How this research was conducted, what data was collected, and how competitive tiers are defined.
I'm a Southern California soccer parent who went looking for the numbers behind the fees I was paying and couldn't find them, so I collected them. This project asks one question about the financial economics of elite youth soccer: does the investment families make in competitive and elite club programs produce proportionate returns through college scholarships or professional careers?
The research rests on a database of 5,600+ clubs, 916 MLS salaries, 490 draft picks, and a survey of SoCal families — original data collection (web scraping of club fees and league directories), plus analysis of peer-reviewed literature on youth sport economics, scholarship outcomes, and professional career trajectories.
"Do the financial returns from youth soccer investment — in the form of college scholarships or professional careers — justify the costs imposed by the competitive and elite club soccer market?"
The analysis focuses on competitive youth soccer (Tiers 2–4) in the United States. Recreational soccer (Tier 1) is excluded from ROI analysis because recreational fees are too low to constitute an investment thesis. Professional academies (Tier 5) are also treated separately because families bear no cost.
This research uses Southern California as its primary lens, with national context where data permits. SoCal coverage is the deepest in the database: club-level fee data, the SoCal Soccer League and Coast Soccer League directories, LA City parks programs, and the LA City United case study. National leagues (MLS NEXT, ECNL, GA, NPL, and others) are covered at the league level — club counts, structures, and published fee ranges. Regional feeder leagues outside Southern California vary by market and are out of scope; cost and structure findings from SoCal should transfer directionally, not precisely, to other regions.
Every cost figure and analysis in this research is tied to a competitive tier. US youth soccer is organized as a pyramid of leagues — like the English football pyramid but without formal promotion and relegation. Tiers are named here by their actual league, not by abstract labels. The key structural point: the tier applies to the team, not the club. A single club commonly fields teams across two or three tiers simultaneously — operating recreational or travel teams to fund its elite program, while its top teams compete at the national level.
| Tier | Category | League(s) | Example Clubs | Description | Club Fee/yr | All-in/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Grassroots & Recreational | AYSO (Area 1P, Section 1), US Youth Soccer Rec, MLS GO Rec Program, LA City Parks PlayLA, LA County Parks Rec, YMCA Youth Soccer, Club In-House Programs | AYSO Region 78, Region 76 Beverly Hills, Region 13 Pasadena, Region 20 Santa Monica, LAFC So Cal Youth Rec, LA Breakers Pre-Academy | Non-selective; everyone who registers makes a team. No tryouts. Coaching ranges from volunteers (AYSO, rec leagues) to paid staff (MLS GO). U6–U19. | ~$300–600 | ~$468 |
| T2 | Flight 4 | SoCal Soccer League (Flight 4 / Discovery), Coast Soccer Signature League | LA City United | Bridges recreational and competitive play. Matches within the team's community. Cal South State Cup optional. | ~$2,000–3,500 | ~$2,500–4,500 |
| Flight 3 | SoCal Soccer League (Flight 3), Coast Soccer Div 2–3 | LA City United, One Ivy FC | Matches within local city or county — travel is local, gas only, no lodging. Cal South State Cup optional. Presidents Cup eligible. | ~$2,500–4,000 | ~$3,500–5,500 | |
| Flight 2 | SoCal Soccer League (Flight 2), Coast Soccer Div 1 / Championship | LA City United, One Ivy FC, OC Surf (mid), Legends FC, Chula Vista FC | Geographically scheduled matches across SoCal. Cal South State Cup required — overnight stays add cost. Presidents Cup eligible. | ~$3,000–5,000 | ~$4,500–7,500 | |
| Flight 1 | SoCal Soccer League (Flight 1), EA2 (Elite Academy 2), Coast Soccer Premier, Pacific Conference (CRL), USL Youth | One Ivy FC (top), Autobahn SC, LA Bulls, Los Angeles SC, Pateadores, West Coast FC, SoCal Reds FC | Home & away matches across SoCal. Cal South State Cup qualifies for US Club National Cup Finals (Denver). CRL teams compete for Far West Regional Championship wildcards. Top Flight 1 teams qualify for SoCal NPL (T3). | ~$3,500–6,000 | ~$5,500–9,000+ | |
| T3 | National Bridge | SoCal NPL (National Premier Leagues) *, National 1 League (N1L) * | LA Bulls, Top SoCal Flight 1 clubs | National travel begins. SoCal NPL qualifies through Flight 1 evaluation; top finishers → NPL Finals. N1L (2026–27) merges NPL + USYS into 8 conferences; SoCal in West District. Merit-based pathway to ECNL-RL. | ~$2,500–4,500 | ~$4,000–7,000 |
| T4 | National Second Tiers & Regional Platforms | MLS NEXT Academy Division, USYS Elite 64 National League, ECNL Regional League (ECNL-RL), Elite Academy League (EAL), National Academy League (NAL), NL Club Premier 1 | SoCal Reds FC, LA Breakers FC, ALBION SC Los Angeles, ALBION SC Santa Monica, Los Angeles SC, Los Angeles Football Club, LAIFC, LA Surf LC, LA Surf Futures | National showcase platforms with strong D1 recruiting visibility and direct springboard to T5. Cross-regional travel. | ~$3,500–6,500 | ~$6,000–11,000 |
| T5 | MLS NEXT ‡ Pro Pipeline |
MLS NEXT Homegrown Division (~30 MLS pro academies + ~122 elite independents) | LA Galaxy, Los Angeles Football Club, Los Angeles Bulls Soccer Club, Los Angeles Sports Club, Los Angeles Surf, SoCal Reds FC, Strikers FC, Total Futbol Academy, San Diego FC | Pro pipeline with heavy USYNT/pro scouting. Academies fully funded. HS restricted. Training compensation risk if signing overseas. | $0–$5,000 | ~$5,000–15,000 |
| ECNL / Girls Academy / DPL † College Pipeline |
ECNL Boys (154 clubs), ECNL Girls (128 clubs), Girls Academy (103 clubs), Development Player League / DPL (Girls) | SoCal Reds FC, LA Breakers FC, San Diego Surf, Beach FC, LA Bulls | Most scouted for US college recruitment. D1–D3 coaches at showcases. USYNT ID. DPL (girls) bridges toward GA and serves as pathway into Girls Academy. | ~$2,500–4,500 | ~$6,400–9,200 |
US Soccer mandates small-sided game formats at younger ages. Roster sizes vary by format and tier; figures below represent typical competitive travel rosters used to estimate club enrollment from team counts.
| Format | Age Groups | Field Size | Typical Roster (T2) | Typical Roster (T5 ECNL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4v4 / 5v5 | U6–U7 | Small (~25×35 yd) | 6–10 | — |
| 7v7 | U8–U10 | Small-medium (~55×80 yd) | 10–12 | — |
| 9v9 | U11–U12 | Medium (~70×110 yd) | 13–16 | 16–18 |
| 11v11 | U13–U19 | Full (~75×115 yd) | 16–18 | 20–25 |
Custom Python scrapers (requests + BeautifulSoup, cloudscraper) collected club rosters from publicly accessible league websites:
| Dataset | Method | Records | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| National club directory (50 states) | ussoccerparent.com scraper | 2,537 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| Coast Soccer clubs (SoCal) | coastsoccer.us scraper | 258 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| MLS Next clubs | mlsnext.com scraper | 152 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| NPL leagues (15 of 15 complete) | GotSport API scraper | 694 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| The National League | HTML extraction | 182 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| Girls Academy | Wikipedia (verified) | 96 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| USL League Two | Wikipedia (verified) | 157 teams | Jun 2026 |
| USL W League | cloudscraper + Wikipedia | 92 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| USL League One | Wikipedia | 17 teams | Jun 2026 |
| USL Championship | Wikipedia | 25 teams | Jun 2026 |
| USL Youth | Direct site scrape | 96 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| USL Super League | gainbridgesuperleague.com | 9 teams | Jun 2026 |
| Development Player League (DPL) | playclubsoccer.org + dpleague.org | 105 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| SoCal Soccer League | GotSport direct scrape (deduplicated) | 172 clubs | Jun 2026 |
| EDP Soccer | myclubscout.com/leagues/edp-soccer | 242 clubs | Jun 2026 |
Annual club fees were collected from:
NCAA scholarship data sourced from the 2024–2025 NCAA Division I, II, and III scholarship equivalency reports. Scholarship values estimated from IPEDS average tuition data for institutions with soccer programs.
MLS salary data from the MLS Players Association (MLSPA) Spring 2026 Salary Guide (n=916 players, 31 clubs). NWSL data from the 2024 collective bargaining agreement. USL salary estimates from industry reporting.
I distribute an anonymous survey to parents of youth soccer players to capture actual annual spending by line item (club fees, private coaching, travel, equipment, tournaments), time investment, and household income bracket. Club names are collected for verification but never published; respondents are identified by area and league only. Responses are used for directional validation only, not as primary statistics.
| Limitation | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| ECNL club roster not publicly scrapeable | Cannot enumerate all 279 ECNL clubs | Counts from Wikipedia; cost estimates from club websites |
| Fee data collected from websites (not invoices) | Actual fees may differ; some fees hidden behind logins | Multiple sources cross-referenced; ranges reported |
| Survey sample size (n=12, June 2026) | Self-selected sample may skew toward higher spenders | Survey data used for validation only, not primary statistics |
| Scholarship probability estimates | No tier-specific scholarship rate data exists publicly | Estimates derived from academic literature + NCAA total data |
| Career cost assumptions (years active per tier) | Actual career lengths vary by family | Low/mid/high ranges reported; Monte Carlo captures uncertainty |
| USL Academy data inaccessible (JS-rendered) | Youth development affiliate teams not in club index | USL professional clubs serve as proxies |
This research compiled a national database of youth soccer clubs, leagues, and programs as a byproduct of the fee collection process. The master index contains 5,600+ club records from 17 data sources covering all 50 states.
| League / Source | Tier | Records |
|---|---|---|
| National Directory (ussoccerparent.com) | All tiers | 2,537 |
| NPL leagues (15 of 15 complete) | T2 | 694 |
| EDP Soccer (NJ/PA/MD/CT/NY) | T2 | 242 |
| The National League | T2 | 182 |
| SoCal Soccer League | T2 | 172 |
| USL League Two | T2–T3 | 157 |
| MLS NEXT Homegrown Division | T5 | 152 |
| MLS NEXT Academy Division | T4 | 229 |
| Elite Academy League (EAL) | T4 | 122 |
| National Academy League (NAL) | T4 | 110 |
| USYS Elite 64 Regional League | T4 | 113 |
| Coast Soccer (SoCal) | T2 | 258 |
| SoCal NPL | T3 | 108 |
| ECNL Boys | T5 | 153 |
| Girls Academy | T5 | 96 |
| Development Player League (DPL) | T5 | 105 |
| USL Youth | T3 | 96 |
| USL W League | T2–T3 | 92 |
| USL Championship | PRO | 25 |
| USL League One | PRO | 17 |
| USL Super League | PRO | 9 |
| TOTAL | — | 5,600+ |
The full database is available at data/clubs_raw.csv in the
project repository. ECNL clubs (~279) are not included due to data access limitations.