Photo Darby Winter/Featured on the Philadelphia Soccer Page
According to Paul Tenorio, The Athletic (Paywall) Last week, the Major League Soccer (MLS) Board of Governors approved three changes to roster rules and regulations, scheduled to go into effect midseason this year. These change details within the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and therefore will not take effect until approved by the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA). Therefore, MLS itself has not announced it yet.
For each rule, we explain the current changes, the proposed changes, and what they mean for the Philadelphia Union.
First — DP, U-22, GAM
Typically, MLS players are signed to the league rather than their club, and are paid from the league's salary cap. We don't know how the league gets its salary cap money.
However, some MLS players will not be paid their regular salaries. A player's age at the beginning of the calendar year and roster category affect the situation.
The senior roster is paid a salary by the league. Three groups partially or completely do not. Supplemental roster players, “Designated Players” (DPs), and U-22 Initiative Players (U22s) can be paid by both the league and clubs. If applicable, use details for Philadelphia and explain in parentheses.
Since the Designated Player Rule was introduced for the Galaxy to sign David Beckham, clubs may choose to spend more on salaries than the league's budget cap. By the beginning of the 2024 season, he had four variations on the DP rule.
- A club may have two DPs. A third player over the age of 24 could be added by paying $150,000 each year into a pool, split evenly among all teams with only two players. The three older and more expensive DP teams only qualified for one U22 player. The U22 scheme is a second, more recent scheme that allows clubs to spend over the salary cap on players who were under 22 years old at the time of their first contract. For example, Atlanta has Franco Ibarra.
- In addition to the two DPs, the club may have a third DP whose salary is eligible for buyout with Target Allocation Money (TAM). “Qualified” means your salary is less than or equal to your annual maximum personal salary budget amount (which increases each year) plus $1 million. These clubs could have three U22 players. (When Alejandro Bedoya was the DP, he was acquired late in his contract by TAM, presumably to make room for another DP while avoiding the $150,000 surcharge.) Daniel Gasdag's 2023 (Salary for 2024 will be announced by the Players Association in late May)
- Clubs can field two DPs, players who will be 24 years old or younger in the 2024 calendar year, and three U22 players (Philadelphia has no U22 players, and Philadelphia's Julian Carranza turns 24 on May 22nd, so he can't continue to be a young DP after that season). )
- Clubs have two DPs, three U22 players, and can fluctuate the General Allocation Money (GAM) each year, which is above each club's annual allocation.
Unofficially, the following changes will simplify DP, U22, and GAM, leaving only two variations:
- The team has three DPs and three U22 initiative players.
- Or…the team has 2 DPs, 4 U22 players, and is paid $2 million in GAM per year.
While Tenorio did not explicitly say that the Young DP designation has been abolished, logic suggests it could have been integrated into the U22 player effort.
The changes to DP, U22, and additional GAM will not have a significant impact on the Philadelphia Union.
Typically, Philadelphia doesn't buy expensive young prospects from overseas and develop them for sale, as Atlanta United did with manager Thiago Almada, for example. (However, if Ernst Tanner has an opportunity, he will try to grab it by any means possible. To name a few, Carranza, Jose Riaco, Sanders Ngabo, Marcus Anderson, and perhaps soon) Cavan Sullivan may be mentioned).
Instead, the association's stated plan is to identify young amateur players, develop them and sell them to European development leagues. Those teams would then sell the player and the association would receive a portion of the second sale fee, as was the case with Brenden Aaronson. The same could happen to his younger brother Paxten and Mark McKenzie. Cavan Sullivan and Jack McGlynn could be the next candidates.
Second: Contract buyout
At the beginning of 2024, clubs could only buy out one contract per season, both in-season and off-season.
Once the changes come into effect, clubs will be able to buy out the two players.
Judging a player's future contribution to his new team is inaccurate (as was observed when Nik Sakivic signed Algerian goalkeeper Rais Mboli). Soon, the margin for error will be twice as large for him, so the transition from bad decisions can happen more quickly.
Philadelphia's habit of bringing in two new players to compete for one future roster spot still costs the same amount of money, but the second roster spot could open up sooner going forward. . (Jesus Bueno's former foil, Richard Odada, is technically still on the union's books until June of this year.)
Third: Increase in GAM through loans and remittances.
Under current rules, MLS teams can convert up to $1,215,506 of their transfer and loan proceeds into GAM.
Under the new system, teams can exchange up to $3 million into GAM. (According to reports last summer, Olympiakos' $7.5 million offer for Carranza would generate a GAM of $1,784 later this summer, $494 more than when originally offered.)
As economics teaches, when more money circulates without an increase in the number of goods and services produced, prices rise. For example, the increase in available GAM might just mean that an international roster slot no longer costs $50,000 in GAM. Instead, it could cost $123,000.