A new Loney column is up at CSA: <a href="http://66.221.11.74/columnists/loney/030130loney.shtml">If it's Tuesday - it must be Belgium...</a> I nominate it (without reading it) for best use of the world "Belgium" in a soccer column.
I hate to disagree with Dan, but I think that possible expansion of MLS in the 2004-2006 time-frame will actually help to provide more $$ and roster-spots league-wide, and thus help us to keep a few more of the league-groomed talents like Wade Barrett and Joe Cannon. It might not help a huge amount, and both of those guys were looking abroad anyway, but right now there's a shortage of roster spots and, more importantly, salary-cap space which is sending players out of MLS as fast as they come in - see the 2002 superdraft for one example. And if the expansion would provide spots for players like Wade and Joe to keep playing in MLS, then it doesn't necessarily mean that the overall quality of the league will go down as they were both allstars in 2002.
Barrett also stated numerous times that it wasn't solely about the money for him in the switch. It will be interesting to see if the cap is raised when the next expansion rolls around.
i think Dan wasn't specifically referring to the number of players MLS has but the fact that teams will constantly have to shuffle players around because they don't fit under the salary cap. Hence, the Galaxy will not be the Galaxy for long.
Of course, while MLS will likely be expanding in the next few years - lower division teams in England (and eventually the rest of Europe) are cutting their rosters much quicker due to the fallout of lower TV revenues. Does anyone think that with the onset of expansion, MLS might authorize another foreign allocation or two per team? They would still be adding opportunities for new US players simply by adding the teams. And many of those nominal first and second division players from England and elsewhere might not be snorting at MLS wages by that time (if they are desparate enough to play). Just a thought, as it would give teams a bit more flexibility to find the types of players that they need and keep the level of play high - especially if more of our mid-level US players continue to find jobs overseas. If team roster sizes were not so small now, I would not worry about a deterioration of the level of play in MLS, come expansion. But with so few players on each team, an expansion draft could make it difficult for the existing teams to stay as strong and maintain the upward trend in quality of play if they add from 4 - 6 teams, as most of us expect. The salary cap will make it likely that the expansion teams can be competitive right away - I guess that is the good news.
In 2001, the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers played in the NBA Finals. That's 20 months ago. The Lakers have eight of the 12 players that were in the finals. The Sixers have four of the 12 that were in the finals. This is not an MLS issue. This is an American sports issue. People will leave teams. If you change the MLS rules, they will leave for different reasons. Add the fact that there are dozens of places players can go and it seems trivial. Frankly, I'm pretty psyched at how little movement there was this year. More on that another time in another place. Back to the regularly scheduled worrying.
Actually, I don't expect that at all. MLS is hardly going to add a slew of teams after the Miami debacle. I only see us adding 2 more teams in the next 3-4 years. This scenario seems a little more realistic to me: 2004 - 0 new teams 2005 - 2 new teams 2006 - 0 new teams
Boy, they sure are pushing a lot of Loneylarity these days. That's twice this week that they've... What? You mean that over-the-top silliness about "Bush" forcing women into the chador WASN'T Loney? My bad.
This would be cool if they regulated it like in Serie A where you can have up to 6 non-EU players but can only have 3 on the field at any one time. This would ensure that 8 non-allocation players were on the field at all times but also improving the overall roster of team. Though, this can only happen if they increase the roster sizes to like 24 or something and increase the cap.
I agree. While the writing is up to Loney's normal exemplary standards (the guy should write some sort of soccer screenplay and sell it to Hollywood for the MLS salary cap), he seems to be pressing the panic button a bit early. Not only have very few players in absolute terms truly gone abroad, more and more qualified youth players seem to be coming through the ranks. In addition, more U.S. players seem to be returning from abroad than ever before I suspect there's enough room - and U.S. players - for everyone concerned.