MLS Lays Down New Rules for 2008

By: Daryl | December 19th, 2007

Don Garber Lays out New Law for 2008 Remember when MLS off-seasons were massive newsless voids? No longer. There are Beckham’s various adventures to keep up with, transfer rumours either linking MLS with top players like Seba Veron and Andriy Shevchenko, or young Americans like Jozey Altidore linked with big European clubs, while big name has-beens like Denilson are being cut. There’s also expansion on the horizon, with San Jose swelling the ranks to 14 in 2008, and Seattle plus maybe one more upping that number again in 2009, and Don Garber even suggesting an 18 team MLS by 2011. But all this excitement and expansion requires a few rule changes, especially to the way rosters are handled, so here are the new commandments that were written in stone and handed down to all yesterday.

The changes are designed to help the league cope with expansion, to stop the ballooning number of franchises having a noticeable impact on the quality of play by allowing teams a little more flexibility when signing foreigners. This theoretically means young US players will find it that little bit harder to get a game for an MLS team, but we’re not talking Justin Hoyte at Arsenal here, just a few alterations to stop the expanded MLS being diluted into a Sunday pub league.

Here’s what’s what in MLS 2008, presented in easy to type, easy to swallow bullet point-format:

Players earning above the league maximum before the Designated Player rule arrived will be exempt from DP status for 2008 and 2009, but teams are responsible for every penny of salary above the $400,000 maximum. This applies to Landon Donovan, Carlos Ruiz and Eddie Johnson.
The foreign player allowance (previously four “senior internationals” and three “youth internationals”) will now be eight foreign players of any age.
These eight spots can be traded between teams without restriction.
Toronto FC will get two additional “special foreigner” spots to be used on US players (Canadians count as their domestic players) to give them easier access to American talent.