USL Premier Development League (PDL) Making its Mark in MLS
The United Soccer League’s Premier Development League, or PDL, is continuing to be one of the more successful arms of the USL. This past week the proof was in the pudding.
The number two pick in this year’s draft was Hermann Trophy winner Darlington Nagbe, who played for the Cleveland Internationals PDL team. Nagbe was chosen to play for the Portland Timbers.
Last year’s Hermann Trophy winner Teal Bunbury also played in the PDL. He spent a year with the Rochester (MN) Thunder before being chosen 4th overall in the 2010 SuperDraft. He was drafted by Sporting KC where he went on to score 5 league goals and was recently called into the senior US Men’s National Team.
Perry Kitchen was the #3 overall pick in this year’s SuperDraft. He went to DC United after spending the summer of ’10 playing for the Chicago Fire Premier PDL team.
The stories go on and on. In fact, 37 of the 54 players selected in this year’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft had spent time in the PDL. For those keeping track, that’s about 68% of all players who had PDL experience.
“Our PDL has 65 teams across the country and 8 of the first 10 draft picks in today’s MLS SuperDraft played in the PDL,” said USL President Tim Holt in a Fox Soccer Channel interview on Thursday evening after the draft. “Over seventy percent of MLS draft picks have had some PDL experiance over the last five years.”
While playing PDL is no guarantee of MLS contracts, it is a great way for college players to keep fit while playing at a high level during the summer months. The PDL not only gives college-age players a way to stay sharp while keeping their NCAA eligibility, it’s a way for high level players to get more attention from scouts. In fact over 1,600 players participated in PDL in during the 2010 summer season.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that PDL is a great way for college-age players with pro aspirations to spend their summers.
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Clearly, the USL PDL casts a unique and indirect relationship between MLS and USL. With so many MLS players having gone through the PDL ranks, it would seem clear that watching a PDL game is one that shows the up and coming professional stars of the future.
Given the relationship, it would seem natural that MLS and USL at some point work together on the MLS reserve side, as that is player development anyway, and player development is what PDL is.
It’s good to see a relatively stable situation in the PDL. I believe this league is vital to the development pro soccer in North America and personally, I would love to to see the USL focus more of their attention on it. An enhanced and expanded PDL in the long term would would greatly benefit the USL Pro by increasing the exposure of football in North America and develop players that in the future could step up into USL PRO, NASL or MLS. Who knows, we might eventually even be able to develop a truely tiered system.
It is intriguing to read articles that applaud PDL as an integral piece of the player development puzzle for North American soccer.
Certainly, players do need somewhere to play during the summer. The NCAA soccer schedule makes true professional player development virtually impossible thanks to a short fall season, too many games in a compressed schedule, no serious competition in winter/spring, etc…
Furthermore, the ridiculous restrictions that NCAA players live under to maintain their eligibility restricts their options during the summer. Where else are they going to train and compete other than in a league like PDL, which is for all intents and purposes a babysitting league, that (like NCAA) is also plagued by an overly short, highly compressed schedule (which ultimately limits training time). It does ensure that players remain active over the summer months and help players return to school with a decent level of fitness but that is about all that can be said about the league.
If NCAA programs were serious about player development, schools would be permitted to keep their teams together through the summer and entering them in a league like PDL (or in their own league). Continuity is important.
As it is right now, we have a crazy system that does not really develop players for a professional career and the fact that people try to promote these summer leagues as important parts of the north american soccer system just shows how far behind north american soccer is. Again, they are babysitting leagues. Some good players will inevitably pass through leagues like PDL or NPSL because, frankly, where else is a player going to play in the summer? a local beer league? The best college players should have the option of spending their summer in pro club environments, not playing against the same level of competition they have (more or less) in college. But of course, that is not allowed so essentially NCAA artificially limits development options, thus propping up these part time amateur leagues.
PDL is equivalent to the many summer leagues that exist to keeep college baseball players and college basketball players busy during the summer months. It is what it is but it is not professional development.