Who controls American youth soccer—and what happens when the organizations fighting for control want different things?
In Episode 1 of The Forge Channel, Kristopher Miller sits down with Nate Shotts, Executive Director and CEO of the Colorado Soccer Association, for a direct conversation about the power struggle reshaping the youth game.
Nate has spent nearly three decades inside Colorado soccer. He joined the state association in 1997 as Technical Director, overseeing player development, the Olympic Development Program and coaching education. He also served as CEO of the Region IV ODP program before moving into his current leadership role at Colorado Soccer.
After more than 20 years leading the organization, Nate has watched the American youth system expand, fragment and begin another major transition. His contributions to the game have earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Colorado Soccer Hall of Fame.
Few people are better positioned to explain what is happening between U.S. Soccer, U.S. Youth Soccer, state associations, MLS NEXT, Girls Academy, US Club Soccer and the growing number of leagues competing for players, clubs and influence.
This conversation addresses the questions that usually get buried underneath announcements and press releases:
Why does youth soccer remain so fragmented?
Can U.S. Soccer bring the system together?
What prevents MLS NEXT, Girls Academy and other major platforms from moving in the same direction?
Nate’s blunt answer: power, control and money.
The conversation also examines Colorado’s role in N1 and whether the league can create a more accessible pathway for smaller clubs, isolated communities and strong individual teams that have traditionally found themselves locked outside the major national platforms.
Could N1 become a first step toward a genuinely vertical youth soccer pyramid?
Could teams eventually earn promotion based on performance?
And should one exceptional team be allowed to move up even when the rest of its club is average?
That distinction matters. A team-based system rewards what players and coaches accomplish on the field. A club-based system can make access depend on organizational size, reputation, geography and the strength of unrelated age groups.
Nate also discusses the realities of operating a league across Colorado, Wyoming and surrounding states, including travel costs, event consolidation, geography and the challenge of giving families meaningful competition without forcing them to spend thousands of dollars chasing games across the country.
This is a conversation about who holds power, who gets access and whether American youth soccer can build a competitive structure that rewards performance instead of protecting closed systems.
Topics include:
• The proposed integration of U.S. Youth Soccer into U.S. Soccer
• League consolidation and continued fragmentation
• MLS NEXT, Girls Academy and institutional control
• Power, money and competition between platforms
• Colorado’s role in the National 1 League
• Opportunities for smaller clubs and communities
• Team-based promotion and relegation
• Travel costs and geographic challenges
• The changing role of state associations
• What clubs can do to help N1 succeed
Watch the full conversation and tell us what you think:
Should competitive placement belong to entire clubs—or should individual teams earn the right to move up?
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