Radical idea to partially remove the salary cap

Your assuming that those of us who hate it agree with your idea that we need to break single entity or prioritize beating the worlds super clubs. We don’t.

And this is a terrible idea.

 

When the CCL itself can't even get a decent English-language TV deal in the U.S. I just don't see the league being completely restructured to prioritize "beating super clubs." Also even as a (mostly) MLS neutral I don't buy into the notion of MLS vs. everyone else. I think strong domestic rivalries will do more for the league in the long run than a drastic structure change meant to finally get an MLS club a CCL title. That title will come, maybe next year, maybe 15 years from now, and when it does I think it will mean the most to fans who already watch the league. Detractors will still find reason to keep their preference elsewhere.

 

Well, I mean, your premise is that single entity is a problem. And while it may have its downsides, I think you'll find plenty of well-reasoned people on this site and elsewhere that don't think we need to rearrange the structure of the league to validate a side competition.

I feel like progress is moving along rather well, largely because the most important differences between us and MX (coaching, tactics, bench strength, all the infrastructure parts) aren't nearly as obvious as salary. Yeah, there will come a day when a lower wage bill is what's holding us back. Right now it's not. Right now there are myriad more deficiencies being directly and intentionally addressed and solved with the league's resources. If you want to dump the hiring of talented coaches (at more than just the club level, I mean) and if you want to dump the budding academy structure and all those other things, just in favor of putting out a pricier XI, we might see results there. But a serious dip elsewhere, and an evident lack of sustainability.

Anyways. As a league, we need to put in the time climbing the international scale. We can't just buy our way to the top--teams and countries keep trying, and the few successes that have happened have done so because of an insane amount of spending. Just because we've finally sold off a few young prospects does not mean we even as far as occasionally produce a player of international note. Let's get to young Americans and Canadians and folks from other countries who come through our ranks actually making a dent in the world market, and then it might be time to build on that base and spend like crazy.

 

It’s not a “terrible idea” although I don’t know if it’s the “best idea”. The thing is there are just some hardcore supporters on this forum for perpetual mediocrity. Hell, some of the same faces would be alright if we got rid of DPs and lowered the salary cap all together. There’s no convincing those people that it would be more enjoyable to watch a more talented league.

But yes, I agree. It pisses me off that we keep getting bounced from the lowly CCL. And we’ll keep getting bounced until we can raise the overall bar on talent.

My main proposal would be to just count domestic players and u20 international signings as cap exempt players with 4 DP players who are totally cap exempt.

 

I mean, that's not what anyone on this site has ever said, at least that I've seen. I think you're just being dramatic.

There's a difference between wanting to see sustainable, meaningful changes that work with the entire infrastructure of the league and just wanting to spend more money on players.

 

Literally nobody has ever said that, but thanks for creating that straw man.

There's a small percentage of die-hard soccer fans who even care about the CCL, and a smaller percentage that care about MLS's results in it. The league grows through its domestic competition and making fundamental changes to that in order to placate that small percentage and improve our international results is a terrible idea. That's my point in this discussion. The lack of overall interest in the CCL is something a number of people in that small percentage fail to understand.

 

I’ll just wait and watch the exact same posters try to squawk at other posters into silencing them about changing the salary cap then. There’s no discourse. The conversation goes like, hey, let’s talk about the salary cap. Like clockwork, the exact same pack of posters comes on and just ridicules that person into silence.

Either;

A) you’re in favor of total removing of the salary cap to allow super clubs to emerge and the clubs who can’t pay fall behind. A total removal of parity.

B) you’re in favor of strategic and partial removal of the salary cap to provide space for teams to become better than they currently are. In this category, parity is important but it is a component for the league to success, not everything.

C) you’re in favor of keeping things the same. In this category, there’s no need to rush things, and if the league is mediocre, then it is just part of the process. Ultimately, parity is the most important thing to league success and all other factors are secondary.

D) you’re in favor of increasing the restrictions and tightening the salary cap to more radically improve parity in the league.

In other words, the exact same horde of posters who come to ridicule posters who don’t rate parity as the only factor to be considered in league success. I get it. This group is in section C. Personally, I’m in section B. And no, it’s not a “terrible idea”. It’s simply a difference of opinion.

 

I mean, I'm not one of your regular bogeymen and I didn't mention parity even a tiny bit, so really you're just annoyed at JasonMa?

 

Well, if you read what I said, I said this group is in section C.

It’s not complicated to say, make domestic and u20 international signings cap exempt. But sure, just raise the salary cap is an option too.

 

And you created a section D where none exists BECAUSE NOBODY IS SAYING THAT.

And as we discussed the first time this came up, if you exempt all DPs, ass domestics, and all u20 internationals you're essentially having a salary cap that applies to 6-9 players per team, which is no longer any sort of "cap" except in name only in an attempt to appease those of us in "section C".

You want to know why the "exact same posters" keep showing up? Because nobody is actually answering the valid points those posters make when various ideas are floated. If a system that actually addresses the valid concerns is created and achieves the goals of winning the CCL in 4 of the next 5 years/signing top European players in their prime/PR like the big 10 in Europe then great, I'm all for it. But pretending like those issues don't exist just so we can placate a small subsection of fans is stupid. If that makes me a "squawking poster" then fine, I'll gladly own that title. I mean, insulting other fans has advanced Ted and his band of P/R advocates so far than I can see why you'd want to emulate that strategy.

 

And again,... you read what you want to read. You’re not even arguing the point I made... nonetheless, as soon as anyone mentions changing the salary cap you get all up in arms.

And you going around insulting posters as soon as they mention the salary cap being modified does not make you smarter. It just means no one wants to conversate with you except your own little echo chamber.

 

Rally? Because I'm pretty sure you posted this, and nobody has said this:

But feel free to find a quote where somebody has said that and prove me wrong

While you're at it, where in this conversation have I insulted posters? I've insulted ideas, but that's not the same thing. Unlike some other people.

 

So what you really want is discussion where reality doesn't have to intrude. Fines, whatever. I don't see the point. What's the difference then between these suggestions and just saying "Hey, lets get Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Howard Schultz to buy all the EPL teams and move them to the U.S.". I mean, it has about as much of a chance of happening as these suggestions but nobody, even the Section A/B posters you refer to, would ever take that idea seriously and it would get laughed out of here by everyone. But we're supposed to just shut up and ignore equality (IMO) as laughable suggestions such as having a league with two different sets of salary cap rules?

Sure, fine, have your discussion. I'll leave. But don't pretend like you're doing anything more than importing EPL teams. Let me know when you have a legitimate suggestion that might actually work in the real world.

 

I said this group is section C, but don’t let that stop the clique.