A million dollar winner-take-all prize will be on the line next summer in a new 7-on-7 soccer tournament.
The group that founded The Basketball Tournament about a decade ago will be running the soccer tournament. The event started as a 32-team, five-on-five tournament with a winner-take-all $500,000 prize and has since grown to 64 teams and a $1 million event that attracted top talent from all over the globe.
Soccer is being applied the same concept.
One of the two teams already set to participate will be managed by former United States international Clint Dempsey.
"This is something that promotes that and hopefully opens the door for some people to take their game to the next level and chase," said the United States' joint all-time leading scorer.
There will be 32 teams, eight groups of four teams, three group matches and a 16-team, single-elimination knockoff phase in the tournament. The field will be 65 yards in length and 45 yards in width and will be played with 18.5 foot goals. The event will take place over a four-day period in June of 2023.
"They wanted something that was going to be exciting, something that was going to be a lot of action, and something that was going to be exciting for people to watch," he said. Being close to the goal allows for more shots to be taken. I enjoy that part of the thing. You have to defend and you have to be careful with your touches.
Neither will there be draws. TST calls it "Target Score Time" and it's similar to the "Elam Ending" used in the TV show. The winner will be determined by reaching a target score, which will be one goal more than the team with the lead had at the end of regulation.
The target score after 40 minutes is eight. Whoever reaches eight first is the winner. Every five minutes until the winning goal is scored, one player from each team leaves the field.
The proposed rules for New York City have been used in a few test games.
Jon Mugar said that the idea of being open to all with very little barrier to entry gave everyone the chance to play up onto a stage with massive teams. That's what we wanted to bring to basketball in America.
It wasn't until a former University of Virginia soccer player asked if he had ever thought about using the model for soccer that things began to progress.
Mugar, a former college baseball player, is not as familiar with soccer as basketball, but in conversations with Volk, who won a national championship at Virginia and played one season in Major League Soccer, and his partners, he is aware of the sport. Chris Paul is a member of the ownership group of Major League Soccer.
The format wouldn't work from the beginning. Everyone agrees that for this type of tournament to be possible, it needs to be shorter, smaller-sided games. 7-on-7 is a format used in training and recreational activities.
Depending on when applications are received, the tournament buy-in fees can be as high as $200,000. Mugar doesn't know what to expect from the teams that will try to enter. He is expecting the need to review a list of applicants past the 32 slots and have to pick a field based on different criteria.
We want to pick the field that people most want to see. "As we look at all the teams that will apply for a 32-team, million-dollar tournament, we're definitely going to prioritize those that represent a wide cross section of the soccer world." We have seen with basketball that it's mostly a product for USA players, but with soccer we anticipate a worldwide player pool.
He wants to put together a squad of younger players to give them an opportunity to showcase their ability, so he will be holding try outs in multiple states. He initially said he wanted to manage, but didn't rule out the possibility of playing.
If there is an opportunity, I will have the cleats by me to jump in. "Dempsey said that"
Alumni teams from some of the top college basketball programs have been assembled for the Basketball Tournament.
An English professional team with a strong online presence is the other team committed to playing.
"We've experienced a lot in our 7-year history, but nothing like TST," Spencer Owen said in a statement. Being at the forefront of an exciting evolution in football/soccer that pushes boundaries in an attempt to maximize entertainment for both the player and the viewer is what we believe playing in this tournament means.
TST Enterprises has not begun a formal process to find a broadcast partner, however, that is expected to take place once it has a better idea of the caliber of the teams and individuals who will be participating.
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