Tourist Guide
Featured
Community
Versus FM
FM Database
Gallery
Downloads
Ownership
MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared throughout the league, player contracts are negotiated by the league, and ultimately players are contracted not with individual teams but with the league itself. The league fought a bitter legal battle with its players over its economic system, but this was eventually resolved with the players gaining some improved benefits in return for accepting the single entity structure. A court had also ruled that even absent their collective bargaining agreement, players could opt to play in other leagues if they were unsatisfied.
Competition Format
The 16 teams in the league are divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences — eight in the Eastern Conference, eight in the Western Conference. Each team plays 30 games, evenly divided between home and away matches. Each team competes against every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 30 games. The team with the most total points at the end of the regular season is awarded the Supporters' Shield. Eight teams then proceed to the MLS Cup Playoffs ending in the single match MLS Cup final. MLS has three automatic berths in the CONCACAF Champions League with extra berths possible via the U.S. Open Cup and the Canadian Championship.
Modern History
For the CONCACAF Champions League, qualifying teams were MLS Cup 2008 and Supporters' Shield winner the Columbus Crew, Supporters' Shield runner-up the Houston Dynamo, MLS Cup runner-up the New York Red Bulls, 2008 U.S. Open Cup winner D.C. United, and 2009 Canadian Championship winner Toronto FC. Columbus and Houston were automatically seeded into the Group Stage. New York, Toronto, and D.C. were required to play in the Preliminary Round; only D.C. advanced to the Group Stage. The only MLS team to make the knockout phase was Columbus. So far, only one of the five MLS teams that qualified for the 2009–10 Champions League has qualified for the 2010–11 edition—Columbus, which repeated as Supporters' Shield winners in 2009. The other 2010–11 qualifiers to date are MLS Cup 2009 winner Real Salt Lake; their defeated MLS Cup final opponent, the Los Angeles Galaxy; and the 2009 U.S. Open Cup winner, Seattle Sounders FC. Toronto FC will attempt to secure a return to the Champions League in the 2010 Canadian Championship.
MLS also has four berths in SuperLiga, a competition jointly organized by MLS and Mexico's national football governing body, the FMF. The top four overall teams from the 2009 season, excluding those participating in the Champions League, will compete in the 2010 SuperLiga—the Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, and the New England Revolution.
SuperDraft
The most confusing element to the MLS is the SuperDraft. The SuperDraft is exactly like the draft you see in the NBA or NFL - it's an annual event in which the Major League Soccer teams select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the league. The SuperDraft was first instituted in 2000, as a combination of the MLS College Draft, in which players having graduated from college were selected, and the MLS Supplemental Draft, in which all other players were chosen. The draft is divided into four rounds of fourteen to sixteen picks, the order of which is determined by a combination of the teams' playoff and regular season positions, with the last placed team getting the first pick. - to quote Wikipedia.
The draft precedes each season; so you'll take part in the draft before the new season kicks off. As an expansion team, you would receive the rights to the first selection in each of the four rounds. As the champion from the previous MLS season, you would have the rights to the final selections in each round. As similar in other drafts, teams may trade these rights away to other teams for other rights such as rights to signing or owning players, special roster spots, or other rights of interest. You can essentially barter with your rights for the next season and any others you may receive in the future.
Trading and Drafting
If you have chosen to manage in the US Major League Soccer, you’ll find yourself less in the transfer market but instead having to negotiate trades with other teams. In addition, you’ll have the annual MLS SuperDraft to attend to.
In its most basic terms, trading is like a part-exchange deal. Team A must give up some assets to Team B to get the assets they want in return. Assets include players from your roster, or draft selections. For example, a typical trade offer may look like this:
You may add or remove items as you please using the appropriate buttons. Once you’re happy with your offer, submit it and you should hear back from the other team shortly with their decision or negotiation.
The annual MLS SuperDraft is an event where all MLS teams select the best talent aged 18-22 available. Teams will pick in reverse order of the previous season’s standings but draft picks may change hands in trades throughout the season, as described previously.
In the days leading up to the SuperDraft, the Draft screen will become accessible from the competition menu. It is split into to main sections. The top panel contains all eligible players for selection and your current budget status, whilst the bottom half lists the complete Draft order. Eligible players are those who have chosen to enter the draft from collegiate or high-school soccer, or Americans returning from overseas to play in their homeland.
Shortly before the SuperDraft, the MLS SuperDraft Combine will take place. This is a pre-draft ‘workout’ of sorts for the best eligible players to perform and show for one last time what they can bring to potential suitors. Four teams, MLS A/B/C/D, compete in a tournament where each roster is balanced amongst draftees. Players who perform well here may not necessarily be the best available, but it’s certainly an event where stock can rise or fall for individuals so close to draft day. Each club is allowed 24 players on their full roster.
Discovery Signings
Each team has the opportunity to make six (6) discovery signings per season (up from three (3) discovery signings allowed in 2004). The two expansion teams in 2005 will have ten (10) discovery signings each in 2005 and six (6) in 2006 and beyond. The last day for discovery player signings is September 15, 2005 - coinciding with the close of the secondary international transfer window and the roster freeze date. The six (6) discovery signings can be used to fill senior roster spots only.
Developmental Roster Signings
Teams are permitted an unlimited number of developmental player signings during a given season to ensure all 10-man developmental roster spots are occupied at any given time. Youth international limits per team still apply.
Waivers
A team may place a player on waivers at any time during the regular season at which point he is made available to all other teams. The waiver claiming period shall commence on the first business day after the League delivers a notice to teams and shall expire at 5:00 p.m. EST on the second business day after the Waiver Period Commencement Date. The claiming period is 48 hours.
Clubs each have the opportunity of claiming a player off waivers in reverse order based on points-per-game total during the current season. If the waivers occur before every team has played three regular season games, the point totals of the previous year are instead taken into consideration with the team with the worst point total having the first option.
Once a team selects a player off waivers, that club is automatically moved to the bottom of the priority list for subsequent waiver selections in a given season, regardless of its points-per-game total. Players who may be placed on the MLS waiver wire are as follows:
(i) A player eligible for a previous SuperDraft who went undrafted; or
(ii) a player who has played in MLS previously where his last MLS team does not wish to exercise its right of first refusal or no longer has the right of first refusal since 12 months have passed since the player’s date of release, except in the case of returning U.S. National Team players as stated below.
Lottery
Some players shall be assigned to MLS teams via the weighted Lottery process. Any team assigned a player through the lottery in any particular season shall not be assigned another lottery player that season unless and until all teams have received a lottery player or have agreed to waive their option to participate in a Lottery. The players made available through lotteries include:
(i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft;
(ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the Draft.
The weighted lottery takes into consideration each team’s performance over its last 32 regular season games and the most recent postseason. The team with the worst record over its last 32 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially manipulating his destination club with a strategic holdout.
Extreme Hardship Call-ups
Teams may add players to their roster in cases of “extreme hardship” as follows:
(1) a team has less than two available goalkeepers or (
2) a team has less than 15 available players.
Extreme hardship call-ups are made on a game-by-game basis.
Season-Ending Injury Replacements
A team with a player lost to a season-ending injury can replace that player on its roster, while remaining responsible for the full amount of the injured player’s salary. International player limits still apply at the time a season-ending replacement is made (with the player being replaced not counting against those limits).
Designated Player Rule
The MLS Designated Player Rule allows each team to sign one player that is considered outside of the Salary Cap regulations per season. $415,000 of a DP’s contract counts towards the Cap, with the remainder written off and imposed on the team’s owner.
Each team has one DP slot, which can be traded as an asset, but teams can only have a maximum of two. For the second player, $335,000 of his contract goes against the Cap, not $415,000.
Squad & Rosters
A Major League Soccer team’s full roster is comprised of the Senior Roster and the Developmental Roster. The full roster shall exceed no more than 28 total players: 18 players on the Senior Roster and no more than 10 players on the Developmental Roster. All 28 players are eligible for selection as part of the gameday squad during the regular season and play-offs.
Senior Roster
Other than at specified times during pre-season, through injury situations (a player added as a season-ending injury replacement) or in cases of extreme hardship, an MLS team shall have no more than 18 senior roster players at any time. The senior roster is comprised of the following players, who all count against a team’s salary budget:
Domestic Players
A domestic player is either 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).
Senior International Players
Each team shall be allowed up to four (4) Senior International players on its roster – non-domestic players who turn 25 years or older during the season in question. Although these players can be traded by MLS teams, the Senior International slots themselves cannot be traded.
Youth Internationals
A Youth International is a non-domestic player (i.e., non-U.S. citizen and non-green card holder) who is 24 years old or younger during the season in question. At the beginning of the year in which the player is due to reach the age of 25, this player will be re-classified as a Senior International. Following the 2004 MLS season, each MLS club was allotted three (3) youth international spots with two (2) additional ones provided to the two 2005 expansion teams for their first two (2) seasons. Unlike senior international spots, all youth international spots can be traded on a permanent or temporary basis (the slots revert to the original team in the latter case). Youth International players may be signed to senior roster contracts or developmental roster contracts (see “Developmental Roster” below). A team may opt to have a youth international occupy one of its senior international slots.
The current list of available youth international spots per team follows (including trades that involved the transfer of some spots as of March 23, 2005): CD Chivas USA (6), Chicago Fire (3), Colorado Rapids (3), Columbus Crew (3), D.C. United (3), FC Dallas (2), Kansas City Wizards (3), Los Angeles Galaxy (4), MetroStars (5), New England Revolution (3), Real Salt Lake (3), San Jose Earthquakes (2).
Developmental Roster
MLS teams may not have more than 10 developmental players on their developmental roster at any time (unless a player is added as a season-ending injury replacement). Developmental players can be either domestic or international and must be 24 years of age or younger during the season in question. These players do not count against a team’s salary budget. They are signed to non-guaranteed contracts and thus, can be waived at any time. Teams are permitted an unlimited number of signings during a given season to ensure all 10-man developmental roster spots are occupied at any one time.
Generation adidas players, who are domestic underclassmen, form part of a team’s Developmental Roster. They are acquired by MLS teams through the SuperDraft or through the Lottery system if they join the League after the SuperDraft.
Allocations
A club earns an allocation for (1) failure to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs; (2) as a replacement in the case of the departure or transfer of key players; or (3) due to expansion status. The two new expansion teams each received three allocations in 2005.
Each year the MLS Competition Committee determines how many allocation spots are made available to each team and whether they are classified as “major” or “minor” allocations (based on the monetary value applied to each allocation by the MLS Competition Committee which considers various factors in determining the figure). Allocation spots or portions thereof (see splitting of allocations below*) can be traded by teams.
Each year, allocations are given a ranking by the MLS Competition Committee. In 2005, one of the three expansion allocations ranked first (the order as between the two expansion teams determined by coin toss at MLS Cup 2004), followed by the major allocations for failure to make the playoffs (ranked between themselves in reverse order of finish in 2004), followed by major replacement allocations in reverse order of 2004, minor replacement allocations in the same order and, finally, remaining portions of split allocations.
In the event that a U.S. National Team player signs with MLS, (and, if he is a player returning to MLS, if his original club does not have a right of first refusal), the club with the first ranking allocation (see current rankings below) has the option of using its allocation to acquire the player in question.
Allocations or portions thereof may be used to re-sign current MLS players, with League approval.
Here's the current order for allocations.
*Beginning in 2005, teams may split major allocations into up to three portions. Once an allocation has been split, the remaining portion(s) shall drop to the bottom of the allocation order. Teams may trade allocations and split portions of allocations.
If a team has an unused outstanding replacement allocation for a departed player, or has not received a replacement allocation, that team has right of first refusal in the event of his return to MLS. If a team has utilized its replacement allocation, by acquiring another player, through a trade or through a split, the team loses its right of first refusal to such returning player, who is then assigned in the normal manner.
Waivers
Teams may waive players based on performance at any time during the MLS season. Players on guaranteed contracts or players waived on or after July 1 of any year, however, will continue to have their salary count against the team’s salary budget and the team waiving the player will not receive a replacement except under the normal player acquisition mechanisms. Players may not be waived while they are injured, unless the League reaches a settlement with the injured player for his release. In such a scenario, the settlement amount will be charged to the team’s salary budget. Upon return to fitness, however, a player may be waived normally.
Transfers & Loans
An MLS player may be transferred or loaned at any time to a team outside the League. Beginning with the 2004 season, FIFA does not recognize player transfers that take place outside of the two following transfer windows:
January 1 – March 31 (Primary Window)
August 15 - September 15 (Secondary Window)
FIFA does allow for the registration of free agents outside of the primary and secondary windows in limited circumstances.
Contract Expiration
When a player’s contract expires, the player does not count against the roster or budget of the team in question. A team retains the rights to the player indefinitely following the expiration of a contract only if attempts were made to re-sign the player. In exceptional circumstances where an important player could not be re-signed, a team may be awarded a replacement allocation.
Waived Players
A team waiving a player who clears waivers holds a right of first refusal to such player for 12 months from the date of his release.
Out of contract players/Options not picked-up
A team retains the right of first refusal to the player indefinitely only if attempts were made to re-sign the player.
Drafted but not signed
A player who was drafted by a particular team through the SuperDraft or Supplemental Draft and did not sign, is placed on that team’s “College Protected List” until the second December 31 immediately following the draft in question, after which the team loses the rights to sign the player.
Player transferred out of MLS
If a replacement allocation is granted, a team does not retain a right of first refusal unless the team has not yet used the compensatory allocation. In such a case, the team may retain the right of first refusal on the player provided they surrender the full amount of the replacement allocation.
To briefly surmise, give this a chance. Seriously, it's a really fun league to manage in and once you play a little while it does become pretty easy to understand
*rules extracted from FIFA and Wikipedia.
FM-Britain's Ultimate Guide to Squad Management: Communication & Psychological Warfare '10
