Abolish the Draft

I've evolved from disliking the OPs idea to enjoying the discussion on this thread.

 

The one thing that is being done relatively under the radar are MLS teams allowing for more practices/scrimmages with local colleges as well as inviting local college players who are unaffiliated with other MLS clubs to be guest players for a set period of time. I think this is helping some teams identify players they want or help put some of those players in a USL team.

***Yes, I know this has been done for a while, but it seems like more kids are getting chances to be seen.

 

How about the MLS making a rule that who ever a team doesn’t sign from their academy by their 18th Birthday or any college player in their academy by the end of the calendar year those players automatically go into the draft pool and are ineligible to be signed to a homegrown contract.

 

Nope. You’d have to account for kids that went to college

 

And anyone not signed by the end of their college eligibility does go into the draft.

 

I hesitate to poke the sleeping bear of this dead thread, but current HG player Kort Ford has some interesting things to say about the value of the college option in this article. Now as an HG he didn't go through the draft. so its not exactly an endorsement of the draft process but it does show that there is value in college soccer still.

https://www.burgundywave.com/2018/8...1-youth-development-in-the-us-colorado-rapids

 

Yes it's a good backup option, in his case for a slow bloomer.

In other countries he'd have been cast upon the scrap heap in his teens.

 

LOL, I just stumbled across this thread. I agree with ending the draft for the reasons described in your link. I enjoyed reading Kort Ford's points about TAM. Also if a player did sign a homegrown contract and gets cut, they should be eligible to pursue playing in college.

As I discussed in another thread, big clubs can use the draft to keep smaller clubs down. Kort states that TAM is the issue, but I feel TAM itself is inherently good. Having TAM and a draft together are a problem.

For example:
>NYC and Atlanta don't need to get players through the draft, they are willing to spend.
>San Jose, Houston, etc. all have tighter budgets.
>When the draft comes around NYC can grab the most quality player on the board even if they don't need that player.
>Other teams need that player to stay competitive, but now they have to trade TAM or another player to acquire a player to benefit their team.
>Big clubs collect more TAM increasing their budget even further, smaller clubs had to concede TAM and now they have a smaller budget.

>>If college players could immediately seek free agency lower spending clubs could get players they need without having to give away TAM, etc. and preserve parity.

 

I'm not getting what you're saying here. San Jose is going to draft first and NYC is going to be near last. The draft benefits low performing teams (which tend to be low spending teams)

 

Jack Harrison was a key player for NYCFC. Julian Gressel is a lock starter for Atlanta. It's not as if these teams are picking players just to stockpile them.

 

I'm pretty sure NYCFC would have signed Harrison with or without the draft.

 

I was bringing up an abuse case that exists because the league uses TAM. I tried to make this post as concise as possible, but there is a lot to write on. I hope this sheds light on the matter, let me know if you have any questions.

Sports leagues tell us they use the draft to promote parity. but when you look at draft data, you don't really see high draft picks benefiting low performing teams. Below are the first round draft picks in the NFL from 1999 to 2018. Is there any data that shows these teams benefited from these draft picks and it created league parity?

No, it seems bottom teams stay towards the bottom. Other factors change a teams fortunes and usually involves a new GM/Coach and smart moves in free agency. Which we see in Soccer leagues around the world that don't have a draft, with the right owner and coach Manchester City was able to completely change their fortunes.

2018 Cleveland Browns
2017 Cleveland Browns
2016 Los Angeles Rams
2015 Tamba Bay Buccaneers
2014 Houston Texans
2013 Kansas City Chiefs
2012 Indianapolis Colts
2011 Carolina Panthers
2010 Los Angeles Rams
2009 Detroit Lions
2008 Miami Dolphins
2007 Oakland Raiders
2006 Houston Texans
2005 San Francisco 49ers
2004 San Diego Chargers
2003 Cinncinnati Bengals
2002 Houston Texans
2001 Atlanta Falcons
2000 Cleveland Browns
1999 Cleveland Browns

Bill Parcells frequently spoke about the lack of parity because of the situation between that "haves" and the "have nots" highlighting that if you could predict your division opponents draft board and your team is already better, you can starve them out.

Also "Hate-drafting" or "Counter-Drafting" actually happens in draft based games. It's a situational strategy, but one that can pay off if the incentives are there. In the case of MLS additional TAM can keep you ahead of other teams for multiple seasons.

 

Well here's an article that speaks about another player's experience.
https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/2018/10/2/17929384/ben-sweat-earns-first-usmnt-call-up-nycfc

If a player will benefit a team they will draft that player. But if all the players on the board won't benefit their roster, they have incentive to "Counter-Draft" and pick the best player on the board for trade/loan.

There are quality players in the draft, removing the draft would get those players more money and on teams that need them more.

 

No it wouldn't. The sad thing is that many of the players that aren't currently in MLS academies, or within their catchment territories aren't scouted all that heavily. The league actually scouts players for the Super Draft, and holds a combine prior to the draft as well where teams can scout players.

MLS teams currently don't have the scouting networks and scouting departments needed to cover the USA and the world.

 

The combine doesn't need to go, especially if MLS teams don't have the budget to produce/improve on their scouting networks. The combine is an opportunity for player exposure.

I'm just for getting rid of the draft. College players could still go to a combine to meet with coaches and scouts and then continue discussions through free agency.

 

I think as time goes on and MLS teams’ academies become more developed, Draft will be gone.

 

Or, in the case of what looks to be a draft that doesn't have many MLS ready players, they do what Philly did, and trade all of their picks for money.
Philly in this case would be, essentially, saying to phooey with the draft, saying their USL needs can be filled as well by locals and internationals. Cinci, otoh, needs bodies for camp. With, at this point, 21 players under contract, they actually have room for a bunch of college players as depth on their first team roster. The draft is mostly about the USL teams of MLS teams these days.
However, this sort of development both argues for and against the notion that abolishing the draft is in the best interests of the new player. Philly is clearly saying they don't see much in this draft in which they're interested. The all picks for $200k deal was almost certainly offered around, and set the value for a draft slate, though I would guess almost all of that would be about the first round, less about the second, less about the third and fourth.
I could really see the MLS draft being sliced to a single round in the next year or two. But would that leave the players who would have been taken in rounds 2-4 in a better situation in terms of a first contract? At least now when they turn use the draft to negotiate with a USL or overseas club, they can point to an MLS offer, even if it's not a good one.
OTOH, the OP notion of killing the draft clearly seems to be winning with clubs such as Philly.

 

That's actually a pretty good point. Most years, several drafted players don't show up to camp at all, but instead go straight to either Europe or the USL. Sometimes drafted players end up signing mid-season after trials elsewhere. Having been drafted by a MLS team gives a little bit of extra leverage, because the player can say there's someone in MLS who wants him.

 

Or, hear me out here, instead of looking at the SuperDraft as a way to find kids that have an immediate impact in MLS, teams start taking the MLB approach and looking for kids that they can start using on their USL, or USL affiliate, teams. The quality of the players coming out of the SuperDraft has always been questionable, but now MLS has something that they can do about that. Instead of trying to force the kids onto the MLS squad, they can now draft the kids they can put on their USL squads and then develop into MLS quality players.

 

I don't see why a single round would be worthwhile necessarily for the owners and the front office gurus. In the past, MLS has turned Draft Day into a big public relations event that's open to the fans and the media. Usually, there's a good turnout of supporters from the nearest MLS city - at least there were a lot of United fans there whenever the draft is held in Baltimore..

But, I could see the draft condensing to two or three rounds in the future.

 

I think it’s clear there are more MLS clubs taking your route. Philadelphia’s path is interesting though The kids won’t all be local of course but they will to a large extent come through the academy to Beth steel and then a few to philly Technical question: if an mls team drafts a player can they sign them to their USL affiliate or do they sign to mls and loan to USL?

 

Yes. Teams can do either. When a player is drafted, there is, with the exception of GA and the international players, no contract associated with it. It basically locks the player into a trial with a specific MLS team. From there a team can cut them and send them packing, cut them and sign them to a USL contract, or sign them to a MLS contract and keep them on the first team, or loan them out to their USL team.

One problem is that MLS teams don't own the MLS rights to players on their USL rosters unless they are homegrown or on loan from the MLS team. Players that are on contract with the USL team can, technically, sign with anyone once their USL contract ends. That would likely have to change if MLS were to start using the SuperDraft to stock their USL teams.