Can someone explain the logic behind the expansion draft? Why does it exist? Why can't a new club source their own players without stealing them from an established club?
Well it makes a lot more sense in a league like the NBA in which the best talent is within the league. There is no way possible for a new NBA team to compete by sourcing their own players. As for the MLS, mostly its due to wanting teams in new markets to be successful from the start. Its just better for the viability of the league.
It's the way things have always been done in American sports, but I think in the case of MLS they could stand to get rid of it. On the one hand, most of the guys who go in the expansion draft are either guys paid more than they're worth, or guys who are decent backups but just aren't good enough to start. I think RSL for one was actually saddled by more problems from their expansion draft than they gained benefit from it. With all the mass expansion coming up, I think it would behoove the league to get rid of the expansion draft or to significantly change the rules to allow teams to keep the depth that they've worked so hard to build through smart moves. Perhaps if they made it so only players on the dev roster could be drafted, while allowing teams to protect one dev player. They could protect more by moving them to the senior roster. Expansion teams could get a few roster players to add some depth, without plundering the better teams in the league of their quality depth every single year. Then give expansion teams an extra SI and YI slot for their first 4 years to give them the opportunity to go out and find more players.
Because MLS requires you to field mostly american players and all the decent american players are taken.
It makes sense for a league where new teams pop into existance rather than move over from another league. It gives the new team an opportunity to have some players who know MLS and understand how to play in it. As for stealing players from other teams, the MLS expansion draft seems to mostly give the original teams an opportunity to unload underperforming marginal players and aging overpaid veterans.
Basicly it just allows new clubs to fill out their rosters with fringe players with league experiance instead of having to go out and find 28 new players. Rarley does this draft supply good players. In the past 3 expansion drafts (RSL and Chivas 2005 and TFC 2007) i think the best player selected was Jason Kreis, and he was traded right back and retired. Honestly, is there even any starters from 2005 expansion that are first 11 today?
I'll say this, it is going to bite Houston in the ass this year. It is going to punish any team with quality depth. Assuming similar rules are used to previous expansion drafts, you designate ten players not available. For Houston: 1. DeRo 2. Ching 3. Ngwenya 4. Holden 5. Mullan 6. Clark 7. Barrett 8. Eddie Robinson 9. Patrick Ianni (young, talented and cheap) Then Houston is left keeping only one player from the following list: Ryan Cochrane Corey Ashe Brad Davis Nate Jacqua Richard Mulrooney Pat Onstad Zach Wells Paul Dalglish Chris Wondolowski Ultimately, I think Houston is going to have a very difficult decision as to the final couple of spots. I think it will be much easier in that there might actually be a player or two that wants to return to San Jose. However, losing one of the above players is definitely going to hurt.
Hold on there before you get upset. Wondolowski and Ianni are developmental so they are protected. Pat Onstead is a 37 yo keeper, hardly what you want to build an expansion team around. Mulrooney is older and has been injured a lot. Do you guys really want to keep Paul Dalgish? Each team ends up only having to put up 5 or 6 players on the list. I'm sure that even Houston can find some guys they're not afraid to lose.
Because of this: 1976 NFL Expansion with a very depleted draft setup: Tampa Bay Buccaneers inaugural season: 0-14 Seattle Seahawks inaugural season: 2-12 1995 NFL Expansion with a draft designed more to actually give expansion teams a chance at winning: Carolina Panthers inaugural season: 7-9 Jacksonville Jaguars inaugural season: 6-10
Wait until the exansion draft rules come out first before you chicken little. IIRC last time dev, gen adidas players were exempt. Also if SJ does get a good Houston player...isn't that sort of justice in a sense?
Broken record time. You might be right at this point, but what about future expansion drafts? With San Jose, the league will be at 14 teams. What's the goal, 18, 20, 24? At some point these expansion drafts are going to impact the top level teams, (Houston, DC, New England, Chivas USA). This will result in overall reduced level of play and getting our asses kicked in international club competition. Promote USL teams instead. Give them a couple of extra draft picks and an extra DP slot for a few years. Let's not give the naysayers any more ammo to work with by diluting the league.
players sign contracts with MLS, not with the individual clubs. the players stay in the league, but the league resources (some players in this case) get re-allocated to better serve the company (MLS) as a whole. it's a single-entity structure. "established clubs" are generally all affected equally (if they're smart) by an expansion draft. no player is "stolen". it's the system that seems to work, and one that must be used as the league trys to grow from its humble early years.
You of course assume the future players coming to the league through college, gen adidas, and youth teams wont keep up or surpass losing 1 or 2 players per team through exansion over the years. I think this is a red herring argument. No offense.
If there's more teams in the league, then there will likely be fewer players chosen from each team. Simple math. As for promoting USL teams, I'm sure that Don Garber will be willing to promote any USL team that comes up with the $35 million expansion fee and a good stadium deal. (You do realize that MLS teams have always used the USL as a source of talent and generally can buy almost any player they want from that league?)
And there roster meets MLS standards (SI, YSI, etc), and all the players sign contracts with the league.
I think the expansion draft has always impacted top level teams. One thing I think the status quo people ("We always do it this way in America") seem to avoid addressing is the international club competition angle. Other major sports exist, basically, in a vacuum. They only have to compete against each other, so diluting the quality doesn't really hurt the best teams badly, because talent is diluted across the board. Soccer, on the other hand, is an international sport, and we are trying to raise MLS's profile internationally. So, I would like to see an expansion system that doesn't weaken the teams that we are sending out as our banner carriers. I think it's a valid question.
Two teams in one year would be tough. However, as more teams become established, it should impact the existing teams less. It the league were expanding from 16 to 18, I wouldn't see more than 1 to 2 players per team being taken in the expansion draft.
It's a valid question. But I think a lot of people come to MLS after following foreign leagues, and they expect there to be a couple of dominant teams with the rest of the league playing for an occasional upset. I don't think there's any way US fans and team owners are going to accept a system like that. After all, all our sports are set up to make sure each team has an equal shot at a title with things like the drafts and salary caps. For me, if it's a choice between having a couple of big clubs that do well in foreign competitions and having my local team be able to compete for a title--well, that's a no-brainer. As far as I'm concerned, MLS will do better in international play when the level of play increases for the league as a whole. Until then, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Never gonna happen. As the league expands, it will increase the number of foreign slots. Problem solved. And this is in addition to any improvement in the domestic pool.