[slide]

Under the same model, women’s soccer is the best in the world.
My guess is that a promising, athletic youth aspiring to play professional sports would rather play football, basketball, or baseball, because the domestic leagues are very visible, so that offers the clearest path to a professional career.

BC

agreed, particularly on the men's side. for very athletic boys/teens, soccer is just not a top 3 or top 4 sport for consideration (I'd add in lacrosse as a rival).  on a more positive note, MSL has adopted some of the other league soccer rules including transfer payments so may be that can help make investment in youth leagues more viable (Almiron $9.5M transfer fee sticks out in my mind).

[slide]

Under the same model, women’s soccer is the best in the world.
My guess is that a promising, athletic youth aspiring to play professional sports would rather play football, basketball, or baseball, because the domestic leagues are very visible, so that offers the clearest path to a professional career.

BC

agreed, particularly on the men's side. for very athletic boys/teens, soccer is just not a top 3 or top 4 sport for consideration (I'd add in lacrosse as a rival).  on a more positive note, MSL has adopted some of the other league soccer rules including transfer payments so may be that can help make investment in youth leagues more viable (Almiron $9.5M transfer fee sticks out in my mind).