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Posted on 7/9/26 at 7:24 am to Rex Feral
quote:
I was going to make a smart arse comment before I remembered that's how I felt about travel sports when I was a kid and my parents spent all their time with my sister's travel softball. Then I grew up and had kids who did travel sports. I became friends with the other kids' parents and realized that's why my parents were so into it. It's a friend group of similar minded people who you get to hang out with and drink beer with in the evenings after the kids go to bed.
So you hated it as a kid? And what you’re saying now is it’s not about the kids at all? I assume your kid probably hates it too then. Good job breaking the cycle Dad!
Posted on 7/9/26 at 7:55 am to DownshiftAndFloorIt
Hmmmm let's see
Pulisic - 5.5 million / yr
Carasco- 5 Million/ yr
Malik Tillman - 4.75 Million / yr
Weston McKennie -4 million / year
Approximate on the amounts but pretty close. They are all playing overseas.
I think Matt Turner in the MLS is pulling in about a million ayear
The money is there
Pulisic - 5.5 million / yr
Carasco- 5 Million/ yr
Malik Tillman - 4.75 Million / yr
Weston McKennie -4 million / year
Approximate on the amounts but pretty close. They are all playing overseas.
I think Matt Turner in the MLS is pulling in about a million ayear
The money is there
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:22 am to KiwiHead
quote:
I think Matt Turner in the MLS is pulling in about a million a year
and he's playing in a league that's not even top 20 in the world.
A good basketball player can go make money in europe when he can't make it in the nba.
a good baseball player that can't make it to the MLB quits baseball and gets a real job. Minor league baseball doesn't pay anything and no one is going play in Japan or Korea.
a good football player that can't make it to the NFL quits football and gets a real job.
There are less than 1,000 professional baseball players in the MLB.
There are around 2,000 NFL players. If you want to say the CFL is a place to make money then ok. NIL kind of changes this a bit as well for NCAAF.
There are about 10,000-15,000 professional basketball players in the world.
There are over 120,000 professional soccer players in the world.
Which one you think is the better sport to focus on growing up to be good enough when you get older to make a living?
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:27 am to Rex Feral
quote:
Oh for frick's sake. You must be a blast to hang out with.
I have better things to do than hang out at a ballpark obsessing over children's sports. If you weren't their parents it would be predatory behavior.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:34 am to EastBankTiger
quote:
Italy, who haven't qualified for the WC since 2014.
That’s wild, I didn’t realize it had been that long. Italy used to be a soccer powerhouse. They have 4 world cups
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:35 am to TeddyPadillac
quote:
and he's playing in a league that's not even top 20 in the world.
The MLS is definitely a top 20 league in the world. Borderline top 10
ETA: it is decidedly top heavy though, and is made up of a ton of foreign players. Compare Messi’s $25M base salary to Turner’s $1M
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 9:42 am
Posted on 7/9/26 at 10:53 am to boogiewoogie1978
Some of y'all need to get out more. The money premier soccer players make in Europe allows them to do whatever the hell they want, and generally speaking they can have much longer careers health wise. The idea of living in Italy, Spain, Portugal, or the UK at that level of income seems pretty awesome knowing you can come back to the US whenever you want
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:03 am to real turf fan
it is a backwards system, but i think there are efforts made to rectify that. I would be interested to see where MLS Next moves. if they could grow that and make it more of a reginal thing supported by big clubs at academies in concert with the USMNT, that could be viable if the follow an IMG type setup for each club, but thats a huge investment.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:30 am to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:its total...
Are those their team salaries or composite of everything?
quote:same thing can be said for Eurpoeans... they might know Labron, but no one else.
But here it is right here. Im an american, and I have no clue what the world's best soccer player is payed, and I only recognize 2 of the 4 names you mentioned. I can name dozens of NFL/NBA/MLB players and I dont even watch sports. Its just not and likely will never be a dominant sport in the US at a high level. Our best kids and resources dont go to it.
I have never argued about the talent. I agree. But i do feel America could field a team to compete if soccer keeps growing. Kids grow to love what they play growing up.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:36 am to real turf fan
Everyone is tired of the pay to play scam that can actually play… it’s driven by those that aren’t good enough to make the top tier but want inclusion…
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:39 am to real turf fan
I agree it could be different however we simply have more sports to compete with vs the rest of the world.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 1:42 pm to real turf fan
If soccer got a portion of the top athletes the def would compete. Imagine if a few of the fast type wide receivers or running backs would have went to soccer, the USA teams could compete in world cups. Always been my opinion
Posted on 7/9/26 at 1:52 pm to Luke
quote:
Everyone is tired of the pay to play scam that can actually play
Pay for play is such a ridiculous term. I'd say that probably 1/4 of the players in my daughters soccer club are on scholarship and many of them are the better players. Supported by the other parents mostly in regards to rides to practice and games.
If the current system is so bad than why does it work for us to be a top 3 team in:
Swimming
Volleyball
Hockey
Basketball
Baseball
Etc etc.
Everyone wants to find a reason to blame. The reason is we simply don't have the players that want to be there like the rest of the world does. We are still a top 15 team. We lost to a very good Belgium team. Lets see how far they actually go. We just aren't top 5 because we don't care enough for it to be top 5.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:45 pm to Fun Bunch
Wetzel is right
Posted on 7/9/26 at 5:46 pm to real turf fan
Yes, our youth soccer system is a disaster for a few reasons.
1) It is expensive and keeps costing more the younger they are. Right now, if you are 8 and want to play "Competitive Development" for Fire in New Orleans (mind you, there are 5 8-year-old teams like), it costs $1200 plus jersey kits (about $200), plus referee fees, plus tournament fees, plus the cost for parents to watch the tournaments, plus coach travel fees, plus coach gifts, plus end of year party. Ridiculous.
2) The best kids in our neighborhood are two kids that live in a rental, can't afford to play for Fire, and just play rec at 18th ward. They destroy everyone when the kids play in the front yards.
3) Soccer has been increasingly year-round, leaving no ability for those players to play another sport and develop as an all-around athlete. If you play club and HS soccer in New Orleans, you only get off a few weeks at the end of July. All year. That's it.
1) It is expensive and keeps costing more the younger they are. Right now, if you are 8 and want to play "Competitive Development" for Fire in New Orleans (mind you, there are 5 8-year-old teams like), it costs $1200 plus jersey kits (about $200), plus referee fees, plus tournament fees, plus the cost for parents to watch the tournaments, plus coach travel fees, plus coach gifts, plus end of year party. Ridiculous.
2) The best kids in our neighborhood are two kids that live in a rental, can't afford to play for Fire, and just play rec at 18th ward. They destroy everyone when the kids play in the front yards.
3) Soccer has been increasingly year-round, leaving no ability for those players to play another sport and develop as an all-around athlete. If you play club and HS soccer in New Orleans, you only get off a few weeks at the end of July. All year. That's it.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 6:02 pm to Luke
Here is the problem with travel ball as it applies to soccer vs the rest of the world. The weekend "tournaments" actually wear the kids out. They are playing sometimes 5 + games a weekend. Soccer is not like baseball where for more than half the game 7 of your starters on defense are largely standing around for the majority of the time. In Soccer. Everyone is running except for maybe the Goalie and even he gets a workout in. So by the time the Sunday games start the kids are spent.
And that's just for starters.
Also most of the coaches just kinda suck, most have never gone beyond high school and really don't know what they are looking at in terms of talent . They certainly aren't interested in developing talent when the whole focus is on exhaustive weekend tournaments.
Eric Wynalda and Tab Ramos have been super critical of the whole travel ball thing in soccer . Wynalda calls it straight up a waste of money and a grift.
And that's just for starters.
Also most of the coaches just kinda suck, most have never gone beyond high school and really don't know what they are looking at in terms of talent . They certainly aren't interested in developing talent when the whole focus is on exhaustive weekend tournaments.
Eric Wynalda and Tab Ramos have been super critical of the whole travel ball thing in soccer . Wynalda calls it straight up a waste of money and a grift.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 6:10 pm to 6R12
Those WR , RBs and DB types would have to really start developing their skills at 5 or 6 to be competitive with a bunch of street urchins from the favelas in Brazil or the Banalieues in France where they learn ball handling as a way of life.
You can't just say, oh this kid is fast and has good structure. Look at Messi, if you saw him on the street he looks average. Same for Luka Modric. Yet they are dominant in the game.
You can't just say, oh this kid is fast and has good structure. Look at Messi, if you saw him on the street he looks average. Same for Luka Modric. Yet they are dominant in the game.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 7:47 pm to real turf fan
Same goes for just about every sport but football and t&f.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 8:03 pm to Fun Bunch
quote:
Its because as he and others have pointed out, we have an inverse system for youth than the rest of the world.
The youth leagues get paid by clubs when the players develop and go to them, and those payments are in some way passed down to the player/families
Its the opposite in the US: The families pay the clubs $15,000 (or whatever) to develop their child
And those clubs have no incentive to do it the way the rest of the world does it.
Michael MacKelvie does a great video on Youth Sports in general... our system is broken
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 8:08 pm
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