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With the greater interest in investing in Major League Soccer, more ambitious expansion (18 clubs by 2012) and increased international competition fixtures, MLSR has learned that the MLS Board of Governors will meet later this year to discuss the following:
* Single Table
* Apertura/Clasura schedule
* Adding a 2nd Designated player per team and\or one whose salary is fully paid by the club and does not count towards the salary cap - no more four hundred thousand dollar cap hit.
* Increasing the salary cap to between 3.8 and 4.6 million for the 2009 season.
* Increased advertising opportunities in MLS Stadiums.
More as it develops....
UPDATE: Don Garber talks about "MLS 2.0".
REPORT: Schedule, Salaries, Expansion, Top Preliminary Agenda for MLS Board of Governors Meeting
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Dissapointment. I was hoping they AT LEAST increase the salary cap to around 5 million. SO lets hope its closer to the 4.6 million side.
awesome work guys...
...but how did you learn of this?
About time!
We need all of those things implemented; among others.
what's the salary cap at now?
I think the cap is around 2.2 million right now. I'm concerned that a lot of the extra cap room allowed will mainly go to increasing current player salaries and not for bringing in more talented players.
If teams had more money to spend it would not necessarily mean they'd just pay the current roster more. More money to spend means you can pay players more per season, which means better players coming in. Not sure why you'd think the extra cap money would just go to the same roster players?
more spending = better quality
I'm not a fan of the apertura/clausera style of play. Just do single table
Fall and Spring Championships.
Doubling the cap is great, but they also have to raise the minimum salary.
Can we come with some English terms for the schedule changes that they are contemplating?
bring back the run up penalty :P
If the cap and roster size is increased teams would have more depth and could bring in youth players from their academies along with higher priced foreign players.
Even if the cap goes up that doesn't mean all the teams have to spend all their cap money. Spending more money doesn't necessarily correlate with more success.
It's a pleasant surprise, kind of, that the Investor/Owners are willing to bump the cap that much for next year. 2009 is the final year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the owners and players union. Whatever the cap is next year the Developmental players will still only make $14,100, which is absurd. After a new CBA is worked out after next season then we should have a clue what could happen to the cap over the next several years.
The higher cap, aside from bringing in better players, will help the league hold onto (or sign in the first place) good domestic players (See: Dominic Cervi).
There will be 18 clubs by 2011, not by 2012.
I think that all these are positive solutions to many of the leagues problems. Put it in affect.
and end the draft. Let the teams grow their youth academies.
everything sounds great except for the AP/CL schedule - we don't need it like we need the other stuff.
You can raise the cap all you want but you can't make people spend what they don't want to spend. The problem is that some of the owners, most notably my Revs' Mr. Kraft, have no interest in spending more money. The Hunt Family also seems to share this attitude. That's the bigger problem. Look at the DP rule. Did every team go out and get a DP? No. They didn't. A lot of them just sat back and let the Galaxy home match pad their bottom lines. The problem is making these owners view soccer as something to spend serious money on.
New England is the problem?
While some of you watch soccer for the stars, I'll take a team that wins league matches and competes in the cup competitions. New England does that, and they do it with a fairly good quality product. Sure they had an Epic Fail v Joe Public, but their SuperLiga and USOC performances are fine, especially for a team that spent most of their season without their best talent.
Honestly if all of the teams in MLS were as good as New England the league would be in great shape. It is the teams that accept mediocrity and complain about having to spend so much (KC), or the inability to spend more that is the problem (LA).
But as always, I will favor a high cap, for I'm a fan of a team in the "Haves" column (LA, TFC, Chicago, SSFC, Red Bull) and so we could take advantage of it. Teams in the "Have Not" column gain nothing by opting for a higher cap that they can not afford (KC, SJQ, CLB, RSL).
UNLESS they can be convinced that their revenue would go up the seaon after the raise thereby being able to afford the higher payments.
The Revolution management's ability to feild a quality team is not the problem...the problem is the management's inability to bring fans to Gillet Stadium.
Ok I've read 10 articles so far and every one talks about why we NEED apertura/clausura. Each one says its because of the winter weather. What the heck? First of all England has no problem playing in december and january and its colder there. Second, the NFL plays in december and january and you RARELY see snow on the field. It's usually only one game a year where you see snow. I keep reading that the weather will be a problem for NE and Toronto. Bull. I really hope they don't pull the trigger on this. The MLS has been getting much better as of late, I'm even considering buying RedBull season tickets in the new stadium, but I will definately change my mind if the do this.
Lets go Garber.. Get this done for God sakes!
We have Beckham for only a couple more years, if that. We have the world's attention and now is the time to spend and improve the product. It's now or never. We have to go for it.
Dickhead Garber needs to add QUALITY OF OFFICIATING to the Agenda as well. This league is being hampered by the poor excuses of officiating. Otherwise I will take matters into my own hands!
Get it done Garber. And fix the scheduling. Fans want to see the best players for every league match.