When it comes to developing young talent, soccer is the sport that has always placed a heavy premium on investing on facilities, time, and having a developmental program which could help bring out the best from their players.

In Europe, this has been the norm for club teams, where kids of all ages train in their academies, with the hopes of making it to their senior team someday. Now, FC Dallas of Major League Soccer is following suit, and has begun to incorporate the youth academy model of some of the most successful teams in the world.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has noticed the steps the MLS team is doing, and acknowledged them for it. He also said, via Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer, that he hopes it can also happen in basketball, by removing the AAU system and replacing it with soccer’s system instead.

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“I think [FC Dallas] is doing it right. That is our future. We have to get AAU out of the mix,” Cuban said via email.

“I have been pushing for it for 10 years, but the NBA hadn’t come around to it yet. The idea is to get kids and families excited about basketball and the Mavs, and to help kids of all skill levels get better training without some of the extraneous interference.”

It may sound easy to put in place, but it’s definitely not that simple. Huge amounts of money will need to be invested first, and it will take a number of experienced coaches and staff members to run an academy.

For now, Mark Cuban could only feel envious of what FC Dallas has done, but his intentions may also turn to reality if he studies the model well.