I've seen quite often in threads that have discussions of player movement comments about 'allocations', or 'will get an allocation if player X moves', etc. Exactly what is an 'allocation'? I assume a team can use an allocation to get a player, but exactly what are the rules, what type of player, etc?
You're correct, a team can use an allocation to get a player. The specifics are still a complete mystery. Based on past transactions, it seems that there are really no set "rules" regarding what it takes to earn an allocation, nor what you can get in return for one. (Or what players require an allocation & which don't.)
Well there are rules... sort of. An allocation typically means (a) the player is too huge not to be an allocation (national team/WC star) or (b) the league will go out and pay a fairly hefty (by MLS standards) transfer fee. Over time, allocations have gotten to be worth less and less. You get an allocation for the loss of a key player or for missing the playoffs. The terms "loss" and "key player" are sort of nebulous. If MLS sells an important player, you'd expect an allocation. If they retire or decide to leave, it's a tougher call. In any event, there's not a completely clearly criteria. You can also get players through discovery picks which also come with a certain (but smaller) budget for transfers/etc. To be honest, I'd say discovery picks of the past few years have been as good as allocations.
It's something close to this. An allocation makes half of max salary or more. Maybe not exactly, but it's close to that. Max is, this year, 250,000 a year or close to it. max player is sold outside MLS=allocation given to team losing the player max player's option is not renewed=no allocation max player retires=usually not allocation (a fake retirement might get you an allocation) miss the playoffs=allocation this is not every situation, but some that we all know of. (Graziani, Nowak, Stern John, Leonel Alvarez, Earnie Stewart, Damian Alvarez, the Metrostars)
Thanks for the replies, it a little bit clearer. Now, when you have an allocation, what the hell does it get you? Is it a special draft, or does MLS just assign you a good player?
An allocation is used when the league signs a player. Teams that have allocations are then asked in order (worst record, second worst, the date in which an allocation was issued) if they want the player then there allocation is used. If no team wants to use an allocation on the player then the player is put into a "weighted lottery". If a team goes out and request the league to sign a player they can use a discovery pick on the player. No other team has a chance to steal a discovery player. The difference between an allocation and a discovery is not his salary. It is how they are acquired by the league.
And just for information's sake, the max salary is $320,000 and the minimum salary is $24,000 or $32,000, I can't remember which. (Nevertheless, its about 10% of what the minimum salary in the NFL is.)