2018 General MLS Transfer Rumors

It would be amazing for MLS, but I'll cry inside knowing we'll never get such players for NYC.

Yup, because CFG would want them to play in Manchester for a bit first first. And by the time they get here they’ll have a nagging injury from a league game which forces them to miss half the games they’re supposed to play in New York.
 
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Yup, because CFG would want them to play in Manchester for a bit first first. And by the time they get here they’ll have a nagging injury from a league game which forces them to miss half the games they’re supposed to play in New York.
AKA a Lampoon
 
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Not enough information to form an opinion, but I don’t like the optics of deleting a DP slot.

(note I haven't watched the clip in the tweet) If they are adding more TAM, then I'm not sure what the impact for this would be. Below is a list of third designated players (or sometimes 4th if a team has more than 3 making greater than $1m) that are making more than $1m.
  • Atlanta - Josef Martinez - $1.27m
  • Chicago - Aleksandar Katai - $1.14m
  • LA Galaxy - Romain Alessandrini - $1.54m
  • LA Galaxy - Zlatan - $1.5m
  • Philadelphia - Alejandro Bedoya - $1.2m
  • Seattle - Osvaldo Alonso - $1.1m (note that this still lists Dempsey as the 2nd DP at $1.1m, but also does not list Ruidiaz)
  • Toronto - Jozy Altidore - $5m
  • Toronto - Victor Vazquez - $1.365m
  • Toronto - Ager Aketxe - $1.19m (out on loan)
If the amount of TAM is increasing, then I don't think this will have a big impact. The only people this would directly affect (if nothing else changed) would be TFC with Jozy and LAG with Alessandrini. But I would expect the TAM rules would be tweaked as well.
 
(note I haven't watched the clip in the tweet) If they are adding more TAM, then I'm not sure what the impact for this would be. Below is a list of third designated players (or sometimes 4th if a team has more than 3 making greater than $1m) that are making more than $1m.
  • Atlanta - Josef Martinez - $1.27m
  • Chicago - Aleksandar Katai - $1.14m
  • LA Galaxy - Romain Alessandrini - $1.54m
  • LA Galaxy - Zlatan - $1.5m
  • Philadelphia - Alejandro Bedoya - $1.2m
  • Seattle - Osvaldo Alonso - $1.1m (note that this still lists Dempsey as the 2nd DP at $1.1m, but also does not list Ruidiaz)
  • Toronto - Jozy Altidore - $5m
  • Toronto - Victor Vazquez - $1.365m
  • Toronto - Ager Aketxe - $1.19m (out on loan)
If the amount of TAM is increasing, then I don't think this will have a big impact. The only people this would directly affect (if nothing else changed) would be TFC with Jozy and LAG with Alessandrini. But I would expect the TAM rules would be tweaked as well.
If the plan is to cap DP3 (or the equivalent of a cap) at something like 1.25/1.5 m (or even eliminate it below the threshold), and then receive an infusion of TAM to use to turn a few spots at the bottom third of your Roster to Ring or Tinney type paid players, that's likely a net gain in overall team quality. IMO, the biggest talent deficiency in MLS is the bottom tier of the starting XI - there are some pub league quality players getting starts. And the bench quality also needs substantial improvement. In MLS, bad luck and injuries are even more significant due to the lack of depth.

With that said (and as SS said), I would want to think about the reasons why MLS couldn't address my concerns without capping or eliminating DP3 (although I can guess what some of those arguments would be).
 
If the plan is to cap DP3 (or the equivalent of a cap) at something like 1.25/1.5 m (or even eliminate it below the threshold), and then receive an infusion of TAM to use to turn a few spots at the bottom third of your Roster to Ring or Tinney type paid players, that's likely a net gain in overall team quality. IMO, the biggest talent deficiency in MLS is the bottom tier of the starting XI - there are some pub league quality players getting starts. And the bench quality also needs substantial improvement. In MLS, bad luck and injuries are even more significant due to the lack of depth.

With that said (and as SS said), I would want to think about the reasons why MLS couldn't address my concerns without capping or eliminating DP3 (although I can guess what some of those arguments would be).

i like the idea someone on twitter made. Why cant we just have a solid cap. Every team gets 15 million they can use, get rid of TAM, GAM, DPs, to do what they want and call it a day. (I just picked a random dollar amount)
 
i like the idea someone on twitter made. Why cant we just have a solid cap. Every team gets 15 million they can use, get rid of TAM, GAM, DPs, to do what they want and call it a day. (I just picked a random dollar amount)
That's a fair suggestion, but I don't think it would be the best alternative for MLS. Given its tier in the soccer/sports market, I don't think MLS ever would/should discourage or cap teams from paying or overpaying the very top of the roster. For example, Miami and LA need to be able to pay whatever they are willing to pay Messi and Ronaldo respectively without having to essentially punt on the rest of their roster.
 
i like the idea someone on twitter made. Why cant we just have a solid cap. Every team gets 15 million they can use, get rid of TAM, GAM, DPs, to do what they want and call it a day. (I just picked a random dollar amount)
Well because then you completely change the landscape of the players in the league. I know you're just using $15m as an example, but that would be a lot more than most teams want to spend. So say it's set at $10m (13 teams were spending under that in May), now you have teams that are no longer bringing in players at the DP-level, because doing so would handicap your team. No way can a team contend and bring in two guys making ~$4m.

You also would end up incredibly inflating American salaries considering the international slot limit.

There are quite a few other roster implications that I haven't thought all the way through yet, but it would drastically change the MLS roster landscape, and I don't think it would do so in a good way.
 
What influence does the players union and their contract have on changes like this?
 
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