College Soccer is Looking at Becoming a Pro League

[Full Speed Ahead]

Not sure where this fits in the threads, but since soccer is aka "football" I'll place it here. In a short summary, it looks like the B1G and ACC conferences are about to announce that their teams are going to in a sense leave the NCAA and join the US Soccer Federation to become a new semi-pro soccer league. Is this a foreshadow of all college sports? The rumblings are that the NCAA may become part of this deal - they can't stop it so they'll embrace it - but if it happens this will be a "college league" run by the US Soccer Federation making any NCAA partnership basically irrelevant. The new league will compete directly with MLS-Next (which is sort of the farm league to the MLS), and potentially partner with the USL (which is a soccer league below the MLS - sort of like the UFL compared to the NFL). Right now college soccer doesn't have much of a place in the soccer world (unless you're the St. Olaf D-III National Champions), so this is a shot at making them more relevant. It'll increase the season to about six months vs three, and sync the calendar with other soccer leagues. A bigger point though in my mind is that will other college sports follow this model?

 

[Panthadad2]

Not sure where this fits in the threads, but since soccer is aka "football" I'll place it here. In a short summary, it looks like the B1G and ACC conferences are about to announce that their teams are going to in a sense leave the NCAA and join the US Soccer Federation to become a new semi-pro soccer league. Is this a foreshadow of all college sports? The rumblings are that the NCAA may become part of this deal - they can't stop it so they'll embrace it - but if it happens this will be a "college league" run by the US Soccer Federation making any NCAA partnership basically irrelevant. The new league will compete directly with MLS-Next (which is sort of the farm league to the MLS), and potentially partner with the USL (which is a soccer league below the MLS - sort of like the UFL compared to the NFL). Right now college soccer doesn't have much of a place in the soccer world (unless you're the St. Olaf D-III National Champions), so this is a shot at making them more relevant. It'll increase the season to about six months vs three, and sync the calendar with other soccer leagues. A bigger point though in my mind is that will other college sports follow this model?

I assume this is just the top of D1? It sounds intriguing, but I'm skeptical that it could work. The new college minor leagues would need to make money to work. I doubt a single college soccer program operates anywhere near a profit currently. Would schools continue to fund a soccer minor league as a marketing expense? How about alumni donations? Would MLS teams fund the college league as a minor league?

So many questions.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Would they even be ... profitable?

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

I assume this is just the top of D1? It sounds intriguing, but I'm skeptical that it could work. The new college minor leagues would need to make money to work. I doubt a single college soccer program operates anywhere near a profit currently. Would schools continue to fund a soccer minor league as a marketing expense? How about alumni donations? Would MLS teams fund the college league as a minor league?

So many questions.

Lots of questions - few answers at this point in time. I think this would be in direct competition to MLS-Next, so I doubt they'd be a source of revenue. As an example, the Minneapolis Crows somehow survive as a semi-pro soccer team (I'm guessing very few people know they exist, along with Minnesota's indoor soccer team "The Blizzard"), so it can be done. IMO the key point though is that they're proposing to break away from the NCAA, so they'll be able to set their own rules. I can see how this could happen for the P4 in college football, which is a venue with large dollars. If college football and/or basketball leaves the NCAA then all the non-revenue sports will be really crushed for funding.

 

[Panthadad2]

As I posted on some other thread, I still don't understand how providing a full scholarship plus personal expenses plus millions in program costs (coaches, staff, travel, facilities, etc.) for non-revenue sports provides a net benefit to a D1 university.

 

[gopher56]

This seems like something the US soccer development league should jump on and support. College soccer is usually a net negative at the international competition level of soccer and this could help persuade more
talent, better coaching, and thus improve US in the long run at the international level.

 

[fmlizard]

People have told me I was ridiculous for repeatedly suggesting this may happen over the past 2-3 years.

College soccer is just the warm-up act. A proof of concept for a bigger interest/money sport.

The other direction this could go for another sport is the end of college eligibility limits and a competing pro league, but comprised of colleges.

 

[GopherGrit]

Apologies if my poor reading comprehension handicapped me here .... but all I got from the link was that high-end DI soccer wants to make their season year round, following the US professional schedule.

But everything else would be all the same as college athletics. Not professional. No player contracts. Scholarships and NIL only. Players are students who have to attend class and make progress towards a degree.


Did I get it wrong?

 

[Word]

Apologies if my poor reading comprehension handicapped me here .... but all I got from the link was that high-end DI soccer wants to make their season year round, following the US professional schedule.

But everything else would be all the same as college athletics. Not professional. No player contracts. Scholarships and NIL only. Players are students who have to attend class and make progress towards a degree.


Did I get it wrong?

It says they would be semi-pro with some role in the professional landscape. Whatever that means.

 

[disco]

I could see hockey going the same route at some point.

 

[balds]

6-month season? So, the northern teams are going to be playing December-February? I guess they did have a world cup qualifier here where some goalie got frostbite.

 

[GopherNtn]

Love the idea of year round collegiate soccer! The Gophers women’s soccer team and others already have a spring exhibition schedule.

Gophers soccer kick off the spring season on March 2nd against Wisconsin at the Sanneh Dome.

 

[GopherEnEspaña]

Whatever helps development for USMNT, I'm all for it. We have a broken system and the only good guys are the prodigies that move to Europe at 16 or dual-citizens that grew up in Europe with a military parent. I'm ready to be disappointed in 2026.

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

6-month season? So, the northern teams are going to be playing December-February? I guess they did have a world cup qualifier here where some goalie got frostbite.

There's also a big movement happening to push MLS into becoming a winter sport vs the current summer sport schedule. If it does, I'll be dropping my Loons season tickets. Not interested in going to an outdoor soccer game when it's that cold outside...

 

[atsgopher]

I assume this is just the top of D1? It sounds intriguing, but I'm skeptical that it could work. The new college minor leagues would need to make money to work. I doubt a single college soccer program operates anywhere near a profit currently. Would schools continue to fund a soccer minor league as a marketing expense? How about alumni donations? Would MLS teams fund the college league as a minor league?

So many questions.

Well said.

When I was looking at Financial Statements (2018 numbers representing start of the Revenue battle) from FBS football; when tuition/fee subsidies are removed from revenue the industry lost 1.2 Billion.

That is Non Profit a counting. When the For profit accounting model is used, the idea that College Sports are some huge moneymaker is not reality. That is, save for Men’s college basketball.

People see the peripheral industry and lose their heads.

 

[highwayman]

6-month season? So, the northern teams are going to be playing December-February? I guess they did have a world cup qualifier here where some goalie got frostbite.

The German League shuts down from 4-6 weeks mid-season. Basically, Christmas to February. Works for them.

Somehow the NFL plays til mid-February every year. MNU starts home schedule March 1st. Creative scheduling can solve anything.

 

[Strongazzoffer]

Wouldn't shock me if every non revenue men's sport did something like this if it's an option to avoid being related to club status in the next few years. School should be fine with it as it's one less mouth to feed from a title lx perspective

 

[Word]

The German League shuts down from 4-6 weeks mid-season. Basically, Christmas to February. Works for them.

Somehow the NFL plays til mid-February every year. MNU starts home schedule March 1st. Creative scheduling can solve anything.

Bundesliga was off from Dec 21 to Jan 10. Only way it would work here is for MN United to play on the road for a couple months. You could do it but the other teams would have to agree to that. Not saying they couldn't but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

Bundesliga was off from Dec 21 to Jan 10. Only way it would work here is for MN United to play on the road for a couple months. You could do it but the other teams would have to agree to that. Not saying they couldn't but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

Or move indoors to USB Bank. I'm not sure how that'd work either, but at least it'd be warm...

 

[Panthadad2]

Well said.

When I was looking at Financial Statements (2018 numbers representing start of the Revenue battle) from FBS football; when tuition/fee subsidies are removed from revenue the industry lost 1.2 Billion.

That is Non Profit a counting. When the For profit accounting model is used, the idea that College Sports are some huge moneymaker is not reality. That is, save for Men’s college basketball.

People see the peripheral industry and lose their heads.

Non-profit accounting for a college is full of misleading things. For example, athletic student financial aid expenses charged to the athletic department aren't actual cash costs. For example, the incremental true expense in allowing a scholarship athlete to attend classes already being provided is probably minimal.