U.S. Soccer nears takeover of U.S. Youth Soccer. This is what it means for the sport’s future

U.S. Soccer is nearing a takeover of the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, a move that some view as a significant step toward reform across the sport’s American landscape.

At a momentous meeting Saturday in Dallas, members of USYS, the largest youth sports organization in the United States, will vote on a bylaw amendment that would essentially hand control of their organization over to the U.S. Soccer Federation. A dozen people close to the matter, including several members who will vote, told The Athletic over the past two weeks that they expect the amendment to pass comfortably.

It will allow U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, to fully absorb USYS by 2028 and is part of the federation’s years-long effort to design a more coherent, less fractured youth system.

It will not unwind the “pay-to-play” model, nor will this alone make soccer significantly cheaper, multiple sources cautioned — but many believe it will improve grassroots soccer and empower U.S. Soccer to push further changes. (Most sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the reform process publicly.)

USYS, a 52-year-old national association, boasts 2.5 million registered players and 54 individual state associations. Collectively, they govern large swaths of recreational youth soccer across the country. Over the past two decades, as the youth sports industry boomed, they lost hundreds of thousands of teenagers to US Club Soccer and competitive national leagues. But for many young kids — and still for some teens — USYS-affiliated clubs, leagues and programs are gateways to the game.

Much of that programming is administered by the state associations. They are the ones who will vote on Saturday to eventually dissolve the national association and work directly with U.S. Soccer. U.S. Soccer has told the state associations that it plans to empower them as “local arms” of a coordinated strategy, but the specifics of that strategy and the so-called “future state” of youth soccer in America remain unclear.

So, although the vote feels consequential, the consequences are murky. And they’ll depend on what comes next.

Why is this happening?

For most of its 113-year history, the U.S. Soccer Federation largely ignored youth soccer. In the 1960s and ’70s, separate organizations, such as USYS, sprang up to govern clubs and leagues for children. The federation mostly let them run themselves — and allowed any entrepreneurial challenger to compete with them.

The result was a “fractured” or “fragmented” landscape that confuses parents, exacerbates costs, hinders player development, and stunts the growth of the sport.

So, a few years ago, U.S. Soccer decided it was time for change.

The federation launched an “ecosystem review” in 2023, hired more staff to build relationships with youth soccer leaders, and spent months simply trying to understand the landscape. After analyzing it, state associations were identified as important, well-meaning organizations that served localized soccer, but with two core problems.

First, they didn’t serve all soccer. Because of their affiliation with USYS, they’d been dragged into competition with US Club and other organizations. They therefore spent time and resources trying to keep players within the USYS orbit — because player registration fees are central to their business models — rather than spending that time and those resources working with, say, local governments to build fields or get soccer programming into underserved communities. (They do some of that, but they could do more.)

Second, some (not all) were inefficient and struggling financially.

The solution to both, U.S. Soccer decided, was to eliminate USYS and create a direct line to the state associations. They will essentially be repurposed, and perhaps restructured, as local executors of U.S. Soccer’s broader vision for growing the game. And with the federation in control, there could be a centralized player registration system that gives U.S. Soccer better access to millions of boys and girls who play the sport.

Will this make soccer less expensive?

In theory, the new structure could make soccer somewhat more accessible at grassroots levels if U.S. Soccer supports the state associations. It could do this by streamlining administrative tasks (thereby lowering expenses or allowing the state associations to coordinate more low-cost programming) or by providing direct financial support — perhaps via sponsors and philanthropists who can now reach all 50 states with a single donation.

But the truly prohibitive costs hit families in the pre-teen and teen years, and this takeover won’t make it much more affordable for them.

At those “competitive” and “pre-professional” levels — as U.S. Soccer defines them — there is a dizzying web of clubs and leagues that, in exchange for (supposedly) better coaching and exposure, charge families thousands of dollars. They also force kids to drive or fly past similarly skilled kids for tournaments or exclusive “showcase” events, or even for standard league games, simply because those other kids belong to a rival league or acronym. That travel adds thousands of dollars — and dozens or hundreds of hours — to the overall cost.

To lower it, and align the whole system, U.S. Soccer must get a variety of other organizations — including the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), Girls Academy (GA) and Major League Soccer (MLS, which runs MLS Next, the top academy circuit for teenage boys) — on board with a plan that stretches far beyond USYS.

What is U.S. Soccer’s broader vision or plan?

The USYS takeover, multiple sources said, is merely one piece of a puzzle. U.S. Soccer is trying to re-architect the competitive structure of youth soccer across the country. It wants “a more connected system that is easier to navigate, more accessible, and better aligned around the needs of players and participants.”

The question that remains unanswered is how to do that.

The utopia is a singular pyramid that is clearly defined and filters the most talented players up to the top levels. But that’s probably unrealistic, because this is America — a free market. Even if U.S. Soccer took over every existing league and organization and molded them into one, new ones could form to challenge it. U.S. Soccer could try to stop them, but that would surely lead to legal battles. It could become an expensive game of whack-a-mole.

The more realistic outcome, which would still take years to reach, is some sort of tiered system comprising multiple organizations and leagues, with standards underpinning each tier — standards that a league or club must uphold to retain a certain desirable designation. The designations would ease parental confusion, and the standards would help ensure the quality of programming and environments. The tricky part, again, is getting all the leagues that would be involved, such as the ECNL and GA, to agree on what those standards should be. (Last decade, when U.S. Soccer pushed standards within its Development Academy, many clubs resisted.)

Ideally, there would also be more inter-league games, or perhaps a merger of more competitions — and therefore less travel. Speaking to The Athletic in July, U.S. Soccer chief operating officer Dan Helfrich envisioned a future where “the structure of competitive soccer between the ages of 11 and 15 has a different, more joined-up, more local and regional organization to it.” At the very top tier, there will inevitably be more travel because “best against best” is a core tenet of elite player development. But below that top tier, much of it could be alleviated by common sense (rather than economic sense) and cooperation.

U.S. Soccer COO Dan Helfrich at April’s SheBelieves Summit in Seattle, Washington (Ali Gradischer/USSF/Getty Images)

So, the federation is negotiating and working with entities such as US Club (which sanctions the ECNL and other regional and national leagues). They’ve all been hesitant to reveal their direction of travel until they know exactly where they’re going and how to get there. But U.S. Soccer, in a document published back in early June, said it would release “a broader vision for the future of the game … later this summer.” Helfrich said in mid-July that a draft would be circulated for feedback, and ultimately published, “in the next few months.” There is widespread hope that the fall will bring more clarity.

Will U.S. Soccer take over other youth organizations?

Potentially, but not necessarily.

The federation is talking with US Club, the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) and other youth soccer entities. But each serves a distinct role and has a distinct structure. The purpose and process of U.S. Soccer taking control, therefore, varies from one to the next.

Among people close to the talks, there is a general expectation that U.S. Soccer will at least deepen its ties with some of those organizations over the coming year. It is already working closely with US Club under the terms of a January agreement, which saw U.S. Soccer “enter into a new strategic partnership” with the for-profit company that managed US Club’s business. But US Club’s board of directors and members still have full decision-making power and control over their strategic direction.

What exactly will happen to U.S. Youth Soccer and its competitions?

The bylaw amendment, which has been thoroughly revised over the past few months, would make U.S. Soccer the sole voting member of USYS. Over the next two years, USYS would gradually dissolve into U.S. Soccer.

There is complicated legalese related to the roughly $15 million that USYS holds in reserves, but much or all of it will ultimately be paid out to the state associations, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.S. Soccer will then direct the state associations and take control of USYS competitions, including the President’s Cup (a July national championship) and the Olympic Development Program (ODP).

ODP, once the premier pipeline to college and pro soccer, has lost relevance throughout the 21st century as academies and national leagues have proliferated. But U.S. Soccer could reinvent it as a hub for talent identification locally or push it in another direction.

Whatever the vision, that program and others will likely change, but the “how” remains to be determined.

What exactly will happen to the state associations?

None of this will happen instantly. Throughout the fall, and likely beyond, state associations will continue doing what they’ve always done — registering players, safeguarding all participants, assigning referees, coordinating local programs.

But eventually, after extensive discussions with U.S. Soccer, they will evolve. They will probably consolidate. There are currently 54 (two each in California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania); there will likely be fewer in the not-too-distant future, multiple people involved in discussions said. Their staffing models will change, and some services will be run regionally or nationally, though having some “boots on the ground” will remain critical. The changes will vary from state to state because each has a different model and different needs.

Whether they’ll remain separate non-profit entities or become local U.S. Soccer offices is not yet known.

Will they definitely vote in favor of all these changes?

All that uncertainty is, to some state leaders, the scary part. Some are stressed and anxious. In many ways, they don’t fully know what they’re voting for. Some remain skeptical of U.S. Soccer, of its talks with the USYS board of directors that led to this, and of its relationship with US Club. Some worry that they and their colleagues won’t have jobs once this new structure materializes.

But there is unequivocal confidence that enough will vote in favor of the amendment on Saturday, for two main reasons. One: Even if it’s voted down, U.S. Soccer could still press ahead with changes.

In that unlikely scenario, things would get messy — the supportive state associations might have to effectively secede from USYS and begin working solely with U.S. Soccer — but there’s a sense that change is inevitable.

“U.S. Soccer is the train, and it is pulling out of the station,” Jim Walker, the executive director of Georgia Soccer, told The Athletic. “And we can either get on board the train, or when the train leaves we’re left at the platform; and when the train gets to the next station, somebody else is gonna get on. I would much rather be a part of the solution to the obstacles that occur than be left standing on the platform and watching somebody else be part of the solution.”

The second reason is that throughout this years-long process, by listening and collaborating, U.S. Soccer has earned trust that it didn’t have before.

So, there is a willingness to venture into the unknown.

“It’s putting trust in U.S. Soccer,” Evan Dabby, the CEO of New Jersey Youth Soccer, told The Athletic, “to do what’s right to grow the game.”