MLS Single entity (and all other league structure talk)

I can shed a little light on that. In essence, every cost incurred by the league to acquire and maintain a players contract is included in the budget. This is why they are careful to call it a budget and not a cap, that is a very deliberate turn of phrase. They have a certain amount of money set aside per team for personnel costs. As to how much that is, my understanding is this is not a "peanut butter" fee spread across the entire roster but rather dependent on the contract because it includes: agent fees, legal fees, visa fees, transfers, ITC admin fees, and probably document fees in addition to the wage. I have no doubt there is a component that is simply "admin" that covers MLS in house legal and document costs.

In addition, the player union takes large guaranteed bonuses and amortizes those over the length of the contract when they report numbers. For example a 100k signing bonus on a 4 year deal will show as 25k increase to the guaranteed compensation line item. MLS salary budget math actually counts it when incurred so that player would hit the budget at 100k more the first year as opposed to the subsequent three.

In regard to loan and transfer fees, it is a little unclear to me how MLS counts this on the budget. They certainly allow amortization of the cost but I do not know if there is some minimum required to spread it over more than one year, if there is a max number of years, nor am I completely sure if it is actually dependent on when the league must disperse the cash (these things are usual done in payments.)

Finally, one more trick: bonus that are not guaranteed (goals scored, etc) are generally not reported by the union BUT ARE counted against the budget. They count similar to other professional leagues (namely NFL) where if it is likely to be achieved it counts current year if it is not likely it MAY count the following year based on the past season performance.

Rule of thumb, if MLS writes a check; it counts whereas the union is only reporting guaranteed money to the player (plus agent I think they added to the report).

 

The wiki pages do a nice job explaining the differences. Here is the highest level page to start at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MLS_drafts

 

That is not a draft per say. That is an allocation order. Here is the exact wording. There is also the lottery system MLS uses which is not really a draft either.

 

A whole lot of conjecture with absolutely no facts and no new news.

 

AIUI the cash call is equal for all the teams. So it doesn't really matter how much off-budget salary you have, you're paying 1/19th of the off-budget salary of the league.

The only exception is DPs, where the team signing the DP is responsible for the whole salary above $350K.

 

I've heard there is a limit for off-budget players that aren't GA or HG. I don't know what it is though.

 

I see this system evolving, especially with the statement of MLS wanting to be one of the best leagues in the world by 2022 as per Don Garber's State of the League address.

I think the system is still important today, but there will be a point when the league will outgrow single-entity. As more and more clubs turn profit or become more profitable than they are now, the owners are going to want to stop sharing their earnings.

I would also be disappointed if free agency and club contracts weren't in the league's future. If there was more of a per club salary cap based on revenue (like they're establishing with some of the euro leagues). Although that would make 'parity' (as we know it) a thing of the past, it would increase the competitiveness of the league both on and off the field.

Personally, I feel that evolution will be a necessary step at some point down the road as the league continues to grow.

 

There are non-budget players like, Generation Adidas and home grown players. Adidas pays the GA players and I imagine that there is a separate budget for the homegrowns.

 

The homegrowns the Union signed make more than the bottom 36.6k roster slots, but they are not part of the budget. I recall salaries of 60k or so. There must be some other budget that they pull those salaries from.

 

Well one of them was 16 when he signed and had to forgo college, one may have had a competing offer from a Mexican team, and a third came out of college after a year. I do not think it makes sense to sign a homegrown deal unless it's for better dollars you could get by going into the draft with or without a GA deal.

 

To try to clear some of this up:

1. The league pays all players' salaries, on-budget and off-budget (except DPs). The only thing a team does that it has to pay for is signing a DP.

In other words, a team doesn't think of an "off-budget" player as an extra expense, it thinks of him as a "free" player.

2. For homegrowns, a team can sign up to two homegrowns to Generation Adidas-style off-budget contracts. Again, the team doesn't actually pay anything; these are "free" players paid by MLS who don't count against the salary budget.

It's not entirely clear to me whether this actually is GA money being shifted from underclassmen, or whether this is a new program.

 

While it may hurt the smaller leagues, which may include MLS to some extent, I actually support withdrawing tax exempt status 100%. They are all for profit entities and should be treated as such.

 

that our league is mickey mouse.

 

What's this "our", Cosmos fan? Last time I checked you weren't in the league.

 

our top league

don't respond to me anymore.

 

I'll respond to whomever I like, especially when posters are at best distorting what's really happening and at worst are out and out wrong. That's what a forum is for. If you don't want responses go write a blog without comments.