Sporting KC signs 2 homegrown players. What that means for first team and academy
Sporting KC has made its first two roster acquisitions of the offseason.
The Major League Soccer club on Friday announced the signings of two 16-year-olds — Ian James and Jack Kortkamp — to homegrown contracts.
The young duo’s signings end a three-year spell without a homegrown signing to the Kansas City roster. Sporting KC signed five homegrown players ahead of the 2021 season, but only Jake Davis remains on the roster.
James (a defender) and Kortkamp (a goalkeeper) have been part of Sporting KC’s academy since age 13. They are the youngest players at their respective positions to sign an MLS contract.
How’d they get here?
James was born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and originally came up through the youth ranks there.
He was a member of the Minnesota United Academy before joining the Sporting KC Academy in 2020.
Sporting KC academy director Declan Jogi told The Star that James came in playing multiple positions, even forward. But he and the club committed to center-back and learning that position, in particular.
At 6-foot-2 and with a good pace to burn, James has the physical traits required to play the center-back position. He’d lately shown growth in putting it all together.
“He is a very committed, hard-working individual who takes feedback really well,” Jogi said.
Jogi said James’ path in soccer wasn’t always linear, and others may have had opportunities ahead of him.
“We have a saying here in the academy: ‘Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor and comes when you least expect it,’” Jogi said.
James earned that opportunity after impressing some of KC’s first-team staff. He joined Sporting for preseason training, then appeared in 10 games with SKC II. He also earned multiple call-ups to the U.S. Youth National Team this year, most recently in November with the U-17s.
Like James, Kortkamp is from the Minnesota United Academy. Born in Oakville, Ontario, he moved to Maple Grove, Minnesota, then on to Kansas City for Sporting’s academy program. As young as age 14, he occasionally joined Sporting KC for training with the first team.
“When you watch Jack from the onset, you see a mental capacity, a competitiveness in his nature, a desire to be the best,” Jogi said. “And you’ve seen that kind of magnified in our environment.”
Like James, Kortkamp took part in Sporting KC’s preseason camp early this year. His trajectory remained upward as he played for SKC II during the season’s stretch run.
Kortkamp has also represented the U.S. Youth National Team at multiple levels, joining James at the November training camp for the U-17s.
What these signings mean for the academy
Jogi became Sporting KC’s academy director in 2022. Kortkamp and James are the first academy products to sign pro contracts under his leadership.
Jogi sees this as a moment to celebrate.
“Everybody sees that moment, the announcement, the confetti, and everyone celebrates that like a birthday party,” Jogi said. “But they didn’t arrive at that moment the day before. It’s been a long time coming for those individuals, but not just for those individuals. It speaks to what we do as a club.”
Jogi and the club are committed to making sure there are more big moments ahead for both young players.
“How do you get a second contract?” Jogi said. “I’ll tell you how you get a second contract: Help the team win. That’s what we’re building. That’s the homegrowns we’re looking to sign. Not just talented players, not just players with potential to play at a pro level, but players that can help us win championships.”
The business side of things
James and Kortkamp joined the Sporting KC academy after Minnesota essentially disbanded its own academy in the summer of 2020: The Loons either furloughed or fired all but one academy staffer.
The club cited financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic as one reason. Another: The league hadn’t yet launched MLS Next — the replacement for the old U.S. Development Academy Program run by the United States Soccer Federation.
Many players went elsewhere to join academies, but a few, like James and Kortkamp, came to Sporting KC. Sporting had to pay its northern rival an undisclosed fee to acquire their homegrown rights.
Sporting KC may have felt some added urgency to sign James. He holds a Latvian passport, which would allow him to leave the KC academy for any club in Europe before he turns 18.
LAFC signed 16-year-old midfielder Bajung Darboe to a homegrown contract in June 2023 after acquiring his homegrown rights from Minnesota for $50,000 in allocation money. Minnesota wanted more for James and Kortkamp — one source told The Star their individual fees exceeded the sum LAFC paid for Darboe.
The source said the fee paid for each player’s homegrown rights was on top of a fee Sporting paid Minnesota in 2021 to keep them in the Sporting Academy. Minnesota also retains a future sell-on percentage on both players: If either transfers elsewhere — like Bajung Darboe did last month, when he signed with Bayern Munich for a reported $1.5 million — Minnesota gets a cut from that transfer fee, too.
Signing young, talented players to homegrown contracts is good business for Sporting KC. A homegrown contract means the club would be compensated should either 16-year-old eventually leave KC to play in Europe, as Gianluca Busio and Kayden Pierre did.
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 11:14 AM.