Welcome to part two of this series looking at all the rules and regulations of Major League Soccer (MLS). I intend to break all the nuances of MLS down into bitesized guides for anyone considering a save in the US. Hopefully by breaking everything down for readers it will be easier to find a solution or advice to a particular issue they have encountered without having to scroll through one big all encompassing MLS post.
Posts will be broken down as follows and once there are all published you can click the links below to be taken to that guide.
Squad registration rules and Salary Cap
General Allocation Money (GAM) and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM)
Today we take a look at the squad registration rules which so many people find confusing in MLS.
Squad make up
An MLS roster is made up of 30 player slots. The first 20 slots are your Senior Squad and all these slots count against the league salary cap, which in FM22 is $4.9m per annum. The last 10 slots of your MLS squad are known as your Off Budget Squad these players wages do not count against your league salary cap. However, only certain contract types can be used in the off budget squad so anyone thinking about just putting a high earner in the off budget squad can forget that hackz.
Senior Squad Contract Types (Slots 1-20 of your MLS Squad)
Designated Players (DP) - Probably the most famous contract type in MLS. As MLS grew in popularity and money within the game increased some owners wanted to be able to attract higher levels of player to their squad. The salary cap at the time was very rigid making it impossible to pay the salary a player such as David Beckham would require. To get around this and allow the league to increase its world-wide appeal the MLS decided to allow teams to sign “Designated Players”. In FM22 you can sign up to three DPs who must take up a senior squad slot and you can pay them as much as you want, but the advantage of the DP rule is you will only be charged $612,000 against your salary cap.
Senior Contract - This will be you most common contract type. All Senior contracts must take up a senior squad slot and their full wage will be charged against your salary cap. You can, however, use General Allocation Money (GAM) to “buy down” (i.e. reduce) the salary cap impact of these players wages.
Senior Minimum Contract - The minimum salary allowable for a senior player is set by the league as $81,500. Players on the minimum contract will only be placed in your senior squad, and count against your cap, if your first twenty slots are not already completely filled by DPs and Senior contract players. If slots one through twenty are already filled then these players will be placed in your off budget squad and will not count against your salary cap.
David Beckham the first Designated Player in MLS history
Off Budget Squad Contract Types (Slots 21-30 of your MLS Squad)
Senior Minimum Contract - As above those players on the minimum senior MLS contract will be placed on your off budget squad once slots 1-20 have been filled.
Reserve Contract - These contracts can only be offered to players under 25 and the salary is set by the MLS at $63,500. You can have a maximum of six reserve contract players but no more than four can be non-homegrown (i.e. to have six reserve contract players, two of them must be homegrown.).
Generation ADIDAS Contract - Certain players in the SuperDraft will be identified as Generation ADIDAS players. These players, if signed, will not count against the salary cap and will be placed in the Off Budget Squad. After four years they lose their Generation ADIDAS status and they are treated the same as any player above. This rule was brought in to try and keep high potential youth players in MLS.
International Players
So just as you think you have worked out the salary cap minefield and managed to register your squad you may realise you are still falling foul of another registration rule, International Players. Each MLS side is given eight International Player slots in their roster, these roster slots are tradable, in full season increments, such that some teams may have more than eight and some teams may have fewer than eight. There is no limit on the number of international roster slots on each team's roster. For example in the MLS network save my Portland Timbers side only have six International player slots in my roster.
What is an International Player? Simply put it is an non domestic player. A domestic player is defined as
a U.S. citizen;
a permanent resident (green card holder); or
the holder of other special status (e.g., has been granted refugee or asylum status); or
a player who qualifies under the Homegrown International Rule (This rule is similar to the Homegrown rule in Europe whereby if a player comes through your academy they are deemed homegrown despite their nationality).
From time to time you may get a news item that a certain player now holds a green card, this is good news as it will free up an international slot on your roster.
Moreno was one too many International players for me in the MLS network save.
Waiver List
MLS squad registration takes place on April 1st. Any players not included in your thirty man squad, such as Moreno above, will be made available on the Waiver List. The Waiver list is available for two business days after squad registration and teams can put a claim against any player on the list to bring them into their squad on the same contract they were on at their previous club. Should more than one club place a claim on a player then priority is granted in the reverse order of the previous MLS season's performance.
That’s it for this second guide, I’ve deliberately kept it concise. The next guide will look at how to buy and trade players in MLS. Don’t forget Grasshopper and I are streaming our MLS FM Adventure over on https://www.twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8pm to 10pm, so come check that out, or not.
Over and Out!