MLS is Hard to manage... financially

ok, so I decided to try out the MLS thinking that it'll be straight forward with its system similar to that of Hockey with trades and draft etc. But boy was I wrong, with MLS's numerous restrictions on player status combining with salary cap its basically impossible to build a good team with many good players. Designated Player, Generation adidas player, international player, weighted lottery, team roster spot limit, waiver system... the list goes on and on. I lost my all star central defender (6 goals in 18 games lol) to european club simply becuz I can't offer him salary over 4k a week since he doesnt have this "designated player" status... which by the way every team can only have 2 and once the player is already set as DP you cant change it that means you're team can't have more than 2 very good player with high salary. Now how can you build a dynasty with that restriction? I was quite shocked when I found out about that, already deep into the career with my team 1st place in the league (mostly thanks to Koflok's Goals Galore tactic) and boom I lost this important piece of my team. Also, during the season you can forget about signing players if you draft well in the SuperDraft. I signed all my draft picks to developmental contract and it quickly filled out the maximum 30 roster spot limit. All I can say the MLS is very interesting but very frustrating to manage for the first time.

If you keep at it the salary cap will go up over time(or so I have heard). I do agree that it is pretty tough to build a team that I am happy with because of all the restrictions.

It's also easy to get replacements via trades. Trade away lower draft picks/waiver draft picks as you usually can't get great players that way anyhow. You can also try discovery players.

how do I sign "discovery player"? what is a discovery player? lol so confusing

Firstly you can have 3 Designated Players, not just 2. Secondly why couldn't you offer more than 4k to your defender? Could you not just change his contract type to senior and offer him more? You can get plenty of quality (by MLS standards) players from South America and some African regens for pretty cheap salaries. I'm currently sitting at 100k~ per month under the salary cap and doing very well. But you're right there is always a bottleneck to making the team you want. Wage limit, international players, senior roster spots (my current weakness) etc. There is always something but that is what makes it fun IMHO. And you can do well, I just won the Club World Cup as TFC in 2013, though it was pretty much a fluke lol. What team are you playing as out of curiosity?

Now how can you build a dynasty with that restriction?

You're not supposed to build a dynasty, that's the point. The top American sports use methods like salary caps and drafts to keep some sort of competitive balance

Your not supposed to with the restrictions, but it is the aim. No one aims just for one title

I'm not saying he should be delighted with just one title; I'm saying that he should expect it to be very difficult to maintain that level of success over a period of many years because of how the MLS works

dominating mls is not too difficult if you buy the right DP players. A top quality striker, a top quality mid fielder and a good centerback winger or keeper will win a lot of games. also the level of american regens coming through has been better so good scouting will get you a solid team. it just takes practice to figure out how to build a roster. that is why mls is an interesting challenge.

Use all forms of acquiring players in MLS: through trades, through the draft, and through free agent signings. Everyone builds their team different, but it's a challenge to balance everything with the roster restrictions. Having the highest salary in the league doesn't mean you will win every year, like the LA Galaxy IRL. I nearly won the MLS Cup with DC United with the lowest salary by far (~$3 million annual, including DP salary).

Firstly you can have 3 Designated Players, not just 2. Secondly why couldn't you offer more than 4k to your defender? Could you not just change his contract type to senior and offer him more? You can get plenty of quality (by MLS standards) players from South America and some African regens for pretty cheap salaries. I'm currently sitting at 100k~ per month under the salary cap and doing very well. But you're right there is always a bottleneck to making the team you want. Wage limit, international players, senior roster spots (my current weakness) etc. There is always something but that is what makes it fun IMHO. And you can do well, I just won the Club World Cup as TFC in 2013, though it was pretty much a fluke lol. What team are you playing as out of curiosity?

I'm managing Vancouver. Jay DeMerit is already on senior contract thats why I have no way to resign him since the 3rd DP spot needs to be purchased I believe. It says on the player registration page that my club only has 2 DP slots, filled my Jarju and Hassli and I cant take Jarju off DP status... all these add to the confusion in my first MLS experience.

Can you offer a designated player contract if you saw someone available on a free transfer? In the A-League on FM10 I am pretty sure the marquee player was just the player who had the highest wage.

You can ask the board to "purchase" a 3rd DP slot, though I don't know if it will allow you to do so in the first season.

OP- Vancouver's the team I was using while I played (I've stopped until the next patch comes out) and the team could use some heavy tweaking. One of the best things to do is start the game with at least the top Brazilian division as playable, then look for the following free agents: Leumir (RB, though I immediately convert him to RM) Danilo Rios (M/AM LC) and Carlos Andre (ST). They're all good (great for the league) and young enough to keep around for the full 5 years to become elligible for the Canadian team. Plus, they're pretty cheap ($52k/yr, $125k/yr and $52k/yr.)

A smart thing to do, also, is to look at your roster and decide which players you absolutely refuse to part with, then slap outrageous price tags on them (at least $10 million.) If any team does actually make a bid, it usually be for the halfway point between their market value and your asking price; you can frequently sell players for over double their value this way.

The great thing about Vancouver and TFC is that foreign players usually take up Canadian citizenship after 3 years. The key to building a good team, then, is to focus on whichever international players you want to keep around for those 3 years, after which you'll find yourself with a great team of mostly Canadian players, allowing you to go out and sign more internationals. Also, try this: go to the America page (click on the flag) and then view clubs. Look in the ADL clubs for any Canadian-based squads (Toronto Lynx, Victoria Highlanders, etc- look in the northwest/great lakes/northeast divisions) and, for any team that is at least semi-professional (you can't sign players from the amateur clubs) have your best staff member (judging PA) scout all the players on the team (shift-click first and last player.) You can usually find a handful of Canadian newgens to loot, many of which will be under the age of 18. My squad had a 16, 17 and 18 y.o. newgen, and that doesn't include the 4 or 5 newgens rated at over 4 stars that I wasn't willing to spend money on (over $100k each.)

ty looknohands, very helpful tips.