Failure Of Mls Single Entity Re Jermaine Jones

[MikeDatTiger]

A lot of articles today are coming out about how stupid it is that MLS had to do a blind draw to assign Jermaine Jones to the New England Revolution. Most of the articles are focused on the need for transparency that MLS has lacked and now needs as the public pays closer and closer attention to MLS matters. I wanted to post how I think this deal may actually break the MLS's back in terms of single-entity.

I'm going to assume that most of the reports are true and that this is what happened: Jermaine Jones was interested in coming to MLS and wanted to go to Chicago. Jermaine Jones then apparently ginned up interest from New England in order to drive the price up in order to get closer to Michael Bradley money. This worked well for Jones, until it became clear that New England weren't going away and MLS had a serious allocation problem on its hands. Then MLS (& Chicago & NER) then agree to increase the price of the contract in order for Jones to drop his demand that he go to NER.

Forgot how the Fire got screwed; look at that sequence and appreciate what an incredible job Jones's agent did. MLS's single entity structure is specifically designed and justified on the notion that MLS wants to keep costs down by preventing teams from going into bidding wars on a player. Not only does Jones's agent still make a bidding war happen that drives the price up, he then uses the bidding war & the existence of the single entity to drive the price up yet again.

You see, in this case Jones's agent figured out that an objection to the allocation process could be a chip in the bargaining process to drive up the price. And that's where this thing is going to fall apart. Even if the Fire had won the blind draw, they still would have been out a couple extra hundred thousand due to the single entity allocation rules requiring them to allocate Jones, which necessitated that extra money spent to get Jones to drop his demand and sign. MLS's cost-saving single entity structure just cost them a lot of money.

Not only did single-entity fail to prevent a bidding war, it's now a tool to drive the price up even further!

Fans want to know the rules so they can evaluate GMs and play "how can we acquire player x" mind games that drives the dead time media in every other sport. Players want to be able to sign to teams in locations they prefer for teams with playing styles/needs that suit their career goals better. Now that single-entity is actually costing teams money, it's a matter of time before it's gone.

Because don't think the agents in charge of Mix Diskerud or Jozy Altidore or any number of other players linked to MLS weren't paying attention to this.

 

[Ahab_Flanders]

You make some good points. While I doubt this will be enough to convince MLS to abandon single-entity, I think there's definitely going to be some big changes following the CBA negotiations. Hopefully all these calls will actually lead to some more transparency and stop MLS from making a fool of itself every time a big name DP comes along. Should be an interesting off-season this year.

 

[413Blue]

Single-entity can and will continue to be the cornerstone of this league's business practice, and it should be. While this JJ situation was wild, it is a perfect example of why the league needs to adjust it's allocation rules to make them more reasonable. Single-entity can and will stay.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

The owners are the league and the owners like the way things are done. It won't change if they don't want it too.

 

[MagnusPax]

I don't see the failure that you speak of. Other than Jones going to Astro-turf city and for the Krafts instead of NYCFC, mission accomplished.

 

[Kjbert]

MLS fans should be happy. The Krafts just spent money. This is a GOOD SIGN for the league overall.

 

[MikeDatTiger]

I don't see the failure that you speak of. Other than Jones going to Astro-turf city and for the Krafts instead of NYCFC, mission accomplished.

The failure is how much they had to pay to get him there. Single entity is supposed to be a tool to keep costs down whereas in this case it actually increased the cost of doing business. Before the owners and Garber liked it because of the savings; if it's going to cost them money watch how fast the minds of the owners change.

 

[Kjbert]

MikeDatTiger The single entity system, as it relates to MLS, is meant to keep costs down throughout the league, but not around the periphery. There is no limit on how large a stadium you can build. There is no limit on how much you can pay a DP or buy him for. The Salary Cap, home grown player rules and allocation system is there to help keep the majority of costs down, but what happened is actually good for the league. Two teams went out and bid for a player of consequence. The system, even if we don't agree with it, worked. He will make a lot of money, the MLS gets a player of interest and the only difference for the Revs is they have a ~$400k Salary Cap hit.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

For those that think the Jones signing was a failure by the league, how would you like to have seen it go down?

Assuming there are two teams that would both like the player and both are offering roughly the same amount of money.

It seems that the media is all upset because it was a blind draw, meaning they weren't invited. Don't you think the owners involved were there? Don't you think they were OK with how the process occurred? The owners are the league, you know, there is not a separate governing body that the owners are subject to, they make the rules.

 

[MikeDatTiger]

MikeDatTiger The single entity system, as it relates to MLS, is meant to keep costs down throughout the league, but not around the periphery. There is no limit on how large a stadium you can build. There is no limit on how much you can pay a DP or buy him for. The Salary Cap, home grown player rules and allocation system is there to help keep the majority of costs down, but what happened is actually good for the league. Two teams went out and bid for a player of consequence. The system, even if we don't agree with it, worked. He will make a lot of money, the MLS gets a player of interest and the only difference for the Revs is they have a ~$400k Salary Cap hit.

Ok, Jones coming to MLS is good. MLS having to spend more than it had to because of its own stupid rules is not.

Salary Cap is to keep costs down. DPs are a desire to balance a salary cap with the need to spend significant money on good players that help draw fans. home grown players are a desire to incentivize teams to invest in academies. the allocation system is there for parity as well as to function with the cost-"effective" Single Entity. Each rule has its own purpose.

Single Entity has always been justified by that having one entity to negotiate allows MLS to keep costs down by avoiding the bidding wars that plagued previous American soccer leagues. I don't know how you continue to justify that with a straight face after this.

 

[MikeDatTiger]

For those that think the Jones signing was a failure by the league, how would you like to have seen it go down?

Assuming there are two teams that would both like the player and both are offering roughly the same amount of money.

It seems that the media is all upset because it was a blind draw, meaning they weren't invited. Don't you think the owners involved were there? Don't you think they were OK with how the process occurred? The owners are the league, you know, there is not a separate governing body that the owners are subject to, they make the rules.

I would have liked to see Jermaine Jones sign with the club he wanted to go to: the Chicago Fire. I think it's absurd that Jones & the Fire both wanted him there but couldn't do it.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

He really wanted to go to the Galaxy, should they have gotten him?

 

[Kjbert]

If he REALLY wanted to play for Chicago, he would be playing there right now. He and his agent knew what they were doing. He played this for every last dime and that is what he is getting - from New England.

The single entity system didn't cause the league to overpay for Jermaine Jones. There was natual competition for a player. I don't understand the issue here

 

[einwindir]

If he REALLY wanted to play for Chicago, he would be playing there right now. He and his agent knew what they were doing. He played this for every last dime and that is what he is getting - from New England.

The single entity system didn't cause the league to overpay for Jermaine Jones. There was natual competition for a player. I don't understand the issue here

If anything his value was artificially inflated by by his representation reaching out to NE in the first place. Either way, isn't this how business is done? Offer - Counter Offer - Counter Offer - Deal? The only thing new here is Garber stepping in and saying "enough is enough" and choosing the "winning team".

I guess we can believe it was picked from a hat if we really want to.

 

[MikeDatTiger]

He really wanted to go to the Galaxy, should they have gotten him?

He could have gone to the Galaxy. He could have taken less money for the next two months and then done a DP deal after that.

 

[MagnusPax]

He could have gone to the Galaxy. He could have taken less money for the next two months and then done a DP deal after that.

Well then, since the money was more important then where, I guess everyone is happy.

Although the concept of a blind draw sounds funny and the haters can giggle behinds the scenes. essentially it was a toss up to decide since the single-entity structure does NOT encourage a bidding war that can happen in other leagues.