-Atlantic could become as competitive as recruiting a 5-Star high school football player from Texas.
The rules in place could set a precedent for LAFC and the LA Galaxy, as their stadiums will be a mere 13 miles apart.
Multiple Teams Vying For The Same Unclaimed Region
Every territory claimed to date makes some sense geographically. At the very least, teams have claimed areas where they are the closest MLS team. Utah is adjacent to Arizona. Kansas City is right on the boarder between Kansas and Missouri. Oklahoma is not that far away. The Portland Timbers and Colorado share New Mexico. That’s the one outlier.
Now, what happens if multiple teams try to stake a claim over the same region? What if this happens where no team has a stronger argument based on geography? What’s stopping a team establishing a satellite campus on the other side of the country?
The three most populated unclaimed markets are San Antonio, Austin, and Indianapolis. All three have an NASL or USL franchise. Houston’s border is very close to San Antonio and Austin and would have the most rightful claim to the first two. Dallas would be the only other MLS side who would have an argument, and their expanded right to the North Texas area probably disqualifies them from further expansion.
Indianapolis (and the state of Indiana) would be interesting battle ground. Chicago Fire and Columbus are both share a border with the state. Chicago could argue that the Crew have their entire state. Columbus could argue that the Fire have the greater hotbed due to the shear population density of Chicago. Would the league have the two share the state similar to how Colorado and Portland share New Mexico? Would Indy Eleven‘s hierarchy on the MLS expansion short list affect a decision?
Now suppose a new soccer hotbed arises unexpectedly. Let’s say Wyoming suddenly starts churning out lots of MLS SuperDraft picks, kids start signing with European academies overseas, and the University of Wyoming wins 7 straight National Championships.
There’s no MLS, NASL, or USL club anywhere in the state. A bunch of clubs rush in to establish a satellite academy. RSL argues that Rio Tinto Stadium is closest to a Montana border. They argue further that their track record with Arizona shows they can make it work. Portland argues geographical privilege cause they have Idaho and Idaho shares a border with Montana. Seattle Sounders argue geographical privilege because RSL and Portland already have access to multiple states. Philly rushes in saying they deserve it because they have to compete with DC and New York(s) for players. Bruce Arena calls in and argues that MLS hasn’t made any rules that stack the deck for the LA Galaxy in the past year. What does the league do?
My money’s on the random envelope method awarding Montana to the Las Vegas expansion team that hasn’t even been founded yet.
An Eventual Move To A Free Market System
Outside of MLS, Soccer Academies are essentially a free market. Teams scout and sign players from all over the world. Youth players join residency programs and can move around like senior team players. The single entity structure, the age of the league, and lower budgets are keeping MLS in its current state. Child labor laws also complicate the legalization of transfer fees for minors.
Much like Promotion-Relegation and a FIFA calendar schedule, an open academy market is a possibility only in the distant future. I’m not sure whether an open academy player market would help or hurt the league. MLS will have to adopt some form of what the rest of the world uses to become a top domestic league.
We are seeing the infancy of this in some form with what RSL and Sporting are doing. The Union and Galaxy establishing their own soccer academy high schools is another step towards the residency programs used world wide. These investments are good for the growth of the sport in America.
What changes will MLS 3.0 bring to MLS Homegrown territories and other aspects of the US Soccer youth development system? I’m not sure. It could very much be a Pandora’s Box. The league and US Soccer must make decisions that benefit the net growth of the sport. In the race to recreate La Masia, each decision could however impact clubs and leagues differently (read: unfairly). But whatever comes should be exciting, complex, and not without controversy. There will be plenty to talk about.
As a slightly masochistic MLS fan, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Main photo was originally created by Susie Rantz and provided by Brotherly Game at SBNation.com.
