I said a few days ago that I would do a more in depth post concerning our recently released salaries, and here it is.
Before we get to NYCFC in earnest we need to go over the most relevant rules, as I see them. I am directly copy/pasting from the MLS. Here is the relevant link (emphasis is mine) http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/roster-rules-and-regulations
1. Salary Cap – Players occupying roster spots 1-20 count against the club’s 2015 salary budget of $3,490,000, and are referred to collectively as the club’s Senior Roster.
a. The maximum budget charge for a single player is $436,250.
b. Players occupying roster spots 21-28 do not count against the club’s salary budget.
2. Allocation Money – Each MLS club receives an annual allotment of Allocation Money. In 2015, that allotment is $150,000 per club.
3. Designated Players – In 2015, a Designated Player over the age of 23** will carry a salary budget charge of $436,250, unless the player joins his club after the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window, in which case his budget charge will be $218,125.
a. Clubs have the option of “buying down” the budget charge of a Designated Player with allocation money. The reduced charge may not be less than $150,000.
4. Waivers – A club may place a player on Waivers at any time during the regular season at which point he is made available to all other clubs. The Waiver Claiming Period shall commence on the first business day after the League delivers notice to teams and expires at 5 p.m. ET on the second business day after the Waiver Period Commencement Date.
5. Methods of Releasing Players – Clubs may waive players based on performance at any time during the MLS season. Players with guaranteed contracts will continue to have their salary budget charge applied to the club salary budget, subject to any settlement. Players on Semi-Guaranteed Contracts can be waived prior to July 1 of any year and free up the corresponding budget space. If a player on a Semi-Guaranteed Contract is waived after July 1, his salary budget charge will continue to count against the team’s salary budget. Any settlement amount will be charged to the club’s salary budget.
a. Upon loaning a player, Clubs will receive roster relief and budget space, subject to the terms of the loan.
6. Buyout of Guaranteed Contract – Clubs may have the ability to buy out one player who has a Guaranteed Contract.
Additionally, with respect to #2 we know that teams new to the league receive additional allocation money, but like so much else in MLS the exact figure is shrouded in secrecy.
Here is the good and the bad news. The good news is that we can actually cut players without having them still count against our salary cap. The bad news is that we can only cut one. Who do we cut becomes our overriding question? For that we are going to have to turn to the newly released 2015 salary figures.
Please see the picture of my excel spreadsheet detailing my allocation math.
Thus I can, with some degree of confidence state that our bonus allocation money for being a new team in the league is less than $600,000.00. Probably. If you would prefer a higher degree of specificity it is very likely between $ 530,000.00 and $590,000.00
You will notice that Josh Williams is on my list of players even though he was placed on waivers; this is because his salary still counts against our cap space. Williams’ cap hit will continue, under my reading of the MLS salary rules, until his original contract either runs out or some other team picks him up.
Additionally you will notice that I have excluded the new targeted allocation money from my calculations, which is due to two reasons. Firstly, I prefer to take the more conservative approach to my calculations. Secondly, I’m going to go ahead and pay credence to the rumors that we traded all of our targeted allocation money to the LA Galaxy for an additional international spot. And that this deal will occur for the next two years.
Where does this leave us as fans?
Well for me, I believe that the most likely person that we will both cut and use our only buyout of a guaranteed contract on is Adam Nemec. He gets no minutes and has a large amount of guaranteed compensation.
However we are ignoring the elephant in the room, the Mix Diskerud buydown. No one outside of the front office knows how that contract is structured. It could very well be a very frontloaded contract, which would allow us to keep mix for an additional year or three.
And remember next year Pirlo will no longer count against our cap at the $218,125.00 rate, his salary hit will be as big as Lampard’s and Villa’s.
On the bright side the salary cap is going to rise $244,300.00 next year if this si.com article is to be believed. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/03/06/mls-cba-deal-players-union-bob-foose-todd-dunivant This means that our increase in salary cap is almost entirely eaten by the fact that Pirlo will be playing for us all year, which I am totally ok with.
Here are my takeaways.
1. I really hope that Mix has a front loaded contract, or we are utterly screwed next year.
2. Assuming Mix has a front loaded contract, goodbye Adam Nemec.
3. Lord Kwame Watson-Sirobe, the bane of our defense, will be staying to the end of his contract terms in 2016, it is not worth it for us to release him and take a salary cap hit from that when we don’t take a salary cap hit by his staying with us.
4. The above are contingent on my ability to interpret the salary cap rules in a manner that remotely resembles the way that Don Garber interprets them.
a. This means that my numbers are probably, at best, a ballpark estimate.
PS: PM with your e-mail if you want the actual excel file.
Before we get to NYCFC in earnest we need to go over the most relevant rules, as I see them. I am directly copy/pasting from the MLS. Here is the relevant link (emphasis is mine) http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/roster-rules-and-regulations
1. Salary Cap – Players occupying roster spots 1-20 count against the club’s 2015 salary budget of $3,490,000, and are referred to collectively as the club’s Senior Roster.
a. The maximum budget charge for a single player is $436,250.
b. Players occupying roster spots 21-28 do not count against the club’s salary budget.
2. Allocation Money – Each MLS club receives an annual allotment of Allocation Money. In 2015, that allotment is $150,000 per club.
3. Designated Players – In 2015, a Designated Player over the age of 23** will carry a salary budget charge of $436,250, unless the player joins his club after the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window, in which case his budget charge will be $218,125.
a. Clubs have the option of “buying down” the budget charge of a Designated Player with allocation money. The reduced charge may not be less than $150,000.
4. Waivers – A club may place a player on Waivers at any time during the regular season at which point he is made available to all other clubs. The Waiver Claiming Period shall commence on the first business day after the League delivers notice to teams and expires at 5 p.m. ET on the second business day after the Waiver Period Commencement Date.
5. Methods of Releasing Players – Clubs may waive players based on performance at any time during the MLS season. Players with guaranteed contracts will continue to have their salary budget charge applied to the club salary budget, subject to any settlement. Players on Semi-Guaranteed Contracts can be waived prior to July 1 of any year and free up the corresponding budget space. If a player on a Semi-Guaranteed Contract is waived after July 1, his salary budget charge will continue to count against the team’s salary budget. Any settlement amount will be charged to the club’s salary budget.
a. Upon loaning a player, Clubs will receive roster relief and budget space, subject to the terms of the loan.
6. Buyout of Guaranteed Contract – Clubs may have the ability to buy out one player who has a Guaranteed Contract.
- A club may buy out one (1) player who has a Guaranteed (including a DP’s) Contract during the offseason and free up the corresponding budget space. Such a buyout is at the MLS club’s expense.
Additionally, with respect to #2 we know that teams new to the league receive additional allocation money, but like so much else in MLS the exact figure is shrouded in secrecy.
Here is the good and the bad news. The good news is that we can actually cut players without having them still count against our salary cap. The bad news is that we can only cut one. Who do we cut becomes our overriding question? For that we are going to have to turn to the newly released 2015 salary figures.
Please see the picture of my excel spreadsheet detailing my allocation math.
Thus I can, with some degree of confidence state that our bonus allocation money for being a new team in the league is less than $600,000.00. Probably. If you would prefer a higher degree of specificity it is very likely between $ 530,000.00 and $590,000.00
You will notice that Josh Williams is on my list of players even though he was placed on waivers; this is because his salary still counts against our cap space. Williams’ cap hit will continue, under my reading of the MLS salary rules, until his original contract either runs out or some other team picks him up.
Additionally you will notice that I have excluded the new targeted allocation money from my calculations, which is due to two reasons. Firstly, I prefer to take the more conservative approach to my calculations. Secondly, I’m going to go ahead and pay credence to the rumors that we traded all of our targeted allocation money to the LA Galaxy for an additional international spot. And that this deal will occur for the next two years.
Where does this leave us as fans?
Well for me, I believe that the most likely person that we will both cut and use our only buyout of a guaranteed contract on is Adam Nemec. He gets no minutes and has a large amount of guaranteed compensation.
However we are ignoring the elephant in the room, the Mix Diskerud buydown. No one outside of the front office knows how that contract is structured. It could very well be a very frontloaded contract, which would allow us to keep mix for an additional year or three.
And remember next year Pirlo will no longer count against our cap at the $218,125.00 rate, his salary hit will be as big as Lampard’s and Villa’s.
On the bright side the salary cap is going to rise $244,300.00 next year if this si.com article is to be believed. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/03/06/mls-cba-deal-players-union-bob-foose-todd-dunivant This means that our increase in salary cap is almost entirely eaten by the fact that Pirlo will be playing for us all year, which I am totally ok with.
Here are my takeaways.
1. I really hope that Mix has a front loaded contract, or we are utterly screwed next year.
2. Assuming Mix has a front loaded contract, goodbye Adam Nemec.
3. Lord Kwame Watson-Sirobe, the bane of our defense, will be staying to the end of his contract terms in 2016, it is not worth it for us to release him and take a salary cap hit from that when we don’t take a salary cap hit by his staying with us.
4. The above are contingent on my ability to interpret the salary cap rules in a manner that remotely resembles the way that Don Garber interprets them.
a. This means that my numbers are probably, at best, a ballpark estimate.
PS: PM with your e-mail if you want the actual excel file.
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