The draft is absolutely part of the legacy of the original MLS and it is 100% geared towards NCAA/US players. Canadian University players are not even eligible for the draft, which the Canadian clubs should be demanding they change.
In the old days there were no MLS acadmies, so yes NCAA was viewed as the development system of US players. The Generation Adidas program was supposed to identify top young US talent and get them into a professional environment sooner by guaranteeing them a decent salary (100K+). To be eligible the players need to be underclassmen (Freshman, Sophmore, Junior), or in the case of a Kekutah Manneh straight out of high school. It was interesting this year to see a lot of the players the league approached to be part of the program simply refused and preferred to stay in school longer. I think that had a lot to do with the upcoming CBA that is scheduled to be re-negotiated.
I suspect within the next 5 years we will see the elimination of the draft.
In the old days there were no MLS acadmies, so yes NCAA was viewed as the development system of US players. The Generation Adidas program was supposed to identify top young US talent and get them into a professional environment sooner by guaranteeing them a decent salary (100K+). To be eligible the players need to be underclassmen (Freshman, Sophmore, Junior), or in the case of a Kekutah Manneh straight out of high school. It was interesting this year to see a lot of the players the league approached to be part of the program simply refused and preferred to stay in school longer. I think that had a lot to do with the upcoming CBA that is scheduled to be re-negotiated.
I suspect within the next 5 years we will see the elimination of the draft.