Academy Players vis-a-vis the new CBA

[devioustrevor]

I read elsewhere today that under the new CBA MLS teams are allowed to have 2 Homegrown Players (-ie- Academy Grads) and have them be cap exempt. Does anyone know if this is true? Is MLS perhaps actually creating an incentive for teams to develop their own Academy players.

The same place also claimed teams are allowed to have 4 Development players (either GA players or players making the league Minimum $40K) that are also cap exempt.

It would therefore be theoretically possible (provided some of the Academy Grads were willing to play for $40K) to have 6 Cap Exempt Academy players on the roster.

Does anyone know if these claims (whose veracity I am unsure of) actually hold any weight?

[TFCRegina]

The 2 homegrowns aren't salary cap exempt. They're player cap exempt. This means you can have 26 players. Now, if you sign the home growns to Gen A or Developmental, then naturally they'll be exempt for both salary and player cap.

So essentially (hypothetically) you can increase your roster to 26, 6 Developmental contracts, 20 Gen A/Senior Contracts.

[devioustrevor]

OK, I get it then.

So if TFC was to unearth the next Wayne Rooney here in Canada, a player capable of dominating MLS-caliber opposition at 15 or 16, is there a limit to how much they could theoretically pay him as a GA?

[TFCRegina]

OK, I get it then.

So if TFC was to unearth the next Wayne Rooney here in Canada, a player capable of dominating MLS-caliber opposition at 15 or 16, is there a limit to how much they could theoretically pay him as a GA?

No idea.

[TFCRegina]

Also possible under the rules would be a 22 Senior/GA players and 4 developmental.

[rocker]

OK, I get it then.

So if TFC was to unearth the next Wayne Rooney here in Canada, a player capable of dominating MLS-caliber opposition at 15 or 16, is there a limit to how much they could theoretically pay him as a GA?

from what I've seen, most of the GA contracts are under 200K.
the thing is, if you play a GA too much during a season, the player will usually "graduate" and their $$$$ will count against the cap the next season.

So if you signed some great 15 year old to a 150K GA contract, and he really was good enough for MLS, he'd play 20-30 games and "graduate" to the senior roster after that. Obviously he'd be signed for 4-6 years if he signed a GA deal in the first place, so he'd be locked in at that price. Beyond that, the team might be able to renegotiate and offer more if he was unhappy and sulking. But he wouldn't have much negotiating power after signing a GA. If they did offer to renegotiate, he'd be at the mercy of the senior roster limits (400~K for the max non-DP).

[Shway]

I have two questions.

How long can one be called an academy product an be exempt from the player caP?
Is there a limit on how many academy players you can sign?( I know theres 2 per year, but if next year both players are player cap exempt, will a team be able to sign another 2 the following year?)

[J .]

I wish they made it so Academy players could come up and play for the club for say 2 years before counting on the player/salary cap etc. That would really create incentive for teams to develop local talent.