First MLS DP Bites the Dust

By: Laurie | December 11th, 2007

Oh, to be an MLS Designated Player. The rules don’t apply to you as they do to mere mortals. Salary cap? That’s for the lesser fools. If you’re a DP, they can pay you exhorbitant sums, completely without sanctions. Because you are a DP.

Until you aren’t.

The Designated Player rule (aka the “Beckham Rule”) was unveiled last off-season with much fanfare. The argument was that salary caps were hurting the league and restricting its ability to attract quality talent, which was preventing it from growing and attracting new fans. Allowing each team to bring in one player at any salary the team owners wanted to pay, with only $400,000 of that amount counting towards the salary cap, would improve the quality of the league. Not to mention allowing it to bring in gazillions of dollars in additional ticket and merchandise sales.

So how did it work out?

The results were mixed. On the field, the top teams were the ones who didn’t rush out to purchase DPs. (Hmm. Bet MLS didn’t see that one coming.) But some of the DPs, notably the LA Galaxy’s David Beckham (when he wasn’t injured), the Chicago Fire’s Cuahtemoc Blanco, and the New York Red Bulls’ Juan Pablo Angel, did bring an interesting spark to the field when they were on it.

And then there was that money thing, where the clear winners were the LA Galaxy. Beckham allowed them to sell out pretty much every game they played, and also sold 300,000 jerseys, and caused every tournament organizer in the universe to require their presence. (And the fact that on the field they kind of sucked? Totally irrelevant.)

Then we have the other guys. Claudio Reyna, former US Captain, spent much of the season injured or not quite playing up to a $1,250,008 salary level the Red Bulls and their fans expected.

But last, and least, we have the Brazilian Denilson, who yesterday became the first MLS player to become un-DPed. His team, FC Dallas, isn’t saying definitively that he won’t be back. They’re just saying that he ain’t worth his $879,736 salary. If he comes back (and that’s a big if), it won’t be as a DP.

So what was the problem? Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com sums it up nicely in his list of the top ten MLS disappointments.

1. Denilson, M, Dallas ($872,736/$879,736) – 8 games, 7 starts, 1 goal (PK)
Odds dictate that the league can’t make a splash with every Designated Player. The problem is that most observers realized Denilson wasn’t going to work out before he even signed with the league. While his tricks on the ball entertained, his play lacked cutting thrust or conscious effort to influence the game. Add in that he didn’t bring extra fans to Pizza Hut Park and he didn’t mesh with Steve Morrow on and off the field and you find disaster. The Denilson era summarized itself in one match: When FCD played in the U.S. Open Cup final, Morrow left Denilson out of his squad. For $872,736, you want a match winner, not an expensive sideline ornament.

Buh-bye, Denilson. It’s been fun. Best of luck as a non-DP, and let’s hope MLS can replace you with somebody worth the $$.