Salary Cap in 2012 - 2.81 Million

The cap is suppose to go up a certain % every year based on the CBA. The % is small if memory serves, something like 5%.


Does anyone know of a link the tracks how much allocation money each team has at its disposal? That plus the salary cap give a more complete picture of how much each team has to spend.

 

Yeah...it goes up 5% every year

 

That specific figure for each team is undisclosed. The best you can hope for is some sort of digging by the team's beat writer to come up with an educated estimate.

 

well according to the CBA that the player's union site keeps as a resource for the players the ... oh, wait ... yeah nevermind ... the CBA they have is still the one that expired in 2010.

way to to MLS and MLSPA ... keeping the public and the players up to date as possible!!!

 

From MLSsoccer.com:

NOTE: To protect the interests of MLS and its clubs during discussions with prospective players or clubs in other leagues, amounts of allocation money held by each club will not be shared publicly. (Similarly, most clubs in other countries do not announce the amount of money they plan to spend during a given transfer window.)

 

Waiting for that 2014 number (that's right, right?). Hoping for well north (or just a little) of $5M.

Yes, I can hope.

 

I would expect something like that. Seems reasonable. That would put the average salary (w/o DPs) at $250K. With those kinds of numbers, they would probably have to raise the max individual salary.

 

Please explain your reasoning as to how that "seems reasonable".

Given the history of the Salary Cap in MLS, having it double in roughly 3 years time is so completely beyond anything we seem, I'm going to insist that you show your work.

And short of just giving the exiting players huge raises, I'm not sure where teams would spend that money. There aren't hordes of Yanks Abroad (or Canucks Abroad) that would be noticeable upgrades to the Americans currently getting playing time in MLS to justify that much of a jump in the Salary Cap.

And given the fact that MLS is still likely not break-even, adding $30-40 million to the payroll for no real return in attendance/ratings/merchandising doesn't sound particularly "reasonable" to me.

 

This $5 million cap makes no sense in 2014.

Perhaps you guys are off by a year? The current CBA runs through the 2014 season (along with all current tv contracts).

If you are hoping for some massive change in the salary cap like growing to 5 million, it won't happen until 2015 at the earliest and only if MLS does very well with the new tv contracts.

The salary cap should look like this until the end of the CBA

2012: $2.81M
2013: $2.95M
2014: $3.1M

 

Isn't the 5% increase the minimum? They could increase it more if they wanted.

Some people are just more optimistic than others.

It all depends on the new TV deals that get worked out. Look at the new TV deal the Galaxy got for their local coverage.

So while I personally don't think it is reasonable, I wouldn't be that surprised if MLS was able to do that after the new TV deals get worked out.

Regarding where that money would go, a lot of it would likely go to bringing in better foreign talent. It would be best if the jump was more gradual though. They could also simply start reducing some of the allocation money and just transferring that part of the salary budget to the official cap number.

 

Well considering the growth rate of league revenue (3-5% above inflation depending on your calculations) it's probably more likely than not that MLS will be making $30-40 million more than it is today. I would imagine that a large percentage of that money will be invested in player salaries or youth development.

Obviously, it largely depends on the new TV deal, but the new TV deal won't directly correspond with ratings. The league makes $30 million /yr now, but doubling our ratings wouldn't yield $60 million /yr. Other forces will ultimately determine what kind of money the league gets next time 'round.

 

Yeah, because the only way the league and the Player's Association have to communicate with the players is a public website.

 

I made this point earlier. The new national deals won't start until 2015. There is no way we can get to 5 million salary cap before the new tv deals kick in IMO.

 

Right, but the new deal will be negotiated in 2014. I think that's what whoever started this meant. So yes, we're talking about the 2015 season.

 

But even a jump to 5 million under Salary Cap won't do that.

If you want to pay for an upgrade in non-DP foreign talent, you're going to have to a lot more than double the average salary.

Just for comparison, the #4 team sport, the NHL averages $50 million per team of 25 players.

If you want to pay for an upgrade, and I'm not talking UEFA Champions League level, you're going to have to raise the cap a lot more than double.

And I don't see even the most optimistic of "new TV revenues" covering that kind of jump.

I'm sure MLS will get there eventually. But the last 16 years has shown that you can't force it. And the majority of players and majority of minutes on the field will continue to be played by Americans.

As the background talent level of the average MLS level American player increases, and international demand for American players increases - you'll see wages rise. It's supply and demand.

 

Where does the 150M deal to sell part of SUM to an investor firm come into play? Thought that was happening in the not too distant future. Any word on that?

How would MLS inject 10's of millions into MLS, to lure better foreign talent, without raising the cap?

 

It might not be to $5 million, but I can see the salary cap jumping significantly after 2014. The league will very likely be profitable as a whole by then (if it isn't already).

The new TV deals will be what decide the amount. Not to mention the likely fierce CBA battle that will be occurring then. The salary cap isn't part of the CBA, but the end result might have an effect on it.

 

and we need to remember that the 2010 season average attendance went up over 1200/game from 2009-- that should have brought over $ 7 mil for MLS and its teams

(18 teams x 17 home games/team x 1200 extra tickets sold/game x $20/ticket (just a guesstimate) = $ 7.3 mil) and thats not counting concessions and parking for teams that have those revenue streams

 

Why don't people understand that raising the cap doesn't necessarily mean that the expenses will go up - it means the ability for teams to spend more - not every team in the NFL, NHL and NBA spends to the maximum of the cap. So again, if the cap went up to $5 million, that's not doubling expenses. SJ, Colorado, Dallas etc wouldn't be forced to spend more.

Current spending with allocation + DP exemption is close to $5 million per team anyway (on average). There are about 8-10 teams that can afford right now to spend more than $5 million.

So yes, it is realistic.

 

I apologize in advance for not having a link or source on this, but I recall reading that a large chunk of this money would go back to the original investors. The Krafts, the Hunts, AEG, etc., for all of the years of non-profitability. A sort of "Thank you for sticking it out" payoff. And, IMO, that is a great way to spend the money. It lets prospective/existing investors know that at some point, the league will take care of its people.

 

There is this idea that raising the cap will immediately result in better players that misses the reality of the situation. Outside of Germany, England, Spain, most of Italy, and probably most of France too, I don't think MLS salaries are THAT much below the going rate for most players. I doubt Collin (191k) in KC took a huge salary cut coming from Portugal, Alvaro Fernandez is on a 300k salary coming from Uruguay, Lekic came from Denmark and is making 275k, Feilhaber came from there as well and is making 350k, and then you have a couple players from Switzerland that are making under max salary.

The thing is that in most of the European leagues you can offer a competitive salary to most players that are outside of the couple big teams in the league (for instance, Hassli came from Switzerland and makes 900k, but he came from FC Zurich, a normal front-runner). You go into South America and I'm pretty sure that outside of the big Argentine and Brazilian clubs you can offer a better salary than they can (and in Brazil and Argentina you may not always get paid). The problem isn't going to Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile and finding good players that will play for under 335k; the problem is that they are going to cost you a transfer fee, something that MLS doesn't have a good system for yet.

Until you set up a way for teams to go out and buy some players without it killing their salary budget (different than the cap everyone talks about) then raising the budget isn't going to make a difference. You give me a 3 million dollar budget with 2 million a year in money for transfers (that I can roll over) then I can build you a better team than I can with 5 million and no real good way to buy players.