I posted this idea on a thread in News & Analysis but wanted to start it's own thread about the subject. I don't know if this has already been stated in this forum (if so feel free to close this thread) but I just wanted to know your opinion. Instead of bringing over older players from Europe and paying them DP money or just under DP money, why can't we use that same money and disperse it among the young American players? Instead of letting them go overseas, we could just pay them the money that they want with the money used for the DP slot. I think this would have kept our talented young players (as long as they want to stay here to better the league) such as Eddie Johnson, Clint Dempsey, Freddy Adu Etc. here in the league and would make our league stronger. Let me know what you think.
OK, let's see what you're proposing. AEG, who are putting up around $5 million per year for Beckham, should not get Beckham but instead should spread the money around the rest of the league so they could keep Eddie Johnson, etc. Is that what you're thinking? It's hard for me even to know what to say. Isn't it obvious that AEG isn't going to spend the money unless they're the one who gets the reward? Isn't it obvious that the two big-dollar DPs (Beckham and Blanco) earn their keep by generating additional revenue and EJ won't? And finally, nothing was stopping KC, NE and RSL from spending DP money to keep Johnson, Dempsey and Adu, but they chose not to.
Wait, do you mean that you want to spread out the money from unused DP slots or just not have DP's at all and use all of that money for other guys?
I'm not saying don't get players like Beckham or Juan Pablo Angel. Heck I really like Becks and JPA. I'm saying more along the lines of the unused DP money. I just think it would be well spent on players such as the ones I noted. Or maybe when they add another DP slot (if they haven't upped the salary cap by then) keep an option open to use it as a way to disperse that money?
I dont think that would be a good idea, becasue i know every professional soccer player is to go to europe sometime in their career, money or not i doubt many players would want to stay in the MLS if they have the skill to play at a higher level.
I don't think all the players would go for more money, but I do think it would be a good start in keeping SOME of the players to at least give them the option of getting payed as much as they make in Europe and still be able to stay in this country.
So you're saying it's a waste of money to think of the future of the league? Because young talented Americans are the future of this league.
Another point I just thought of. Think of how the NBA got started and how big it is now. Surely they didn't start off so popular, and my thought is that they began with good players from America, who slowly, by the fan-base that was watching them, became household names. Once again Im not saying don't bring in talented overseas players, I'm just saying bring in young players that will make the league not only faster but still improve the quality of the league for the long run.
Unfortunately, there really isn't any "unused" DP money you can tap to allocate it to other players. Any salary paid to a DP over $400,000 comes from the team, not the league (that drops to $325,000 for the second if you have two on one team). I don't think its realistic to expect teams that don't have designated players are going to pony up their own money and give it to the league in order for MLS to disperse it to players on other teams. Beyond that, if a team doesn't have a DP, that $400,000 of salary that would have been paid by the league is still in its $2.2 million cap and is effectively being used on other players already.
The problem is there is no unused DP money. there is a salary cap and 400k can be used on a DP. So if a team doesn't have a DP they are free to spread that 400k around to the rest of the team provided they stay under the cap. In a sense, doing what you ask.
Comparing this to the NBA is not a valid argument. When the NBA started travel to other countries was done basically by ship, so Americans weren't going to go leave and go play over in Europe.
Is it? How do you know the "future of this league" isn't cheap talented players from Latin America? I'm not making an argument for or against, but I think there are many possible business models that MLS can pursue and it's far from certain that going all out to retain the Eddie Johnson's and Nate Jacqua's of the league is necessarily the best option.
Eddie Johnson was already on DP pay. Which brings up an important point. Namely, what is chitownfire talking about. Is he talking about spending more money on Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey, or is he talking about spending more on Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya. If it's the former, he's not making any sense, and if it's the latter, players of that caliber won't be missed unless MLS starts losing a hell of alot of them. I will say that the number of that class of player MLS lost this year, in an expansion year no less, is a worrying trend. Let's see if it continues after the next collective bargaining agreement. No.
Didn't Clint Dempsey want to go to Europe really bad? ONe article I read made in sound like he was really upset when NE wouldn't release him. It also made it sound like he would have taken a pay cut to see if he had what it takes to make it in Europe. I could be totally wrong though.
From what i rmember clint said that he would not come back the next season if they didnt let him go...at least thats how i remembered it.