The salary cap needs to be revisited immediately

For the health of this league the salary cap needs to be reviewed and increased before next season.

For a league that insists on (inevitably or not) playing through tonnes of FIFA dates and international competitions they are effectively preventing the teams from building any quality depth.

They are artificially and unnecessarily limiting the quality of the players in the league whilst simultaneously increasing competition to sign these players by expanding quickly. Without loosening domestic player requirements the result will be the mediocre players of today making premium money and having to backfill the team with even worse players!

Top this off with the shirt sponsorships: DC's shirt sponsorship covers the salaries of pretty much their entire roster before they sell a single ticket, hot dog, shirt or television right. Seattle's new deal will turn a profit of $1.7M without any other revenue.

How can they possibly think this is good business?

I like Don Julio and Patron...but this post is unnecessary. We have debated this a million times already and the general consensus has been that the owners aren't stupid. There is a reason for the salary cap as it stands right now and it will definitely increase after the next CBA.

Agreed this has been discussed in the past, but with the new shirt sponsorship deals coming out ($2M+ a year to DC and $4M a year to Seattle) I have to think the urgency for this needs to be raised. Just because you don't legally have to raise it doesn't mean there isn't a strong business case to do so.

Discussions in the past have centred around "most of the teams could probably afford to..." Now the fact of the matter is teams that don't even exist yet can easily afford double the cap! Doubling the average salaries in this league would make a world of difference on the pitch, and through these international competitions.

Personally I think Patron is good but a bit overhyped, though their commercials on Setanta are terrific even if the last thing I want at 8:30 am after a night of drinking is a glass of Tequila.

You have to remember that the old NASL died partially because the salaries went out of control and teams lost attendance due to an uncompetitive league. The Salary cap is there to ensure that the league can survive. Realistically there are only a few teams that can survive without a cap. Toronto, New York, DC, New England, Dallas, LA and Chivas, maybe Chivas, We can't have a league with 7 teams. Like them or not we need to have RSL, Columbus, KC, Colorado and Houston for no other reason than to fill the schedule. It will take time and a slowly raising cap is the best way to develop the league.

A five million dollar salary cap with 2 DP slots per club is a realistic goal in the near future and would be a huge step forward for the league...

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Originally Posted by ManU4ever

A five million dollar salary cap with 2 DP slots per club is a realistic goal in the near future and would be a huge step forward for the league...

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2-7 years. There are a lot of teams that without a better TV contract, which is optimistic on this continent, will either have to go under or be perpetual losers. If they become perpetual losers they will fold because soccer fans in North America are fickle. They will support a winner but not a team that is year after year at the bottom of the league.

The league needs to grow slowly. Perhaps tie the salary cap to a percentage of total revenue.

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Originally Posted by Don Julio

For the health of this league the salary cap needs to be reviewed and increased before next season.

[..]

How can they possibly think this is good business?

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The next year MLS makes money will be its first; it's always easy to spend someone else's money. Couldn't you have appended this to one of the the other fifty million threads discussing this issue?