Select Club Costs

Quick question - I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback on costs for Dallas Texans? Do all select teams pay the same? Are there pricing variables? What does base get you? Are there other costs associated? Trying to gauge what the true cost for a year at Dallas Texans would be . . .

FYI .. You may find something here on other clubs

https://www.txsoccer.net/t31009-club-cost?highlight=club+dues

So reading the thread it looks like the club fee is $2,500 - $3,000
Plus team fees
plus tourneys
plus travel

So whats the consensus on the final $ number?
$4k
$5k
more....

5k

Andwhynot? wrote:So reading the thread it looks like the club fee is $2,500 - $3,000
Plus team fees
plus tourneys
plus travel

So whats the consensus on the final $ number?
$4k
$5k
more....

$3.5-$5k+ for any of the ECNL clubs, depending on exactly which club, and what level the team is playing at.

ECNL/National League - Assume $5k+ depending on what type of deals you can swing for travel expenses.
Composite/Premier League - $4-5k+ Similar travel expenses to ECNL for league play. 1-2 less plane trips/year to National Showcases compared to ECNL.
LHGCL D1/D2 (no PL) - $3.5-$4.5k No regional travel for league play. Total expenses will depend how much team travels for tournament/showcase play.

This came up in a conversation between 2 parents:

They play for the same Top 4 club, have the same coach, train the same amount of days and use the same training facility.

Yet, one player is academy and pays about $1200 per year.

The other is select and pays about $3500 per year.

Neither of these figures includes travel.

Porque?

jogobonito06 wrote:This came up in a conversation between 2 parents:

They play for the same Top 4 club, have the same coach, train the same amount of days and use the same training facility.  

Yet, one player is academy and pays about $1200 per year.

The other is select and pays about $3500 per year.

Neither of these figures includes travel.

Porque?

Porque the Academy market simply won't support anything more expensive than $1200/year at this time. In Academy, we don't have to sign year-long contracts. It's month-to-month. If a customer in Academy is unhappy with the service, or the cost, or really anything, they can simply stop being customers.

Porque the Select market is much older and vendors have had time to identify threshold for what parents were willing to pay. Clubs found the upper limit and set prices there. That... And most customers in this market don't use price as a primary reason for making their final decisions on which vendor to choose.

bigtex75081 wrote:

jogobonito06 wrote:This came up in a conversation between 2 parents:

They play for the same Top 4 club, have the same coach, train the same amount of days and use the same training facility.  

Yet, one player is academy and pays about $1200 per year.

The other is select and pays about $3500 per year.

Neither of these figures includes travel.

Porque?

Porque the Academy market simply won't support anything more expensive than $1200/year at this time.  In Academy, we don't have to sign year-long contracts.  It's month-to-month.  If a customer in Academy is unhappy with the service, or the cost, or really anything, they can simply stop being customers.

Porque the Select market is much older and vendors have had time to identify threshold for what parents were willing to pay.  Clubs found the upper limit and set prices there.  That... And most customers in this market don't use price as a primary reason for making their final decisions on which vendor to choose.

I would add that select fees also include league fees, league bye fees, and a pre-set number of tournament fees.  Academy does not - at least not in my experience at $100/mo.  Further, select coaches spend more time with teams, including travel.  While I'm trying to justify the cost of select, there are a bunch of reasons why it is considerably more than Academy.

The power in Academy is with the customer because there is no contractual commitment. That power shifts to the vendors in select because of the year-long contracts.

In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

bigtex75081 wrote:
In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

. . . and added chaos.

bigtex75081 wrote:The power in Academy is with the customer because there is no contractual commitment.  That power shifts to the vendors in select because of the year-long contracts.

In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

I would love and wholeheartedly welcome 6 month, vs year long contracts. It would make coaches more accountable.

bigtex75081 wrote:The power in Academy is with the customer because there is no contractual commitment.  That power shifts to the vendors in select because of the year-long contracts.

In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

I support this!

Sho'Nuff wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:The power in Academy is with the customer because there is no contractual commitment.  That power shifts to the vendors in select because of the year-long contracts.

In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

I support this!

Agree

Be careful what you wish for. Shorter terms could mean higher prices. Every six months might just open up higher fees

i suppose you never know.

I really would say, though...... Fees are what they are because parents keep paying that amount. It's what the market is. There are lower priced clubs and teams. They may be harder to find and they may not have the brand-name, but they could be a good fit for your kid. Let's take FCD, for example. Certainly, JDL Red is a certain level team and there aren't that many that are comparable. But is FCD NorthWest Green South Smith 04 worth roughly the same price? Maybe if your kid is on the 6th best FCD team, a lower priced option makes more sense?

If you just gravitate toward the big 4 clubs, then well, you just feed the machine. Choices, folks. Choices.

Be careful what you wish for indeed.

BigTex may well be right about one aspect of why kids academy is less expensive on an overall per year basis than select, but ForReal adds an important point about the things that are included in select club fees. I've also heard people say that the bigger clubs run kids academy as a loss leader for the select teams. Kids academy fees may hardly cover costs to get kids in the club to sustain better select teams.

If soccer were to run on 6 month contracts instead of 12 month ones, you really may also need to change the league structure and even promotion/relegation.  That leads to another point: Don't forget that contracts work both ways. Players and parents aren't the only ones with choices. Coaches who want to win/establish a reputation/attract better players for that team or later teams could recruit new players and replace current ones more often.

That does not sound like a recipe for good development overall.

skiberdad wrote:

Sho'Nuff wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:The power in Academy is with the customer because there is no contractual commitment.  That power shifts to the vendors in select because of the year-long contracts.

In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

I support this!

Agree

Maybe we should have restricted and unrestricted free agents too. Perhaps the big 5 can negotiate new tv contracts..

Zizou wrote:Be careful what you wish for. Shorter terms could mean higher prices. Every six months might just open up higher fees

Had them back in the day. The big clubs thought the freedom created anarchy. Duly squashed.

I believe changing squad every six months will create anarchy. July is crazy enough without adding more anarchy in December and January.

Power to the big four or power to all of us foolish parents. You make the call!

ForReal wrote:

bigtex75081 wrote:
In my opinion... If the contracts for Select were reduced from 12-months to 6-months, the customers would see a significant improvement in value, pricing and overall satisfaction.

. . . and added chaos.  

Tryout season is a beating enough, running around every night of the week to find the right coach, mix of players etc. I cannot imagine doing that ever 6 months. Also, I know most important is the development of the DD, but team chemistry helps, and this would suffer under this arrangement.

The only thing that might work is pool play within a club and that changing every 6 months. While it would disrupt player chemistry you might at least maintain some normalcy should you find a club and set of coaches you like.