Minnman
07 Aug 2002, 01:04 PM
Nothing like a snappy thread title to help increase traffic, eh? (Sorry if this should have been in the MLS forums; I tried to delete and re-post, but BS woldn't let me).
Anyway, I've been thinking, with the long thread re: McBride's supposed annoyance at MLS for not responding to a call from Everton that, in some sense, there is a nasty flip side for MLS to the US's solid WC performance, especially when you link it with the downturn in the transfer market.
The theory goes something like this:
Despite the lack of transfers of American MLS players to Europe after the Cup, that doesn't necessarily mean that there hasn't been a lot of interest. Looks like there were real offers for DMB (at least one ... for a while). There's the McBride situation. Certainly BL want Donovan back (okay, not a transfer at all, but similar). Remember, Mathis hurt his knee, or perhaps we'd have heard more about him, too. And, to me anyway, it seems like a few Americans abroad might have seen their stock rise because of the WC (Lewis, for example).
But the low transfer market means that European clubs aren't willing to pay as much for MLS-based players as they might have otherwise. From MLS's perspective, therefore, a guy like McBride is worth more to MLS than a club like Everton is willing to pay to transfer him to the Premiership.
Makes sense, right? Why sell players below value? Well, okay, to a point. One big variable we don't hear much about it salaries.
When PNE wanted McBride (and I continue to use him as an example not because I think the rumors about his transfer are any more or less meaningful than any other US national but, well, just because) we heard from MLS (eventually) that the actual trasnfer offer wasn't anywhere near as large as PNE made it seem, it was to be spread out over time, etc. Bottom line, it seemed like MLS obviosly made the right decision to keep McBride.
Fast forward to now. We're not talking PNE anymore but Everton, a Premiership club. Why's McBride irked (if he is)? Maybe because he'd be getting paid FAR more with Everton than he ever could have with PNE; the descrepancy between MLS wages and premiership wages is far greater than it was between MLS and Div. 1 wages.
So, maybe the transfer market is off, but that doesn't mean that player salaries have necessarily plummetted to an equal degree. And this is a problem for MLS because, as we know, MLS pays players very poorly. This didn't matter much when there were almost no transfer offers, or when those offers came from smaller clubs. But it certainly could matter if the US WC run makes bigger, wealthier clubs want to buy league talent.
Questions:
- Will MLS respond to these pressures by raising the salary cap, or at least the maximum salary? We assume that MLS has ways of compensating players beyond their base MLS salaries. But it would be a whole lot simpler - and a more accurate representation of the market - if the league just paid players higher salaries.
- Will MLS players become increasing unwilling to sign long-term contracts with MLS? And, if so, does it really matter because MLS might be able to develop new stars (especially with so few clubs) faster than Europe is willing to buy them? Remember, too, that there are very real, and substantial obstacles to moving abroad: difficult to get work permits in England; roster limits on non-EU players in some countries; competition for roster spots from all manner of non-EU players (South American, African, E. Europe, Asian; I mean, we weren't the only country to have a good World Cup). In addition, there's always the fear that going abroad will kill your national team career if you end up sitting the bench.
- Will MLS agree to sell players for "below market" transfer fees in order to get some amount of compensation?
- Or will this all just blow over; as time passes European clubs will convince themselves that the US performance was a fluke, after all. Why bother with American players (okay, their keepers are solid, especially the ones with EU passports) when there are so many Argentines and Brazilians who want to play in Europe?
Anyway, I've been thinking, with the long thread re: McBride's supposed annoyance at MLS for not responding to a call from Everton that, in some sense, there is a nasty flip side for MLS to the US's solid WC performance, especially when you link it with the downturn in the transfer market.
The theory goes something like this:
Despite the lack of transfers of American MLS players to Europe after the Cup, that doesn't necessarily mean that there hasn't been a lot of interest. Looks like there were real offers for DMB (at least one ... for a while). There's the McBride situation. Certainly BL want Donovan back (okay, not a transfer at all, but similar). Remember, Mathis hurt his knee, or perhaps we'd have heard more about him, too. And, to me anyway, it seems like a few Americans abroad might have seen their stock rise because of the WC (Lewis, for example).
But the low transfer market means that European clubs aren't willing to pay as much for MLS-based players as they might have otherwise. From MLS's perspective, therefore, a guy like McBride is worth more to MLS than a club like Everton is willing to pay to transfer him to the Premiership.
Makes sense, right? Why sell players below value? Well, okay, to a point. One big variable we don't hear much about it salaries.
When PNE wanted McBride (and I continue to use him as an example not because I think the rumors about his transfer are any more or less meaningful than any other US national but, well, just because) we heard from MLS (eventually) that the actual trasnfer offer wasn't anywhere near as large as PNE made it seem, it was to be spread out over time, etc. Bottom line, it seemed like MLS obviosly made the right decision to keep McBride.
Fast forward to now. We're not talking PNE anymore but Everton, a Premiership club. Why's McBride irked (if he is)? Maybe because he'd be getting paid FAR more with Everton than he ever could have with PNE; the descrepancy between MLS wages and premiership wages is far greater than it was between MLS and Div. 1 wages.
So, maybe the transfer market is off, but that doesn't mean that player salaries have necessarily plummetted to an equal degree. And this is a problem for MLS because, as we know, MLS pays players very poorly. This didn't matter much when there were almost no transfer offers, or when those offers came from smaller clubs. But it certainly could matter if the US WC run makes bigger, wealthier clubs want to buy league talent.
Questions:
- Will MLS respond to these pressures by raising the salary cap, or at least the maximum salary? We assume that MLS has ways of compensating players beyond their base MLS salaries. But it would be a whole lot simpler - and a more accurate representation of the market - if the league just paid players higher salaries.
- Will MLS players become increasing unwilling to sign long-term contracts with MLS? And, if so, does it really matter because MLS might be able to develop new stars (especially with so few clubs) faster than Europe is willing to buy them? Remember, too, that there are very real, and substantial obstacles to moving abroad: difficult to get work permits in England; roster limits on non-EU players in some countries; competition for roster spots from all manner of non-EU players (South American, African, E. Europe, Asian; I mean, we weren't the only country to have a good World Cup). In addition, there's always the fear that going abroad will kill your national team career if you end up sitting the bench.
- Will MLS agree to sell players for "below market" transfer fees in order to get some amount of compensation?
- Or will this all just blow over; as time passes European clubs will convince themselves that the US performance was a fluke, after all. Why bother with American players (okay, their keepers are solid, especially the ones with EU passports) when there are so many Argentines and Brazilians who want to play in Europe?