Salary Cap

Vito

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What is the current salary cap in the MLS this season? And will it be removed or will it always be a part of the MLS?
 
It's a bit confusing if you ask me...

  • The salary cap will be $3.1 million per team, not counting the extra salary of designated players. Players in the first 20 roster spots will count against the cap.
  • The maximum salary for any one player is $387,500.
  • A designated player counts $387,500 against a team's cap. However, if a player joins his team in the middle of the season, the charge against the budget will be $193.750.
  • Players who are in the roster spots from 21-30 will not count against a team's cap. They will be known as off-budget players. Generation adidas players are off-budget players and not counted against the cap. Those in roster spots from 21–24 have a minimum salary of $48,500, and slots 25–30 have a minimum salary of $36,500. Additionally, those who earn the lowest possible league salary must be 24 or younger during the 2014 calendar year.
Since the 2012 season, the cap number for international designated players has depended on the players' ages. Since the 2013 season, players 20 or younger have counted $150,000 against the cap and those age 21 to 23 have counted $200,000, with older players remaining at the standard cap number ($368,750 for 2013 and $387,500 for 2014). For the purpose of determining a cap number, the player's age is determined solely by his year of birth.

Source - Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salary_cap#Major_League_Soccer

Its well understood that if the MLS wants to grow in popularity with foreign players it NEEDS to lift or raise the salary cap.
 
That's definitely a little confusing. So players 21-30 don't count towards the cap and neither do the DPs
 
Right, and I don't see why it's not the first 18 because those are the players selected for the team... don't know why the extra 2 players.
 
The salary cap is going to stay because keeping costs down is a huge selling point to attract investors. It gives them confidence that they're only going to pay so much in wages.

We should also point out that a Collective Bargaining Agreement will have to be made over the winter, so a lot of this may change depending on the demands of the Player's Union.
 
Salary cap should see a dramatic lift or reworking after this year to align with the new CBA agreement that will be agreed to with the player's union.

Also, there's something called allocation money, which teams can use to "buy down" a player's salary hit against the cap.

I know you get more allocation money for reaching champs league but not sure how else you can obtain it.
 
Right, and I don't see why it's not the first 18 because those are the players selected for the team... don't know why the extra 2 players.

It would be virtually impossible to play the entire season only ever picking the same 11+7. If tiredness or tactics don't necessitate rotating the line-ups, injuries will. Therefore it only makes sense to give more flexibility by allowing extra players in the cap.
 
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Salary cap should see a dramatic lift or reworking after this year to align with the new CBA agreement that will be agreed to with the player's union.

Also, there's something called allocation money, which teams can use to "buy down" a player's salary hit against the cap.

I know you get more allocation money for reaching champs league but not sure how else you can obtain it.
They can get it through trading with other teams. It happens a lot during the super draft. Teams can trade anything from draft picks, to players, to international roster spots and more.
 
That's definitely a little confusing. So players 21-30 don't count towards the cap and neither do the DPs
Right, and I don't see why it's not the first 18 because those are the players selected for the team... don't know why the extra 2 players.
Well actually players 21-30 don't count but DPs do, just not all of their salary. Depending on age, they can count 387,500. or less towards the cap. So without allocation and other considerations, 3 (max) DPs would count about $1.2 million towards a ~$3.1 million cap, so a big hit.
 
Right, and I don't see why it's not the first 18 because those are the players selected for the team... don't know why the extra 2 players.
It can be 18, teams can choose to have between 18 and 20 first team players that count aginst the cap
 
Any idea how much allocation NYCFC will get with expansion? I wonder if the ORL people know yet?
 
Im just glad the CBA is up after this season. Gotta raise that cap. Especially if MLS wants to stop getting embarrassed in open cup games every year.
 
I really don't think most MLS clubs care and that's the truth.

As for the cap if it goes over $4 million I will be shocked. Besides I doubt we know anything before 2015. Last new CBA got finalized the week the season started (March). So don't expect any changes that would effect Kreis/Reyna decisions before than, they will be using existing rules for most of the preseason roster selections.
 
This should be an interesting negotiation, in my opinion $5M is not out of the question given that the new TV deal tripled compared to the expiring deal. ALso, players union has quite a bit of leverage, the momentum for soccer is huge right now and the last thing that league wants is a work stoppage to slow it down
 
Considering the losses the majority of MLS owners have born over the years ($100s of millions) my guess is that the players and specifically the cap won't be the first to benefit from potential revenue increases.
 
Question: I don't know much about anything regarding MLS finances but how does it work for transfer fees aside from salary cap?
And what if a team finds a gem of a youth player that goes on to be a star and sells them for 30 million.. Do they have more money to spend?
 
If you pay a transfer fee, that fee is included in his salary cap. So almost anyone you buy will end up becoming a DP.

And if you sell a player on (Yedlin is an example), you split the proceeds with MLS.
 
If you pay a transfer fee, that fee is included in his salary cap. So almost anyone you buy will end up becoming a DP.

And if you sell a player on (Yedlin is an example), you split the proceeds with MLS.
The split currently is the club keeps $600k. Which to this point has been equitable. No player has gone on for 10s of millions yet. If the player is a academy grad, club keeps a greater amount, maybe 100%.