Gerald Bealieu

Husband, father of two, hockey player, golfer, and Boston sports fan.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@pfwpaul @ezlazar

Last one, but also good.

[Sam Mahmood @TheSammahmood_]

The U.S. soccer federation is a poor return on invested capital.

I played soccer for 20+ years.

Grassroots.
Academy.
D1 college.
Pursued professionally after.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud:

The US soccer infrastructure is broken.

In America, we treat playing D1 soccer like it is the peak achievement.

For most families, clubs, coaches, and players, the entire youth soccer machine is built around one goal:

Get recruited.
Get a scholarship.
Play college soccer.

But if the objective is to produce world-class players, D1 soccer is a terrible development path.

From 18-22, some of the most important technical development years of your career, you are preparing for a 3-4 month season built largely around athleticism, direct play, set pieces, fitness, and survival.

Now compare that to an 18-year-old in Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Italy, England, or France.

That player has likely been in a professional environment for years.

Training daily.
Playing meaningful matches year-round.
Competing against grown professionals.
Getting thousands more touches.
Learning how to solve the game under pressure.

The gap is massive.

And it shows.

American players are usually athletic.
They are usually fit.
They usually compete hard.

But at the highest levels, that is not enough.

The biggest difference is technical comfort.

We do not move the ball like Spain.
We do not combine like Argentina.
We do not play with the same fluidity, rhythm, and confidence you see from countries where the game is embedded into the culture from childhood.

That comes down to volume.

Volume of touches.
Volume of street soccer.
Volume of futsal.
Volume of unstructured play.
Volume of high-level training environments.
Volume of meaningful games.

In the US, youth soccer is expensive, overly organized, overly coached, tournament-driven, and too often built around winning games at 13 instead of developing players for 23.

Parents spend thousands.
Clubs charge thousands.
Travel teams fly all over the country.
Showcases become the product.
Recruiting becomes the scoreboard.

But the return on invested capital is poor.

We probably spend more money on youth soccer than almost any country in the world, yet the technical output does not match the investment.

That is a broken operating model.

And like any business, if the output is weak, you do not blame the customer.

You inspect the system.

The US has talent.
The US has athletes.
The US has money.
The US has facilities.

But the foundation is wrong.

We built a pay-to-play, college-recruiting machine and confused it for a world-class player development system.

Those are not the same thing.

Until we fix the grassroots layer, increase meaningful touches, make development less dependent on family income, and stop treating college soccer as the top of the mountain, the US will keep underperforming relative to its resources.

I’m not saying this to trash US Soccer.

I’m saying it because I lived it.

And if we actually want to become a powerhouse, we have to be honest about the infrastructure first.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@pfwpaul @ezlazar

Good commentary on the topic.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

Interesting list @pfwpaul @ezlazar @MikeDussault19

[Warren Sharp @SharpFootball]

most expensive WR rooms in 2026:

1. CIN - $63.5M
2. BUF - $59.4M
3. DAL - $56.7M
4. TB - $56.3M
5. MIN - $48.4M
6. DET - $44.8M
7. HOU - $43.8M
8. NE - $43.4M
9. ATL - $42.9M
10. LAR - $40.8M
11. IND - $39.7M
12. PHI - $39.5M
13. PIT - $38.2M
14. JAX - $33.3M
15. TEN - $31.9M
16. NYG - $31.7M
17. NO - $26.7M
18. SF - $26.2M
19. SEA - $25.8M
20. WAS - $24.6M
21. DEN - $24M
22. ARI - $23.8M
23. GB - $20.5M
24. CLE - $20.3M
25. NYJ - $17.7M
26. MIA - $16.8M
27. CAR - $15.8M
28. LAC - $14.1M
29. BAL - $13.9M
30. CHI - $12.5M
31. LV - $11.1M
32. KC - $9.9M

*based on total cap hit

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@MikeReiss I think it was always a 1 year deal unless he went crazy. Reminds me of Revis contract. Hired gun. Thanks and good luck!

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@nflrefstats1 Could have very easily been intercepted after it bounced off his chest. They would have given the ball to Baltimore! Have to make that call.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@BenVolin If they lose to fins, then they are not ready to be a playoff team.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@Dataracer117 @Rhaenyra Bingo! Same for the war with the white walkers. Essentially one episode. I’m thinking at least 2.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@Chandra52834251 @John_Zannis Look at 2005 playoff loss to the Broncos. This was after winning 3 super bowls. Three fumbles and 2 Brady interceptions.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@JumboHart @DanKelley66 I still think the offense looks much better than last year. But I agree, mistakes are mistakes in any regimen.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@SavageSports_ Put him on IR! Comes back in 4 weeks

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@MikeReiss Wouldn’t it make sense to put him on IR and remove the distraction? He can come back in 4 weeks.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@SavageSports_ Put him on IR so it’s no longer a distraction. Bring him back later in the season.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@bostoncream @FuckMiami1 For improving yes. Over 50% new players and a new staff. Let see how they look after 5 games.

[GSA @USGSA]

The @USGSA & @ServiceNow OneGov agreement powers AI-first modernization—boosting efficiency by up to 30% & unlocking taxpayer savings w/ discounts up to 70% on AI service upgrades, & streamlining ops for smarter services across gov’t.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@SavageSports_ Similar to Lawyer Milloy being cut?

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@80kft Remember Lawyer Milloy?

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@golfcourses101 Every time I play golf.

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

Positioned for the future!

[Bill McDermott @BillRMcDermott]

In the city that never sleeps ServiceNow never stops Dreaming💚🏙️
Couldn’t be more proud of what we have accomplished - our results speak to our elite-level execution but the one thing you can never measure on an earnings call is the size of our HEART.
This was on full display at SNL. Not Saturday Night Live.. even better: ServiceNow Live!! Every quarter we come together as one to reflect on our past, celebrate our wins and dream BIG for the future. From David Spade opening the event with our very own Fred Luddy to the incredible talent of Joy Woods serenading the Team.. SNL is always unforgettable!
It’s moments like these that bring us shoulder to shoulder. We show up hungry and humble. We win as a team. We WOW our customers. This spirit is what makes ServiceNow One of One! It fuels our mission to Put AI to Work for People.
We have the best platform, the best customers, the best ecosystem and the best TEAM!!
Together we WILL become the AI DESCO21C! 🚀

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

Does this change your thoughts on how good San Francisco drafts @Fred_Kirsch @ezlazar @pfwpaul @MikeDussault19

[Brett Kollmann @BrettKollmann]

Not gonna lie, it’s kind of a miracle that nobody got fired

[Gerald Bealieu @Geraldbeaulieu]

@sonofearle @SavageSports_ Took the words right out of my mouth. Also, the lineup should also include the next set of packages. Do they scare anyone when a 3rd or 4th WR comes on the field for a 3rd and 8 play? I would say no. Getting close, but still lack depth IMHO.