Major League Soccer has produced some talented young stars in recent years. Take one good look at this year's NXGN list and you'll see three.
There's former FC Dallas star Ricardo Pepi, RB Leipzig-bound Caden Clark and Chicago Fire starlet Gabriel Slonina.
But, in a country as vast as the United States, identifying and nurturing talent is hard. Really hard.
So, the goal is to cast as wide a net as possible, to not place faith in the few but rather the many.
The hope is that, if you give more players an opportunity, you'll find more players ready to take advantage of it.
Some will be early risers, some later bloomers, but all need a chance. You have to find ways to find the next Pepi while acknowledging that the next Pepi may develop in a different way.
And that's where Ali Curtis' work begins as MLS' next talent development initiative kickstarts this weekend.
The former Red Bulls and Toronto FC GM has been named Sr. Vice President of Competition and Operations for MLS Next Pro, a new lower-division league aiming to extend MLS' reach while taking development to a whole new level.
MLS Next Pro begins play on Friday as St. Louis 2, the second team of MLS' next expansion side, will take on Rochester NY FC, the league's lone independent team owned by Leicester star Jamie Vardy.
The league's purpose? To widen that net further than ever before, and not just with players.
"When you think about where we are now and where we hope to be in five years and 15 and 20 and 25 years, it's about everything," Curtis tells GOAL.
"It's about our fans, our people, which are our players, our ownership groups, our coaches, our administrators, and how we can be in a significantly more advanced position, and what that looks like.
"It's exciting because this is a real thing and this is a real league that we truly believe will help, will be good for the game and will transform the game, and we're going to do this thing right."
That game begins a season that will see the league's 21 clubs each play 24 matches, culminating in an eight-team playoff.
In a league-stressing competition, there are some different rules as games will not end in a tie but rather in penalty shootouts.
More teams are set to enter the league in the years to come, but the goals remain the same: widen the net.
The first way to do that is to help connect the pathway from the youth level to MLS, giving talented academy stars a place to play before taking the leap to the first division.
This isn't a youth league, but a competitive professional competition with players in a variety of situations.
MLS Next Pro isn't the first of its kind.
The old MLS reserve league, which ran from 2005-14 was never quite taken seriously. The partnership with the USL, which saw many clubs field second teams in the independent league, was helpful, but there were clearly different aims as independent teams competing against MLS reserves.
This league is designed to simplify the process, to provide a bridge and pathway from the youth level straight to MLS without too many twists and turns.
It also aims to take the good things that came from the USL partnership, such as the stakes, the fans and the level of play, while leaving behind the emphatic lack of caring that went with the old MLS reserve league.
Because this experience for young players is invaluable, Curtis says. For many players, the ages of 16-22 are vital years of development and, all too often, those players are left in limbo during those years as they age out of the academy while not quite being ready for MLS.
Some, like Pepi for example, thrived, spending some time in the second division in the USL before moving to FC Dallas. But not every player is Pepi. Some, Curtis points out, take a different path.
The former New York Red Bulls GM points to Aaron Long, a member of the USMNT that was once cast off by the Portland Timbers. He developed at Red Bulls II, a true late bloomer that made his USMNT debut just before his 26th birthday.
Some clubs will use MLS Next Pro as a place to blood young players. Others may use it more to find the next late bloomer like Long. None of that matters, as long as it gives players a place to play.
"Every club is a bit of a tribe," Curtis says, "and it is really important, in those tribes, to have different ways of operating because they come from different cultures, different parts of the U.S. and Canada, which is really cool.
"They have different colors and a different crest and so you have these different tribes that are all working both with each other and for each other but also against each other and competing.
"I think that's important if we are to be the best version of ourselves collectively in terms of what we're doing for the game and the sport of soccer."
Curtis is right: the U.S. and Canada are countries made up of different cultures and styles. And Curtis says that one of the league's other big goals is to make sure different cultures are represented in ways they haven't been in the past.
For years, minority communities have traditionally been underrepresented in American soccer. From players to coaches to leadership, there have been distinct disconnects.
"I'm a black guy, so it's not just about business, it's personal," Curtis says. "I was the first black GM in Major League Soccer in late 2014, going into the 2015 season, which is, It's remarkable when I say it out loud, to be honest with you."
The introduction of MLS Next Pro opens up hundreds of new roster spots for players from underserved communities to compete at a high level. It also opens up dozens of new coaching jobs.
Of the league's 21 head coaches, five are black, and Curtis stressed that the league doesn't even yet have a diversity policy in place.
There's still work to be done, he says, but the league's aim of reaching communities that have long been underserved is just beginning.
"These are future leaders of the game," he said. "I've been involved in soccer my entire life. I've played soccer at pretty much every level and I've never had a black head coach.
"It's amazing to think about these things and then when you say them out loud, they even take a different shape.
"We have such an opportunity and we have, the way I view it, such a responsibility, and I'm excited at everything that we can do with it.
"My goodness, when you think about the next three and a half years and what we can achieve leading up to the World Cup and then what we can achieve moving forward, we can transform the game and we have to be believers and think big, not just about what we're doing for this league, but what we're doing for the game in North America and what we're doing for the game globally."
MLS is just starting to be a real player in the global game, with players like Pepi serving as perfect examples of what talent development in America could look like.
Pepi was a Mexican-American kid that grew up with FC Dallas, emerging as a star before making his way to Europe for millions.
The goal now is to find the next Pepi, the next Clark, the next Slonina, the next star. What part will MLS Next Pro play in that?
It remains to be seen, but Curtis believes that there's a reason for optimism in American soccer's push to find the next group of stars.
"We will have an impact," he says. "I'm convinced of it and we wake up every day and work towards it."