14Jan/110
Philadelphia Union: The First Round Pick Comes Out of Necessity
The Sons of Ben were out in full force at the Baltimore Convention Center for the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft on Thursday January 13th. At some points during the event, they even drowned out some of ESPN’s commentary. All of the hype lead to, for the Union, what was both a successful, and yet still a little disappointing draft. As a little background for people who don’t know, the Generation Adidas project is a joint effort between the organizations of US Soccer, MLS and Adidas, to give young players the opportunity to play at higher levels with some amount of security. If selected for the G.A. team, the player will not affect the team salary cap and they are protected from any expansion drafts. This make very tempting incentives for teams to pick up the players. To help the player even more, if their professional career does not pan out, they are given scholarship money to go back and finish school. (By signing a professional contract, a person is no longer eligible to play in the NCAA, and therefore can be awarded no athletic scholarships.) With the fifth overall pick, there were a lot of options for the team, though none discussed ...12Jan/110