Welcome to part three 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.
General Allocation Money (GAM) and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM)
Today we take a look at a less well known facet of MLS, General Allocation Money (GAM), and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM).
What is Allocation Money?
One of the most important screens to check when you begin your MLS journey is the finances screen. Most FM players will be familiar with this screen and may visit it a number of times every season depending on how they play the game. Within the finances screen of an MLS save is a “league specific” tab.
When you go in here you will see two figures for 1. General Allocation Money and 2. Targeted Allocation Money. This is money that has been ‘allocated’ to you from MLS.
GAM and TAM info can be found on the league specific tab of the Finances screen.
Now, this isn’t real money. You can’t use it to go sign players from all over the word. It is best to think of this money as the little counters you get when you go to the fairground. The fairground in this example is MLS. When you are in the fairground these counters (aka allocation money) actually hold a value. But, the moment you leave the fairground they are basically little pieces of plastic and you can’t spend them on anything.
MLS has two types of allocation money, General Allocation Money (GAM) and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM). Below we will explore what the difference is.
General Allocation Money (GAM)
If this allocation money doesn’t hold any real value, then what is the point of it?
Well, GAM can be used to “buy down” the salary cap impact of a player on your roster. As discussed in earlier guides MLS has a fairly strict salary cap of $4.9m* per year. In order to give clubs a little leeway on this, MLS permits clubs to reduce the impact of certain players on this salary cap total. Clubs can do this by using some, or all, of their GAM to “buy down” that player’s salary cap impact. It is important to note however that you can only buy down up to 50% of a players salary. For reference in my MLS save with FMGrasshopper I bought down every player’s salary impact, by 50%, in both seasons.
*Correct at the time of writing.
How do you get GAM?
Each MLS club gets an annual allowance of GAM from the league. In 2022 it is $1,625,000. A club may also receive GAM in the following cases;
Failure to qualify for the MLS playoffs ($200,000)
Qualification to the CONCACAF Champions League ($140,000)
GAM can also be traded between clubs
Transferring a player out of MLS (some of the fee is paid in allocation money)
Expansion Drafts
Any club losing a player in the Expansion draft is given more allocation
Yearly allocations are adjusted in Expansion seasons
Targeted Allocation Money (TAM)
TAM is slightly different than GAM. It can only be used to “buy down” a Designated Player’s (DP) contract to a Senior Contract. In effect allowing MLS sides to have more Designated Players than the league permitted three. A designated player must be simultaneously signed for a club to be allowed to do this. In “the MLS save” I signed Rivaldo Coetzee and he demanded a wage that was above the senior maximum of $612,000 per annum. The trouble with this was, I had already maxed out my three DP slots. Upon offering Coetzee the contract, FM informed me I would need to use TAM to buy down his, or another DPs, contract so I simply accepted this and the transfer went through and money came out of my TAM budget. Providing you have enough TAM you can continue to do this as long as your total salary impact is below the wage cap.
How do you get TAM?
Each club gets an annual allowance of TAM from the league. In 2022 this is $2,800,000 but there are plans to reduce this amount in upcoming years.
Important to note that TAM cannot be traded between MLS clubs and there is no other way to acquire more than the league yearly allowance.
Oh, one last thing. Thinking about saving up your GAM so you can spend big in future seasons? Forget it, any unused allocation is halved at the end of the season, and the remaining half is completely removed if not used within the next two transfer windows.
That brings us to the end of my bitesized MLS guides. I hope you found them somewhat useful. During my time playing MLS I have grown fond of the league and its idiosyncrasies and I may well return one day. In the meantime I am happy to offer any help and advice to anyone who is getting started in MLS and needs some guidance. Just give me a shout over on Twitter or Slack.
Over and out
FMEadster!