Should MLS increase the number of designated players per team?

By: Bob | September 28th, 2007

In addition to the Seattle to MLS rumors circulating around the interwebs, I have seen a number of mentions this week about the possibility of the league allowing all the teams to have a second designated player on their roster. The basic idea being that an additional designated player slot would allow teams to continue to attract new talent to the league and to keep some of the higher paid existing players where they are. Is this a good idea?

On paper it is hard to argue with it. By allowing teams to open up their checkbooks, MLS has added David Beckham, Denilson, Claudio Reyna, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Juan Pablo Angel into the fold. These are players who have generated fan excitement. In the case of Blanco and Angel they have also elevated their teams’ level of play. An additional designated player could only serve to do the same. Better players + increased fan interest = better league. Simple as that, right?

Well, you can also argue that an additional designated player spot is not only unnecessary but it could potentially hurt teams. If you look at the number of teams actually using a designated player spot you see only 4 out of 13. You see that having a designated player does not guarantee on the field success and you see that not having one doesn’t guarantee on the field failure. An additional high priced player means additional costs and less room to maneuver under the salary cap. It means that teams like the Galaxy could end up with Beckham, Landon Donovan and a bunch of minimum wage players as their supporting cast. Would that necessarily improve the product on the field?

What do you think? Should the league allow for an additional designated player on each team or is one enough?

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Category: MLS, World Football

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Diane

I was thinking raise salary cap too, but for whole team, not just dp.
Nick

That is the most stunning unibrow...
pate

I'd side with Nik. I'd love to see the Salary Cap pushed up (and the dev player salaries raised), and let the DP player experiment cook for a year or two. If things are going well in 2010, then maybe a 2nd DP might make sense.
Nik

perhaps raising the salary cap would be a better idea. Move it from 400K to 600K or 800K. Don't know if that would be better than allowing a second DP, but it's worth tossing around the numbers and seeing what can come out of it.
Gianfranco

I would say one is a good start especially when not everyone has fully taken advantage of it yet. I do like that teams can move player from one team to another which is a cool feature, so ideally you can increase your number if you really wanted to.