Article from the Globe discussing this very topic.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1635195/
By MLS fiat, each team must have its own youth academy for the purpose of developing local players as a source of affordable, franchise-sustaining talent. Clubs have exclusive rights to players in a defined area and can put academy players on their “homegrown” list, preventing other teams from drafting them
For each of the three clubs, the annual academy budgets will approach seven figures, marking the biggest private investment ever made in soccer development in Canada.