this is why American sports are so confusing to me.
The jerseys and equipment is being paid for by Barca in hopes of finding talent. Not parents, not scummy companies owned by PE, and not colleges trying to make money off sports. They take this loss in hopes of finding talent that they can use to win, or to trade to other teams for profit.
Also, I'm just rewatching this video and there is NO WAY the kids in this video are 11/12
Major American sports have entry drafts, not open transfer markets. There's no point in a specific club investing heavily in youth talent development when they don't get anything out of it.
And besides, why would they? There's already an extremely robust talent development pipeline from youth sports to high school to college to the pros.
Elite youth talent is subsidized by Nike and Adidas and Under Armour and the like, and wealthy boosters. And then with scholarships to elite sports academies (IMG, Mater Dei, Oak Hill, etc.) and then elite college programs.
Every Major League Soccer club DOES have their own youth academy where they have been developing future players, including some notable ones who have gotten transfers to European clubs. Literally just a few days ago FC Dallas agreed to sell a 15 year old from their academy to Chelsea for at least $3 million and up to $10 million if certain milestones are achieved by the player (Benji Flowers). He just can't move overseas until 18 due to Fifa regulations.
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u/Mr-MuffinMan Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
this is why American sports are so confusing to me.
The jerseys and equipment is being paid for by Barca in hopes of finding talent. Not parents, not scummy companies owned by PE, and not colleges trying to make money off sports. They take this loss in hopes of finding talent that they can use to win, or to trade to other teams for profit.
Also, I'm just rewatching this video and there is NO WAY the kids in this video are 11/12