MLS Poll: Should the DP’s Wages Count Against the Salary Cap?

By: Laurie | December 9th, 2008

Should the MLS DP Salary Count Against the Cap?
( polls)

It was one of the more audacious ideas floated by AEG’s Tim Lieweke after the LA Galaxy limped toward the end of their second Beckham season: that the salaries of the Designated Players (like David Beckham and Landon Donovan) should not count against the salary caps of MLS teams.

Yes, this sounds a little self-serving, since Lieweke is the CEO of AEG — the entertainment group that owns the Galaxy. And nobody can say that MLS didn’t pull a lot of strings for the Galaxy, especially in that first season.

But the fact is that the Designated Player — a player who can be paid an unlimited salary by the team owners, with only $400k counting against the salary cap, — is not having quite the desired effect. DPs were supposed to move MLS to the next level, but they’re not. Sure, MLS is selling a bunch of Beckham jerseys, but the team hasn’t made the playoffs in either year that Beckham’s been in the US. DC United, another team with two DPs, also didn’t make the playoffs.

The Red Bulls, who have Juan Pablo Angel as their DP, had a good run and made it to the MLS Cup final, but only after squeaking into the playoffs in the last open slot after a so-so season. And neither of last year’s two teams in the final — New England and Houston — had DPs on their rosters.

The problem is that when you have $400k of an approximate $2.1 million salary cap going to one player — or in the case of two DPs , $725k — it’s very difficult to build a solid team around them. You tend to end up with a superstar or two, plus rookies and players who are on the verge of retirement, with very little in between.

And that brings us back to Leiweke:

“Within our structure as a league, are we penalized for going out and taking the risk we took on [signing] David? And I think we are,” Leiweke told SI.com in an interview in the L.A. offices of AEG. [...]

“Why does David [Beckham] count against the cap when you see the impact that David has created for everybody else in the league? Why do we get penalized for that? Every team should have the ability, I think, of pulling in a Designated Player and making a decision to pay that player outside the cap, and it shouldn’t have an impact on the cap.”

His point is that every team in the league benefits (through things like increased ticket sales and media exposure) when a player like Beckham comes to the league, yet the benefits to the host team don’t match up to the costs. Teams like the Galaxy take the risks, shell out the cash — Beckham’s $6.5 million salary — and then don’t reap the benefits.

In a league that is already very risk-averse, the current structure doesn’t seem to do a lot to move MLS to the next level.

What do you think? Should MLS DP salaries count against the cap? Should they not? Or is there a better way for MLS to move forward?

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bluemeanies

$400,000 was chosen because that is the highest a player (say, Taylor Twellman) can make without being bumped up to the DP bracket. You don't lower that without either a) saying that a DP is worth less than Taylor Twellman in the accounting which would be wrong or b) forcing Taylor Twellman to take a pay cut, which while funny is also wrong.
Enrique

I think Beckham has been great for the leaguye, maybe not for the Galaxy. We need more players of his stature and more quality players to play along them, a perfect ex.: Columbus. I think the first DP should not count against the cap and the 2nd a smaller amount than the 400k, raise the cap to at least 3 million so we can afford better players and have better teams ultimately. The problem with LA wasn't Beckham, he can play, the problem is that they had to pay Donovan as well, it left little money to put good players around them. Let's be fair, they sucked because of their defense not their offense, they were the best offensive team for the majority of the season, they could not stop my grandma though.
Sam

Okay, Leiwenke is suggesting that having to pay for a DP is being penalized? All credibility = out the window. As long as arguments like this are being thrown around, the MLS will not be anything more than it is now, and that is not much. It's hard to shed a reputation of a bullshit novelty league, but it's the sad reality of things. Real soccer fans in North America want a league with a legit structure and sensible policies. Twelve year old girls want Beckham to take his shirt off after a goal.
J

The cap needs to be raised and DP's should count as a certain percentage of whatever the cap may be. It definitely needs to count for something, though $400,000 is probably way too much. Plus, it ultimately hurts the rest of the players in MLS because it makes owners reluctant to agree to minimum salary increases. I would like MLS to reach a point that players considering moves to the Norwegian leagues or other smaller leagues in Europe would be able to receive equal pay to stay in MLS. This requires MLS to grow in stature in the eyes of European scouts (which means that we need to attract more top level talent like Beckham, Angel, etc.) but at the same time, we also have to be able to pay MLS players as much as they would get in second tier Euro leagues. Then, hopefully guys like Parkhurst and others who leave MLS for smaller Euro leagues would consider staying in MLS a desirable option.

I like the league's cautious approach, actually. But I do think expanding the salary cap a little and determining a percentage that a DP slot can take up on the cap will go a long way toward making sure that DP's will be surrounded by quality talent, thus helping to raise the profile of the league, and (most importantly) keeping more talent in MLS. I think it would be great if MLS were considered a proving ground for moves into top flight Euro leagues, but I'd rather that players considering a move to Norway or some other league of similar quality choose to stay in MLS.
bluemeanies

What, make the DP invisible like Gen-A? Wouldn't that be the equivalent of making a supersecret roster spot? The benefit of having a DP taking up 400k on the cap vs having a player who is hugging the max salary of 400k close is for each team to determine and price into the contract. Because Liewecke wants a mulligan on Becks doesn't make it a good idea.

The cap itself should be raised but please no Enron accounting.
Daryl

I voted "no way", but would also be comfortbale with "less than $400k".

Mostly because right now having $400k of that DP salary count against the cap means teams with a DP have to sacrifice some good players to make room. What MLS needs is a team (or preferably loads of teams) where a DP is surrounded by quality instead of crap.