re: Why doesn't the SEC support men's hockey?

quote:

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Fairly new? A tad over 2 decades ago my brother had a teammate go first round in the MLS draft, at 16.

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Yes. Fairly new. 2 decades ago, MLS had only ~12 teams, six rounds of the draft, and two teams didn't even draft anyone in the last round. The league didn't start until 1996. No MLS clubs had academies, and the only "southern" clubs were in Tampa, Miami, and Dallas (Miami and Tampa folded after 2001). Some players were making as little as $12k/year. There wasn't an extensive 2nd division like there is today with USL.

If your friend was a Project 40 player, there were only about 10 of them per year.