US looks at eliminating pay-to-play after World Cup that fundamentally changed its soccer outlook

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga.— U.S.

Soccer’s answer to the problems of the pay-to-play system is not to reform it, but to tear it down entirely.“We are not seeking to make the current system more affordable,” federation COO Dan Helfrich said Thursday.“We’re trying to create a new system that then we make highly affordable.

It’s a really important distinction.”Functionally, such a thing would be a massive undertaking and would meet significant opposition from stakeholders who benefit financially from the current system (and who would certainly note that U.S.Soccer would stand to benefit financially from a new system).Pay-to-play, which refers to massive club fees and travel costs associated with youth soccer in the United States — features that don’t exist in most other countries, where the sport is subsidized, largely by the government — has come into the spotlight since the U.S.

men’s national team was eliminated in the World Cup as one of the main reasons why the country’s talent development is not at the level it should be.The system exists, in varying forms, with all youth sports, but with soccer it seems to exacerbate issues that are already there because the talent pipeline is generally not as robust as, for example, basketball.“From outside, I felt that people from a poor background had no access to the game,” said Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who now works as FIFA’s chief of global football development.“That is quite a bit part of the population that usually in Europe, the best football players come from poor backgrounds.

We want maybe a job to do as well to make it possible and available for everybody and after to be consistent because it’s not a short-term fix.”Helfrich and Wenger, as well as USSF CEO JT Batson, spoke Thursday to a small group of reporters that included The Post at U.S.Soccer’s headquarters outside of Atlanta.

The conversation focused largely on how the federation can continue growing the spor...