With the news of the new Adidas contract, it is highly likely that salary budgets will increase league wide. There are limited ways to use this money though due to the league roster rules, and just general player pool limitations. What I see is that there are a very limited amount of ways for teams to upgrade their roster with American players since most decent American players already play here. There are some out in the international leagues that could get picked up, but not many. So, while the American's stateside will get a pay increase, I wont expect it to be much, and as they are already here... it wont impact the talent of the league. This leads me to think the best way to get a big bang for your buck is to go for upgrading international players, and holding on to top academy players. RSL has (2?) less international slots than the rest of the league, meaning we have a more limited opportunity to take advantage of the cash injections. It will also mean trying to bring back guys like Brooks Lennon might have more value than it might to another team. Current Internationals: Jose Hernandez, Omar Holness, Sunday Stephen, Demar Philips, Joao Plata, Albert Rusnak, Jefferson Savarino and Marcelo Silva. That is 8, which seems higher than I expected, I also didn't realize that Mulholland was a US National now, but I think I remember that happening vaguely. So, which Internationals are likely on the chopping block to make room for upgrades? My guess is Holness and Philips. Hernandez, Sunny and Silva will be on the fence. All will need to prove themselves the rest of this season. Hernandez has upside, but does he have enough? Sunny can be worth keeping, but he started this year horribly. Silva is new, and has an OK track record for MLS before the money. But he might get pinched out if he doesn't show really well to end the season. Just my thoughts, what are your guys takes on the potential impact to RSL with the money that will likely be coming in?
yes but those all come with specific rules and aren't applied across the board. They focus on individual players, typically DP's, in order to add more of the same (DP's) in the short term. The Adidas money isn't going to raise all the players salaries. It's going to allow the introduction of more expensive ones to come in without having to chop out what you have. That's what TAM/GAM are all about. Adding more top end talent without having to get rid of what you have already. So who on the roster is at risk? Yura especially. Savarino looks like someone we could actually keep. I suppose with this money you could look at guys in the 100-200 range and say they're now more expendable.
Further, only a shitty GM goes "your market value was X, but with this new money suddenly it's X+Y". That's just not how this (should) work. Garth touched on this a few times while here. He had current players holding out on contracts while the CBA was being negotiated. He found that moronic on their end. Dude, if I can suddenly afford to pay your spot 50K more, I'm not just giving you that 50K. I'm looking at what players were valued at 50K more than you
Exactly. So as I stated, the American players will likely stay as is, and there aren't any other American's to replace them with. Instead we will be looking to upgrade international guys. I think Rusnak and Sava are completely safe as they are well worth their contracts and aren't low hanging international fruit. Others though will be easily upgraded. For example Philips and Holness. We can put more money into better players than those 2 pretty easily. Yura's contract ends this season right? So I am sure they just let him walk at this point and we free up that for next season.
Holness is GA. Once that goes away, he's gone. Phillips, based purely on age, should be gone as well. I think you're using the Adidas money to justify roster moves. That's not needed. This club should have an overhaul next season no matter the situation. We'll just have more money to use if done properly.
Player salaries will rise regardless of the Adidas deal. Every time there's a new CBA, you can expect everyone to make a little more, especially since we're not at NHL/NBA levels of salary caps. At some point, sure, player salaries will settle once we get to those levels, but we're a long way off from that. As far as our current roster goes, we should be moving players regardless of any deals. Always look to improve.
Some allocation money was exempt from the CBA, so expect it to raise substantially; enough for each team to get a couple of $300-500K guys or one for twice that, effective in the off-season. After the steady annual increases built into the current salary structure, expect a significant boost in the next CBA, but not so much it wipes out the inexpensive American. But most of the Adidas money will (and should) go into development.