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Official MLS thread

Impact led Pachuca 2-0. Gave up 2, on the road, in 12 minutes. 2-2 at 85'. Still a great result for Montreal if they can hold on.
 
MLS 1) claims it can't have free agency because reasons 2) just announced a UK TV rights deal with Sky Sports.

Players are so clearly in the right on this dispute.
 
MLS 1) claims it can't have free agency because reasons 2) just announced a UK TV rights deal with Sky Sports.

Players are so clearly in the right on this dispute.

Meh, I think full on free agency would be dangerous if it relates to international players. There's no reason to pit MLS club against MLS club for signing players. It would create aartificially high salaries and transfer fees. Players should be demanding a much higher median and minimum wage and getting rid of the waiver draft system.
 
1. There's already a salary cap, so it's hard to see how free agency, especially if it's set up like other leagues with a certain amount of time in the league needed for UFA status, would create league-wide artificially high salaries. That certainly hasn't been the experience in other leagues with salary caps. The salary cap and not restriction on workers' rights (and obviously I love me some workers' rights) is what creates the cost structure.

2. Free agents don't have transfer fees.

3. To the extent that it raises the cost of established players relative to draftees and young talent, that provides the clubs a valuable incentive to have real academies and is a long-term positive for soccer in the USA.
 
1. There's already a salary cap, so it's hard to see how free agency, especially if it's set up like other leagues with a certain amount of time in the league needed for UFA status, would create league-wide artificially high salaries. That certainly hasn't been the experience in other leagues with salary caps. The salary cap and not restriction on workers' rights (and obviously I love me some workers' rights) is what creates the cost structure.

2. Free agents don't have transfer fees.

3. To the extent that it raises the cost of established players relative to draftees and young talent, that provides the clubs a valuable incentive to have real academies and is a long-term positive for soccer in the USA.

1) It's not a hard cap, so DP contracts would be artificially raised if teams were competing for guys like Jones, Bradley, Altidore, etc.

2) Perhaps free agency isn't the category this falls under, but there is a push to have teams signing international players rather than the league, allowing international players to choose their destination. Less known/desireable cities will have to pay more to get the same known player that LA or NY could bring in.

3) What I meant was that there willing be bidding wars for more top level MLS talent, which, with a zero sum theory, means the bottom players (who aren't as sought after) are going to have less of the cap to go around. Obviously the way around this is a much higher minimum salary, which I think should be first and foremost for the league. I'm all for finding ways to make the academies more valuable to the teams, and I think the homegrown designation should be tweaked to provide more incentive.

Again, I'm in favor increased free agency, but I realize MLS has grown the way it has by limiting the chances of teams folding due to lack of balance. The main way of controlling that in the past has been through player movement. Setting years of service guidelines and other restrictions seems the best way of achieving a free agency. Full on free agency, which is argued by many, just isn't there yet, IMO.
 
1) It's not a hard cap, so DP contracts would be artificially raised if teams were competing for guys like Jones, Bradley, Altidore, etc.

2) Perhaps free agency isn't the category this falls under, but there is a push to have teams signing international players rather than the league, allowing international players to choose their destination. Less known/desireable cities will have to pay more to get the same known player that LA or NY could bring in.

3) What I meant was that there willing be bidding wars for more top level MLS talent, which, with a zero sum theory, means the bottom players (who aren't as sought after) are going to have less of the cap to go around. Obviously the way around this is a much higher minimum salary, which I think should be first and foremost for the league. I'm all for finding ways to make the academies more valuable to the teams, and I think the homegrown designation should be tweaked to provide more incentive.

Again, I'm in favor increased free agency, but I realize MLS has grown the way it has by limiting the chances of teams folding due to lack of balance. The main way of controlling that in the past has been through player movement. Setting years of service guidelines and other restrictions seems the best way of achieving a free agency. Full on free agency, which is argued by many, just isn't there yet, IMO.

Top-level DP players only affect the cap to the DP threshold though. There'd be just as much salary cap (though not cash flow but again that's an issue that depends ultimately on the construction of the cap and minimums and not whether or not there's free agency) for the lowest paid players.

Assuming TT is hearing from player reps, this sounds eminently reasonable: "Twellman admitted MLS isn’t ready for arbitration, but said a workable compromise could be restricted free agency after an initial contract of, say, three years, and could be followed by unrestricted free agency for long-tenured players going into a third contract."

MLS is off the rocks. It is not in danger. Investors are climbing over each other to get in. Sky Sports (Sky Sports!!!) is buying overseas TV rights (overseas TV rights!!!). Free agency. The time is now.
 
Top-level DP players only affect the cap to the DP threshold though. There'd be just as much salary cap (though not cash flow but again that's an issue that depends ultimately on the construction of the cap and minimums and not whether or not there's free agency) for the lowest paid players.

Assuming TT is hearing from player reps, this sounds eminently reasonable: "Twellman admitted MLS isn’t ready for arbitration, but said a workable compromise could be restricted free agency after an initial contract of, say, three years, and could be followed by unrestricted free agency for long-tenured players going into a third contract."

MLS is off the rocks. It is not in danger. Investors are climbing over each other to get in. Sky Sports (Sky Sports!!!) is buying overseas TV rights (overseas TV rights!!!). Free agency. The time is now.

The DP contracts wouldn't affect the salary cap, but it would definitely inflate the amount teams are spending on wages. MLS is thinking why pay more if they don't have to. My third point was speaking more about the mid tier vets who make $200K now. If they're being bid on by multiple teams, they're going to end up making $250-$300K, which leaves $50K-$100K less for the bottom third players, who already make ridiculously little. I think Twellman's idea is the most reasonable solution. Find a way to begin the free agency process now (albeit limited) and focus more on minimum salaries and a higher salary cap this time around.

They should also drop the roster spots to 25 or so. There's no need to carry 30 guys when 4 of them will never contribute in any meaningful way to the team. Let the teams have their own USL-Pro or NASL teams if they want to develop players outside of the 25, but don't force it on teams when it provides no benefit.
 
Just looked it up and it appears that MY Austin Aztecs won't play the Charlotte USL team unless we win the Western Conference and meet in the fianls. We do play Vidovich and Timbers II home-and-home though. Looks like a can get season tickets for $99 with my student ID. Not a bad deal for 15 games.

Wakephan you want to do it with me?
 
Just looked it up and it appears that MY Austin Aztecs won't play the Charlotte USL team unless we win the Western Conference and meet in the fianls. We do play Vidovich and Timbers II home-and-home though. Looks like a can get season tickets for $99 with my student ID. Not a bad deal for 15 games.

Wakephan you want to do it with me?

Spell your team's name right!

And there's no good reason not to buy those tickets at that price. Aztex should be a pretty good team in the Western Conference.
 
@thomasfloyd10: Great news for #DCU fans: CSN will televise all 24 league matches that aren't nationally televised.
 
No breaking news, but based on my conversations with MLS based people tonight, things are very much up in the air on whether we'll see matches next weekend. There's optimism, but it seems like everything is very much in the dark even for those directly connected to the league. I really hope they sort things out as I think a stoppage would be quite damaging to the existing fan base.
 
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