Tom Dunmore looks at MLS’s drive to develop young domestic talent for the league. MLS increased roster sizes from 24 to 26, with two more slots added solely forhomegrown players from their youth academies. And clubs now receive three-quarters of the transfer fee for a homegrown player who goes abroad, an increase from two-thirds.
Clubs thus havemore incentive to invest in their development academies, building on MLS’s Home Grown Player Initiative of 2007, which requires clubs to have a youth program. As a result, MLS clubs such as theChicago Fire have a free Academy that enables kids from poorer backgrounds to get top-level training without having to pay the enormous fees typical of elite youth clubs in the United States.
An investment in developing local talent will not only improve the first team, but could eventually make the club money through the transfer fees received in the future. Says Dunmore, “MLS is goingthe right way in rewarding clubs for their substantial investments in youth development both on the field and off it. That’s the only way it can work.”