Molinaro on MLS: Does the MLS SuperDraft matter?
Posted January 11, 2012 7:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kansas City, Missouri — This Midwest metropolis is abuzz with excitement ahead of Thursday’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft.
Well, not really.
The downtown hotel where coaches and GMs of the 19 MLS clubs and league officials are all staying is hopping, to be sure. The truth of the matter, though, is that you could drive through Kansas City without even knowing the draft was in town.
For Canadian soccer fans, there is plenty of intrigue over who the Montreal Impact will take with the No. 1 pick (forward Darren Mattocks from Akron, Duke defender Andrew Wenger or somebody else) and who will be available to the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC at the second and fourth picks.
However, you can’t help but feel that this SuperDraft lacks a certain “wow factor,” something that can draw the attention of the casual soccer fan.
And maybe that’s fitting, because to hear several league insiders tell it, the SuperDraft will be become less and less important over the passage of time.
That’s because the home-grown player rules and the league’s tight salary cap will force teams to cultivate talent, as opposed to relying on the traditional developmental method of letting colleges nurture players before they make the jump to the pros.
More and more MLS clubs are investing heavily in their youth academies, and while this trend won’t make the draft obsolete, it will lessen its influence.
“I don’t think (the league will) ever do away with the draft. It’ll still be around in five years, but there’s no question that academies will become the major developmental path,” one team official told sportsnet.ca.
There are obvious advantages the academy system has over the draft. For one, teams can more closely track players from the time they start with the club, removing a lot of the guess work that is associated with drafting talent from the college ranks.
The scouting network for NCAA soccer isn’t as sophisticated or as in-depth compared to other collegiate sports in the United States, often times making it hard for teams to get the proper lowdown on draft prospects.
Also, one club official believes the college game isn’t as loaded with talent as it once was — that the day is coming soon where players selected in the draft won’t be guaranteed spots on MLS rosters.
“I think we’re going to get into a situation with the draft where we’re talking about two or three good players being selected on a tryout basis,” he said.
Another league representative thinks we’re almost at that point.
“Really, the first four or five guys selected in the draft have a shot at making an impact and becoming first-team regulars. After that, the quality level drops off,” he said.
“There’s not much between the guys who go six through 12, and the second round picks. At that point, you’re talking about miniscule differences.”
This year, the SuperDraft has been scaled back to two rounds from three, largely for TV considerations. But maybe it won’t be so far fetched to see it reduced to a single round in the near future if the academies to become the major player developmental tool for MLS clubs.
