The Official Houston Dynamo / MLS Thread

That's such a small percentage, though. I'm happy for these kids to get opportunities. Consider places like England. If you're playing college soccer in England, your career is already over. The MLS is moving in that direction with academies and lower division teams. It might take much longer than what I predicted but it's moving in that way. Talent is being found earlier and earlier. It's good for the league, the national team and the sport in general.

 

But what percentage of academy players are going to make it as pros at 18? If the ~20 MLS academies are producing ~20 players a year that's going to leave a lot of players that are getting better training early on that don't make it into MLS. That leaves them with the option of playing in lower divisions or going to college (probably on a scholarship). Then the question becomes how many of those players develop enough to be desirable by an MLS team over the next four years. And like ferrari pointed out, there are still going to be players that don't go through the academies or aren't tied to an MLS team.

I agree that the importance of the draft will decrease over time but I don't see it going away, at least not anytime in the next decade. Especially if MLS keeps rules limiting the number of home grown signings a year for parity.

 

El Cubo's arrival behind the scenes with The Pulp's chick: <iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P5qjuJTIhr4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Meh. Some stuff was lost in translation. Funny how she figured out his shoe size... I wonder what for... LOLs.

<iframe width="368" height="207" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XFC10Z70drw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Whoop!

 

Interesting that the deal with Root Sports is only for one season. Does this mean both sides are waiting to see what the new MLS CBA will look like before signing a longer deal?

 

New CBA signed.

 

Seems like neither side is happy, which for MLS is a good thing. The league could not withstand a moment of a lockout given its space in the sports hierarchy. But, free agency is definitely something that the players should be interested in. This structure feels very similar to baseball in that you aren't a free agent until you've spent a few years in the league.

 

Glad to see they reached an agreement. A lot of big names were set to join the MLS this season, and a lockout/strike could have been very detrimental to that momentum for the league.

 

The funny thing was the original free agency plan that was offered by the league. You had to be 32 and have at least 10 years in the league. There is only 1 player in the entire league that would've been eligible...Brad Davis.

 

Wow, that's a ridiculous opening position. Given how many players are on the lower end of the salary floor in the MLS, making them wait until 32 to have total freedom to negotiate would've been insane and arguably hurt the long-term growth of the league.

Given the number of new stadiums in the league, the new television deal and $100 million expansion fees, I don't buy the owners' crying poverty. MLS is only going to keep growing.

 

The owners are happy, as well as the player reps that caved in.
The player reps that realized this wasn't the best deal and that they should have stuck together, aren't happy.

 

not to get sidetracked but that chick who does The Pulp show is super cute.