Please Explain MLS Transfers.

Decided to start a MLS game for first time ever. Transfer system just blows my mind. Can someone explain to me?

I got an enquiry for one player and this was the screen:

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb15/DeathsKamikaze/?action=view&current=USATransfer.png

What do all these things mean?

I really dont understand ths league.

Thanks in advance.

The MLS uses a very very different system of transfers than the rest of the world.

I'd suggest reading up on the MLS

You can pick what you want for your player, the same as any league.

The difference is, you can't actually "buy" players for money from other MLS teams; they must be traded for another player from the "buying" team. Basically, you swap your player for 1 or 2 of theirs (how many players you trade them for depends on his quality of course). As well as getting a player in exchange, you could also get another team's draft picks. A draft is when all youth players become eligible to play in the MLS, and each team takes it in turns to "pick" a new youth player. Therefore, if you have traded one of your own players for another team's draft pick, you can pick 2 players at the start of the next season, instead of just one. I hops this makes sense lol.

Erm. not particularly lol.

Have you seen my screenshot above?

What do all the things mean?

In American sports (MLB,NBA,NFL) transfers are primarily based around TRADING players rather than paying transfer fees for them. Hence in your MLS game you'll be dealing more with swapping players than your "allocation funds".

The other option of transferring draft selections is based on American sports' concept of drafting. Rather than signing on with a youth team when you're young, most players here in the States go to a college or from high school are drafted to the MLS (or whatever other league). The team's selection spots are usually determined by position from the year prior (the worst team drafts first, best drafts last) and you get to select the best young talents that way.

So those are the two main options you'd be dealing with on that screen. Trading for another player or for draft picks to get young talents in the future. Hope that helps you some mate.

Here's a link to MLS rules on player transfers. :confused:

http://web.mlsnet.com/about/league.jsp?section=regulations&content=overview

I looked at the MSL - then had to take two paracetamol and lie down

It seems interesting. It's a breath of fresh air in comparison to the monotonous transfer-system here in England.

Its interesting, unique and very confusing. I read guides, asked questions and delved into the MLS. Result 9 games in I was a quiverring wreck and too scared to play fm for a week Never again!

Lol, the system isn't too hard to understand, really (I prob think like that because I loved ice-hockey when I was younger and NHL have the exactly same system as MLS).

But yea, I favour the World-wide system over the American one, simpler to buy players than try to trade them... ^^

I also prefer World-wide system but the Draft is one of the most exciting FM moments that I ever had. And getting your picks to succeed it's just a great feeling.

this thread just goes to show that football (soccer) over here in north america is just backward and doomed to failure until they AT LEAST straighten out the transfer/signing situation to adhere to the rest of the world, get rid of the regular season/playoff format and go to a straightforward league table, and adhere to the FIFA calendar so you dont end up with games like TFC had last season where they were missing 9 of 11 starters due to international duty but were not allowed to reschedule their match

That must suck royaly for the youth players...

I mean, over here you can generaly play as a youth for your favourite team if you are good enough for them.

But from what i understand of the MLS... your team is near enough complete luck of the draw.

That would cause chaos over here... i can just see a Man City fan being told he now plays for United... a Rangers fan he now plays for Celtic etc...

I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.

That must suck royaly for the youth players...

I mean, over here you can generaly play as a youth for your favourite team if you are good enough for them.

But from what i understand of the MLS... your team is near enough complete luck of the draw.

That would cause chaos over here... i can just see a Man City fan being told he now plays for United... a Rangers fan he now plays for Celtic etc...

I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.

well the idea is that the teams that finish the season in a worse position get a higher draft pick (last place team picks first etc.) which in theory means they will get a better player thus evening the playing field...the only good thing that comes from this is that it basically eliminates the possibility of the league being dominated by a small number of teams without the rest of the league having a fair shot at catching them since the top teams cant snatch up all the top young talent

well the idea is that the teams that finish the season in a worse position get a higher draft pick (last place team picks first etc.) which in theory means they will get a better player thus evening the playing field...the only good thing that comes from this is that it basically eliminates the possibility of the league being dominated by a small number of teams without the rest of the league having a fair shot at catching them since the top teams cant snatch up all the top young talent

i think america should have the same transfer rule as the res of the world as i have just tried... and i stress th word tried... to read th rules on the american transfer system and it blows my mind, how can that actually work, i understand the point of the lowestplaced team getting 1st pick, so it not dominated like.. spl (rangers & celtic), epl (man utd, arsenal, n chelsea), spain ( real m n barca) etc, but the rest of the transfer system blows my mind , god luck if ya staring a mls season

i think america should have the same transfer rule as the res of the world as i have just tried... and i stress th word tried... to read th rules on the american transfer system and it blows my mind, how can that actually work, i understand the point of the lowestplaced team getting 1st pick, so it not dominated like.. spl (rangers & celtic), epl (man utd, arsenal, n chelsea), spain ( real m n barca) etc, but the rest of the transfer system blows my mind , god luck if ya staring a mls season

The worst team doesn't necessarily get the 1st draft pick, they just have a better chance of getting one of the first pick. There are chances for the better teams to get low picks, but the "draft lottery" makes this very difficult, and just makes it more likely for poor teams to get the top picks (I think the lottery occurs in MLS, the same as the NBA).

If the player is THAT good, he can dramatically change a poor team's fortunes, then earn a trade or a transfer elsewhere if possible

The american system kind of works for other sports where the top american league is basically the only big league and of a higher standard to all other leagues like NFL. Problem is they are not so isolated in football so the whole system falls apart leaving the teams just looking silly.

It's a good system in theory, limiting the domination of X club and promoting healthy competition.

Yes its a good system in that any team can compete and win and there is balance, but it's not good for US soccer, as they will never get to have Messi or Kaka level superstars - those guys wont come through from a college team ...

i think america should have the same transfer rule as the res of the world as i have just tried... and i stress th word tried... to read th rules on the american transfer system and it blows my mind, how can that actually work, i understand the point of the lowestplaced team getting 1st pick, so it not dominated like.. spl (rangers & celtic), epl (man utd, arsenal, n chelsea), spain ( real m n barca) etc, but the rest of the transfer system blows my mind , god luck if ya staring a mls season

The transfer, or trades, system was put into place due to ownership groups owning multiple teams, the financial instability of a young league, and many other factors. There is no way to build a loyal fan base out of nothing if one team is better funded than another, and can bring in much better players. So everything runs through a central office with trades, signings, drafting players, etc. It has worked amazingly well, despite some drawbacks, in growing a fairly successful league out of nothing. How could you possibly handle transfer bids between two teams that share an owner? Conflict of interest, at all?

MLS has a long way to go, but without the strict financial and team management restrictions of this system it likely would have folded a long time ago, much like the NASL did back in the day. There are many more ownership groups today then there were originally, when I think a good amount of the league was owned by 2 or 3 ownership groups. So maybe the restrictions will change, or lighten, in years to come.

You can pick what you want for your player, the same as any league.

The difference is, you can't actually "buy" players for money from other MLS teams; they must be traded for another player from the "buying" team. Basically, you swap your player for 1 or 2 of theirs (how many players you trade them for depends on his quality of course). As well as getting a player in exchange, you could also get another team's draft picks. A draft is when all youth players become eligible to play in the MLS, and each team takes it in turns to "pick" a new youth player. Therefore, if you have traded one of your own players for another team's draft pick, you can pick 2 players at the start of the next season, instead of just one. I hops this makes sense lol.

Erm, no they don't...........

You can trade for players, picks, allocations or slots. Players are NOT a necessity.

Go and read the Aljarov guide, that will show you the actual rules

i think america should have the same transfer rule as the res of the world as i have just tried... and i stress th word tried... to read th rules on the american transfer system and it blows my mind, how can that actually work, i understand the point of the lowestplaced team getting 1st pick, so it not dominated like.. spl (rangers & celtic), epl (man utd, arsenal, n chelsea), spain ( real m n barca) etc, but the rest of the transfer system blows my mind , god luck if ya staring a mls season

i completely agree, and until that happens nobody will take the league seriously

Decided to start a MLS game for first time ever. Transfer system just blows my mind. Can someone explain to me?

I got an enquiry for one player and this was the screen:

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb15/DeathsKamikaze/?action=view&current=USATransfer.png

What do all these things mean?

I really dont understand ths league.

Thanks in advance.

I'll give it a shot. Aljarov's guide is a great place to start but I'll explain this screen to you.

Players to Exchange = Here you can add players to be traded. When you click "Add" you can be shown your Transfer Listed Players, Other (which can be anyone else from your squad), and occasionally your assistant manager might suggest one of your players to swap. If you select Other you will see your squad; find the guy you want to offer, right click on his name, and choice Exchange Player. Press your left arrow and go back to the Transfer Offer screen. You can go through the previous steps to include more players.

Due to all of the roster restrictions you'll find trading players to be important.

Allocation Funds = Should be familiar, it's the money you can spend to buy players.

Slots = If yours are not being used you will see Designated Player Slot and/or International. A designated player is someone whose salary only counts for $400,000 (or around that) toward the salary cap, although his salary is actually greater than that (i.e. David Beckham of the L.A. Galaxy). International slots allow a team to have international players. International players are those without American as a nationality (in real life, a player with a green card does not count as an International player). A team cannot have more international players than international slots. To see how many your team starts with, you'll have to check Aljarov's guide. To see how many you have in the game in later years and after trades, go to the Squad screen and look at the bottom. It will say "Maximum of x Internationals."

Designated Player and International slots are traded for a certain number of years, which is part of the offer.

Drafts = Here is where you can choose to include draft picks. The SuperDraft is the more important of the Drafts. There are 4 rounds. After the 4 rounds, it stops and all of the left over players are available in the Supplemental Draft which takes place a few days later. The Supplemental Draft has also has 4 rounds but since it's really just an extension of the SuperDraft you can consider a Supplemental 1st round pick to be like a SuperDraft 5th round pick, a Supplemental 2nd round pick to be like a SuperDraft 6th round pick, and so on.

33% of his next transfer fee will be owed to Major League Soccer = When a player on an MLS team is sold to a non-MLS club, 33% of the transfer fee will be given to the league. 67% will go to the team which sold him. Up to $500,000 of this will go directly to Allocation Funds, which you can use to buy more players. The remaining cash will come into your club as income. Example: you sell a player to Europe for $3 million. $1 million goes to the league. You get $500,000 of allocation funds, and an extra $1,500,000 of income. (I might not be correct with all of the numbers but the idea is still the same)

Another thing to remember: players who are traded or bought between MLS teams continue on their current contract. They don't have a choice and they can't refuse a transfer. After your bid is accepted you don't have to offer a new contract.

That must suck royaly for the youth players...

I mean, over here you can generaly play as a youth for your favourite team if you are good enough for them.

But from what i understand of the MLS... your team is near enough complete luck of the draw.

That would cause chaos over here... i can just see a Man City fan being told he now plays for United... a Rangers fan he now plays for Celtic etc...

I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.

I understand what you mean. It really is "near enough complete luck of the draw" which team a player ends up playing for and no one initially loves to play for their childhood rivals.

It's the same way in the NBA and NFL (I don't know too much about the NHL so I'm not going to speak for that). Luckily though, it's never really caused much of a problem. The players just accept that they will play for that team and that's it. The fans never have a problem with it either. Granted, there aren't rivalries in the U.S. that match the magnitude of some of those in Europe or South America.

I agree that as long as MLS has that transfer system, iT will only continue to isolate itself from the rest of the world, and only ever see the worlds best players when there careers are nearly over and just happy to collect a pay check.

One thing I would like to see, is the introduction of the salary cap introduced to European football, I think it would help balance out a lot of things regarding rich clubs buying all the best players? (just an idea) ^^

I agree that as long as MLS has that transfer system, iT will only continue to isolate itself from the rest of the world, and only ever see the worlds best players when there careers are nearly over and just happy to collect a pay check.

One thing I would like to see, is the introduction of the salary cap introduced to European football, I think it would help balance out a lot of things regarding rich clubs buying all the best players? (just an idea) ^^

The problem is that the infrastructure of the league would crumble. And every other North American League has the same way in dealing with transfers. The last thing MLS needs to do is implementing a player transfer system, costs are going to go up, and teams would fold. North American franchises operate differently than European teams. It can't work financially. Trades and the draft is part of North American sports, and will frankly stay. It's a North American thing. (and I LOVE drafts)

The upside to the American youth setup is that all the kids play near their home. You grow up with your parents, go to school near their house, go home every night. I may not understand the youth setup in Europe, but I'm under the impression the kids essentially go to a boarding school which concentrates on their footballing skills. That school may or may not be near their parent's home. Right?

American kids then go to the college of their choice and get their advanced education, realizing that the vast majority of them will play their last major competitive match at the end of their college careers. They then lead a regular life with a degree in their field of choice. I presume there's a similar European path...

But, yes. It does happen that a kid who grew up supporting one team will end up being drafted by that team's rival. Everyone is aware of that possibility, and allegiances have been known to switch...

There's also the famous story of the NFL's Eli Manning, who was drafted out of college with the 1st pick of the 1st round by the lowly San Diego Chargers. He refused to sign for them, and had made it know well in advance of the draft that he would never play a down in a San Diego uniform. San Diego drafted him anyway, and traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers and two other picks, which were used by San Diego to draft two eventual Pro Bowl'ers.

It's a North American thing. (and I LOVE drafts)

So do I, especially in the NBA! Nothing like a player lighting up the league in his first season, dragging his terrible team mates up from the gutter!

I agree that as long as MLS has that transfer system, iT will only continue to isolate itself from the rest of the world, and only ever see the worlds best players when there careers are nearly over and just happy to collect a pay check.

The MLS doesn't have much of a choice, do they? There isn't enough interest (and therefore money) in the U.S. right now for soccer to support the wages it would take to bring a worldclass player here. If they change the transfer system, what good would that do? Teams would just have to spend even more money on the same caliber players.

There's also the famous story of the NFL's Eli Manning, who was drafted out of college with the 1st pick of the 1st round by the lowly San Diego Chargers. He refused to sign for them, and had made it know well in advance of the draft that he would never play a down in a San Diego uniform. San Diego drafted him anyway, and traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers and two other picks, which were used by San Diego to draft two eventual Pro Bowl'ers.

Don't forget about Paul Pierce? He grew up in L.A. hating the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird. Now he's becoming a Celtics legend.

The MLS doesn't have much of a choice, do they? There isn't enough interest (and therefore money) in the U.S. right now for soccer to support the wages it would take to bring a worldclass player here. If they change the transfer system, what good would that do? Teams would just have to spend even more money on the same caliber players.

Fair enuff, you do make a good point.

Maybe a part of the reason it isn't interesting enough to americans is because of the lack of world class players lighting up the MLS with there great skills. You have enough soccer fans in America for the sport to take off, and you have enough investers to pump the needed cash into the game (just look at Man United and Aston Villa's backers). Fair enough the economy at present means nows not a good time, but my opinion it is because the sport is using the same method and system as all your other major sports i.e NFL,NBA,MLB,NHL its fighting a losing battle, in trying to recruit players who it seems only play soccer (and theres not many of them) in college because they are not good enough to play the other above mentioned sports. Just look at your womens team, they are world beaters because thats the only sport they have played since a very young age.

MLS needs world class players who can be seen playing at there best in there prime infront of your home crowds to inspire 6+ year olds to play soccer and only want to play soccer to one day emulate that star player they watched. Its not good enough seeing foreign players on Tele who have no connection with local support or seeing an ageing David Beckham.

Dont get me wrong, I love the draft system, but just dont think its right for MLS at mo, and your right that theres not much choice when you have soo little backers, but trying to emulate the same old draft formula into soccer is not the right way of attracting major backers.

There are a few things that you need to remember when bagging the American systems that they use. I don't particularly like the system, particularly the draft idea although I can see how it helps. The system only operates within America remember. Subject to the various conditions (international player slots etc.) they can still pay a transfer fee for a player from Europe or anywhere else in the world, it's only internal transfers that are governed by trades.

I can see how the draft is designed to level the playing field and I think it works well in the NBA, NHL and NFL but for footballI just don't like it, there are far better ways to ensure even competition, my favourite of which is what we have here in Australia, a salary cap (which I know also operates in the MLS but it would seem not as effectively) which has done a fantastic job of keeping our league nice and even, the team that won the league in 2007/08 has just finished bottom of our league in 2008/09

Like I said before I love the draft, I'm a huge NFL fan and wouldnt want to see any other system in the NFL.

I would just think that a better Idea would be for the MLS as a league to use its funds and purchase a few top drawer youngsters and then loan them to MLS clubs for an agreed amount of time, a bit like the Carlos Teves contract. Then when they sell the players to europe for profit all the money goes back into the MLS so they can buy more young talent, and spread more of it around to more teams. Then the more talent the teams have the better backers they will attract.

I too would like to see a salary cap, but It would have to be monitored like a hawk, because of all the underhand dealings that would go on. i.e giving a player huge amounts of signing on bonuses that only rich teams can afford to pay to supplement his low salary.

The only reason that there is the draft is because the 'best' young American and Canadian talent are in the US Colleges, and most teams do have an academy, but it's still relatively new, and the better players, in terms of skill and maturity, are probably playing NCAA soccer.

I think that as there's more youngsters playing soccer in Canada and the US, and getting into MLS academies, and eventually earning a spot on the senior roster, the Superdraft will be fazed out and won't be as important, but probably won't be abolished, so youngsters playing in College can still play in MLS.

Devilsharck: Where will these players come from? Are they Canadians and Americans? MLS needs to have a strong number of domestic players who can compete. I wouldn't want Europeans stealing a senior spot from a young Canadian or American with potential.

I would actually like to encourage relationships between MLS teams and international teams from abroad (LA Galaxy and Chelsea, San Jose and Spurs, Chivas USA and Chivas, Colorado with Arsenal and Pachuca, FC Dallas with Tigres and Althetico Paranaense, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid, and also rumours that FC Barcelona is backing Miami's bid to re-enter MLS). This would give MLS teams individual financial benefits, and the league would also thrive from their youngsters doing well abroad to strength the American and Canadian national teams.

I wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.

Strange, thats exactly what I'd wish on my worst enemy

thats why american sport works... it's concept on college scouting and drafts makes it very rare for teams to win it every year like man utd or chelsea.... thus making it a more unpredictable season

oh and another thing we could learn from american sport is ............... drum roll ..................... salary cap!!!!!!! protect the smaller teams ffs cap greedy players to under 50k per week premiership and 12k per week championship and so on

i'd be all for a similar system in england tbh