I felt like opining a little tonight, so here's a relatively brief view on the Designated Player rule in MLS, a rule that is up for review after the season and has been a topic of conversation among the owners at this week's All Star Game.
Before I begin, a brief selection from the MLS roster rules:
"The Designated Player Rule allows the League to sign players (under the League's single entity system) whose salary will fall outside of the team salary budget and whose cost above the salary budget charge will be the financial responsibility of the club for which they play. A Designated Player's salary budget charge will be capped at $415,000 per annum in 2009, but his actual compensation is higher. Each team initially received one Designated Player slot, and clubs are allowed to trade Designated Player slots. However, no team can have more than two Designated Players. The Designated Player Rule is a three-year initiative that will conclude after the 2009 MLS season when its future will be reviewed."
That's the DP rule as it currently exists, word for word, directly from the website of Major League Soccer. It sounds nice, doesn't it? Star power sells in America, or so the theory goes, and adding a big name that won't completely cripple a team's ability to assemble players within the constrictions of the salary cap (although it still might) would seem to make a lot of sense.
Only, I'm not buying it.
Soccer is a team game after all, and adding one player, no matter his star status or pedigree, who will still eat up a significant portion of the salary cap (18%), seems to go against the nature of the sport. One player doesn't make a team. The logical conclusion then, is that the although DP rule is intended to raise the quality of MLS through the signing over uber-talented players, that effect will be mitigated by the collection of mediocre talent surrounding those players.
Cliche alert.
You're only as strong as your weakest link.
Perhaps quality isn't really the point; perhaps the DP rule is simply intended to raise the profile of the league through the acquisition of marketable names. The most famous, highest paid, and original DP (you know who) embodies that approach; while the results on the field have been poor, the attention gained, shirts sold, and hype built has made the endeavor worthwhile. Right?
Or not. Too many of those casual fans that gravitated towards the star power of Brand Beckham flitted away rather than stick around and give themselves (and their money) over to MLS. For a moment in time, it seemed worth the imbalance that the DP created. But the league knows, and Don Garber has admitted, that their sales pitch should be aimed at the established soccer fans, not the shallow gawkers; the former have yet to indicate that they'll give their money and time to a league made up of teams with one shining star in constellation of lesser lights.
MLS is facing a dilemma (although I'm not sure they realize it): sell out and throw money at past-their-prime names who will no doubt bring momentary spikes in attention and revenue (tickets sales, shirts, etc.), or buy in and invest in the future of the league, allowing teams to spread more money around, increasing the level of play and hopefully attracting all of those anti-MLS American soccer fans that we know exist.
If it's an either/or situation, I'm fully behind "buy in".
Maybe it's not either/or. Maybe MLS is truly capable of doing both; investing in the overall quality of the league by letting its owners spend more across the board, while also aiming for those big splashes by holding on to the specific dispensation that allows teams to declare one highly-paid player special.
This, we can only hope.
But if I was a betting man - and I'm not (often)- my money would be on DPs, and DPs alone, being the basket where MLS chooses to place all of its egges. Nevermind that many teams are either wary or unconcerned with the rule, believing they have the right plan to produce a winner without a DP or are simply afraid that dumping too much cash on one guy will come back to bite them if things don't go as planned.
DC United and FC Dallas fans, I'll pause for you to curse.
It's unlikely, that have-it-both ways scenario, and I can't shake the feeling even as the Board of Governors (i.e., the owners) prepare to review the DP rule (per both Steve Davis and the MLS rule book), that MLS has its priorities all out of whack. It's one thing to be self-aware, to know that you're not hitting the mark as you should, and to express a genuine understanding of that fact; it's another thing entirely to turn away, reset and refocus, and change your aim.
I realize that half the battle for MLS, its owner/investors, and the fans of the league is getting other people to notice. Designated Players, as long as they are of a certain caliber (and by "caliber" I mean fame rather than ability), are an easy way to drum up interest; but for lack of a better word, Designated Players are an MLS boondoggle.
Just in case you're not familiar with the word:
boon·dog·gle (bōōn'dô'gəl, -dŏg'əl)
n.
An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.
That's it in a nutshell for me: even on field successes like Guillermo Barros Schelotto represent misplaced priorities on the part of MLS, because they are so rare. Simply put, quality players whose salaries are "reasonable" in world football terms ($750k this season) should be more plentiful in the league. The only way to bring more in is the allow teams greater freedom with their salaries, be it through a direct raising of the cap, or through a soft cap.
We can't expect MLS clubs to become solid talent-evaluators overnight. We can't expect them to wake up tomorrow with the ability to pull good, cheap, talent out of what the greater world has to offer. MLS can't just say "do better" to its clubs and ignore the problem, leaving the league's talent level to stagnate.
Designated Players are a nice shiny toys, ones that MLS owners can show off to all of their friends around the country and the world, as if to say "See? We have high priced talent, too". But they solve nothing in the long run, and only distract from the real problems the league faces. New, soccer-savvy fans aren't going to come running because some American or Canadian club signs a world famous footballer; they'll come running when the game played here begins to resemble the one played half a world away that they watch on their televisions.
