Big Daddy: If you look at what CESA actually did, it was consolidate two very successful clubs into a single even more successful club. Is that difficult? Absolutely; as a merger it should probably be written up for the Harvard Business Review. But SGU and GFC were both individually dominating South Carolina soccer before CESA.
I'm not against having "super-clubs" in any area that would support them. But I think that trying to create a new club out of two or more mediocre clubs, while possibly allowing for synergy, even more allows for the perpetuation of mediocrity and begs for anarchy.
The best reason for organizations to merge is because they decide that despite their best efforts, they can meet their ambitions faster by merging than through organic growth. But of course the prerequisite is that the clubs have ambitions outstripping their current capabilities. While I see some wonderful teams out there, I don't see a lot of clubs with the ambition that might make a merger successful.
I personally (and I understand that it's very debatable) think that a simpler and more direct course is for at least one club in each area to gain that ambition and begin offering superior and unique services to recreation and select players. Until this happens, I don't see a merger doing anything for many areas beyond limiting the diversity of their "soccer ecosystem" and decreasing the odds that a local club will "catch" ambition.
