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American transfer system


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The American system is particularly odd - I'd suggest you find Alijarov's MLS Quick Guide (google for it) as a starting point.

The basics are:

- You make financial transfers IN from foreign clubs same as usual.

- Financial transfers OUT to foreign clubs, you only get to keep a percentage of the income.

- There are no "transfers" between MLS clubs, however, you may "trade" players.

. = Unlike a transfer, a trade is not subject to player verification; the player's existing

. . contract is now owned by the receiving team and the player is bound to it.

- You cannot "Release on a free" a player.

. = Instead, you "Waive" a player. Other MLS clubs may "claim" the player, taking up

. . his existing contract.

- There is no youth team.

. = Youth players are acquired through several "drafts" held annually.

. . The youth player may only sign with the MLS club which drafts him.

There's plenty of other stuff going on, in terms of roster limits, salary cap, etc; its a complicated rule system.

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The American system is particularly odd

Its too odd and that why I never play there. Why they cant have a regular transfer window and youth system like the rest of the world is juist beyond me.

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Yeah.

The system dates back to baseball around 1901. At that time, players tended to sign and move on a cash basis, much as modern footballers do.

There were two major leagues, the American League and the National League, which did not respect each others' contracts, as well as numerous minor leagues. So, a player could sign with one team in one league, and then "jump" to another team in the other league for a big signing bonus. The compromise solution which merged the two leagues into "Major League Baseball" (and founded the "World Series") included the "waiver" provision, as described above.

However, there remained significant competition for youth players, with the wealthiest teams willing to pay far more for "promising" young talent than their current ability justified. A canny player-agent could hold out while a veritable auction for his players' services took place. This got too rich for the teams, and in 1921 the two leagues instituted the first player draft, with youth players allocated to one single team, which had one year to agree to terms with the player. Fans didn't much care, as the youth players were rarely involved in the first team.

The NFL, founded in 1920, was having a similar problem, and instituted a similar draft system in 1936. The difference was, after four years of collegiate play (and at the time, college football was bigger than the NFL, so the players were household names), the players were expected to make an immediate impact with the first team. The NFL used the now-familiar "worst team gets the first pick in the draft" system and marketed the idea to fans as a more fair way to ensure competitive balance .. which logic is now drilled into American sports fans from birth.

Clearly there are some legal concerns regarding the system. Congress has debated the legality of the process; successful clubs see the draft as anti-competitive, while players see the draft as artificially limiting their employment opportunities. However, the NFL and MLB both have explicit Congressional exemption from U.S. Anti-Trust law, and argue that that shields them from legal challenge to the draft system.

Its odd to me to think that both the modern finance-based transfer system and the U.S.-style "draft and trade" system evolved from the same original point.

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