No MLS team with a DP has ever won the MLS Cup

[Yohan]

Just a random food for the thought, but pretty amazing fact, considering it's MLS.

MLS Cup winners
2007: Houston
2008: Columbus
2009: Real Salt Lake
2010: Colorado

Although this duck should be broken this season... IIRC only Chivas USA, Colorado, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston and San Jose are teams without a DP as of right now.

List of designated players
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule

[ag futbol]

Dallas can be removed: Ferreira is now on DP money and they signed a kid from Colombia with the second DP spot.

I also think this is one of those things that really only exists in terms of semantics. For example, in 2005 LA won and they'd have Donovan on a salary in excess of 350k (which is really all a DP is even though he didn't have the title at the time).

[Yohan]

Dallas can be removed: Ferreira is now on DP money and they signed a kid from Colombia with the second DP spot.

I also think this is one of those things that really only exists in terms of semantics. For example, in 2005 LA won and they'd have Donovan on a salary in excess of 350k (which is really all a DP is even though he didn't have the title at the time).
oops.

well, we're talking about officially 'DP' era.

[Shakes McQueen]

"Ever" is a bit dramatic, considering how long the DP rule has even been around, and that most teams didn't immediately use the exception.

The trend, however, has been that more and more teams are signing at least one.

- Scott

[Oldtimer]

One factor in teams now signing DPs is that the cap hit is now less than when it was introduced. Not just in absolute terms but especially as a percentage of the cap (since the cap has gone up quite a lot).

If you had one great player, but the rest of the team was crap because of the cap taken up by that player, you couldn't win. Teams that had better balance did well by comparison.

Now it's the case where you can add a DP or two and it doesn't have to unbalance your squad. That's why so many teams are adding them now, but didn't at the beginning.

Now the only problem is when your DP is underperforming (Mista was a perfect example, there are other examples from around the league). You still have a lot of cap space wrapped up in a single player, and the cost of that is high.

I think the league did the adjustment to the DP hit because MLS has realized they need some star power to attract fans. If having a star player meant that you would lose all the time, no team would take that step.

[Cashcleaner]

"Ever" is a bit dramatic, considering how long the DP rule has even been around, and that most teams didn't immediately use the exception.

The trend, however, has been that more and more teams are signing at least one.

- Scott

Agreed. It's not as if half the clubs in the league went out and picked up DPs as soon as the rule was instituted. Oldtimer also makes a good point about how the rules have been adjusted. Now, the league really seems to be encouraging teams to take a chance on signing one.

[MartinUtd]

Was 2008 the year before Scholetto got the raise?

[jabbronies]

Was 2008 the year before Scholetto got the raise?

Was just going to ask that as well.

[ManUtd4ever]

It's only a matter of time before a club with a DP wins the MLS Cup, and yes, considering that the DP wasn't commonplace among most clubs in the league until last season, the statistic doesn't hold a lot of weight at this point in time.

[rocker]

Schellotto was making 425K on the March 2008 salary list.
He was making 375K on the August 2008 salary list. Not sure why it went down, but when they won the cup he wasn't a DP.

He was a DP in 2009 at 775K.

[Roogsy]

Schelotto was basically a DP without the tag. And the stated compensation is actually fudged. There was a behind the scenes uproar over it.

And maybe we should talk about the Supporter's Shield winners? Since most of us do value being the best team in the league pre-playoffs.

Currently LA seems to be running away with the title. They have a DP(s).
Last year it was LA as well.
2008 and 2009 it was Columbus, with a DP.
2007 it was DC United with no DP.

[rocker]

Oldtimer makes good points. There has been quite a transition and change in the DP rule since it's inception, so it's hard to evaluate in terms of "cup wins" at this point.

A few weeks ago I calculated how many of the DP spots have actually been used as of today. With 3 spots per term, we could have possibly 54 DPs. At the time of calculation, it was something like 40% of slots used. So there's still lots of room in this league for DPs. At the point that 80% or more of slots are used the effect on winning a cup might be greater. Who knows. When the rules were very restrictive, it didn't make much sense to have a DP as it cost a lot more on what was then a smaller total cap.

[Yohan]

Oldtimer makes good points. There has been quite a transition and change in the DP rule since it's inception, so it's hard to evaluate in terms of "cup wins" at this point.

A few weeks ago I calculated how many of the DP spots have actually been used as of today. With 3 spots per term, we could have possibly 54 DPs. At the time of calculation, it was something like 40% of slots used. So there's still lots of room in this league for DPs. At the point that 80% or more of slots are used the effect on winning a cup might be greater. Who knows. When the rules were very restrictive, it didn't make much sense to have a DP as it cost a lot more on what was then a smaller total cap.
it was 400k for first DP to 335k it is now. although salary cap was smaller, 2.1 mil in 07 compared to 2.7 mil in 11, teams were still signing players to 300k a year contract which essentially is might as well be a DP contract in terms of hit on the salary cap.

[Oldtimer]

it was 400k for first DP to 335k it is now. although salary cap was smaller, 2.1 mil in 07 compared to 2.7 mil in 11, teams were still signing players to 300k a year contract which essentially is might as well be a DP contract in terms of hit on the salary cap.

2.1 mil - 400k = 1.7 mil for the rest of the squad.
2.7 mil - 335k - 2.365 mil for the rest of the squad.

That's a 39% increase in what's left for the rest of the squad. That's significant.