McCarthy's Musings: Youth Movement

By Kyle McCarthy

MLS has changed its rules regarding signings made directly from team academies, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.

Clubs now have the ability to sign two academy-reared players to Generation adidas deals (up from one) and four players in total (up from two) from their academy system, the Post reported.

“They're very positive, very welcome. The people who've invested in their academies will benefit from this,” New York sporting director Jeff Agoos told the Post. “It puts emphasis on developing players, not just one, but plural. There's a plurality in this rule that's much welcomed by this club and clubs around league.”

Other clubs may not be as welcoming as Agoos portrays them. Clubs who run academies now have exclusive dominion over those players, according to the Post. That means Columbus couldn't go and sign a player out of New York's academy even if the Crew were willing to offer that player a deal New York would not.

This new twist on an old rule exacerbates the differences between MLS clubs. While some of these differences are under the financial control of stingy investor/operators, other complications have nothing at all to do with finances. The new rule benefits geographically-blessed teams. Some clubs don't have the benefit of MLS-worthy youth players in their territorial area, while other teams have excess talent.  In a single-entity system, there have to be questions asked about whether the league should engage in practices that disproportionately benefit certain clubs, even if those steps are necessary to foster youth development.

Lost in the shuffle of this change is the considerable question of whether these changes will have any practical impact. Aside from rare examples like Tristan Bowen (Los Angeles) and Tyler Deric (Houston), teams haven't shown much of an inclination to bring academy talent into the fold. Smaller roster sizes – remember, those new GA signings have to fit on the developmental roster along with any current GA and developmental players – limit the roster flexibility to acquire academy players, particularly those without GA protection. Coaches could be forced to choose between a veteran player, a more-advanced college player and an academy player who has significant potential if the club has already used its GA slots.

For most coaches, this isn't a choice at all. That choice also shows why teams and fans shouldn't expect an influx of academy players to sweep the league in the coming months. While this rule change is a nice step to vindicate club expenditures on youth team players and create an incentive for further youth development, it isn't likely to impact MLS rosters in the short-term.

Negotiation season has arrived

Grab a seat and a snack. It looks like the much anticipated collective bargaining negotiations between MLS and the MLS Players Union have commenced.

“We recently opened negotiations with the MLS Players Union and had an initial meeting in April,” MLS executive vice president Todd Durbin told Sports Business Journal. “Our discussions are ongoing and we are currently scheduling our next meeting.”

MLS and the Players Union are currently haggling over the release of league financial data to the Players Union, according to SBJ. A labor expert told SBJ the willingness of a privately-held company to release its financial data “usually it arises out of a situation where the union is saying, ‘Back it up.’”

This exchange is likely just the first salvo in a what will be a lengthy series of salvos in advance of the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement in January 2010. Unfortunately for those who want to see a good show, neither side appears particularly willing to play out these negotiations in the press at the moment.

“We have begun collective bargaining,” Players Union general counsel Jon Newman told SBJ. “We have a bargaining committee. We are not commenting on any specifics at this time.”

Around the League

- Toronto FC plays Montreal in Canadian Championship play tonight. If you're interested in watching the contest, check out TFC's official Web site. Kickoff is 8:00p.m EDT.

- TFC is in the middle of a grueling two-week (May 2-16) stretch of five matches. I wonder what kind of legs the Reds will have left for Chicago's visit on Saturday afternoon.

- As for the Impact, owner Joey Saputo told Rue Frontenac “je serais très surpris (most shocked) si nous n’obtenions pas une prochaine concession.” The seven years of French I took in high school and college indicate to me that Saputo would be shocked if the Impact did not obtain the next MLS expansion franchise. If you don't believe my shaky French skills, then check out the English media reports out of Canada that basically say the same thing.

- MLS made it official and welcomed the Philadelphia Union into the league on Monday. A cool name and cool crest mean a bright start for the entry from the City of Brotherly Love. Might want to work on improving the secrecy of the unveiling process, however.

- More bad news for FC Dallas as starting 'keeper Dario Sala will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a bone bruise on his left knee. Ray Burse hasn't looked particularly steady in his place. Will the Hoops add goalkeeper to the list of defensive needs?

- Maybe it's time to give veteran referee Tim Weyland an informal break for his own sake after the withering criticism he's drawn after a substandard performance in Seattle on Sunday. Keen fans will note that Weyland came in for some serious stick after he dished out three red cards in the Los Angeles-Chivas USA match on April 11. Tough to top Bruce McGuire's take over at Du Nord: “The last [two] games I have seen him running have turned into stupid ugly messes.”

- A couple of Weyland notes to provide some background on the currently beleaguered referee, courtesy of the 2009 Fact and Record Book. Prior to the start of the 2009 season, Weyland worked a total of 88 MLS regular-season matches and 12 playoff matches over his nine-year career (1996-2001, 2006-present). In those matches, he called an average of 30.3 fouls, doled out 3.69 yellow cards (325) and issued a dismissal every third or fourth match (25). For those Sounders FC fans that are wondering, Weyland called 21 penalties during that time span.

- Seattle coach Sigi Schmid will find out whether he will be disciplined for his remarks on Weyland's performance by Thursday, according to the Seattle Times.

- In more important, non-referee related news, MLS added two employees to its club services division. The hires raise the total number of employees in that division to five. With expansion continuing and a few existing franchise flagging at the box office, the club services division will continue to provide much needed support as teams seek to build their brands.

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com and follow him on Twitter by clicking here.