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Does the Designated Player Rule (Beckham Rule) hurt or help the growth of MLS?

Results so far:

Help		29%	2 votes	Total: 7 votes
Hurt		71%	5 votes	Total: 7 votes

Help

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I think the Designated Player Rule will help the MLS [Major League Soccer]. While it cannot be denied that the MLS has some growing pains economically, the comparisons with the New York Cosmos and the NASL are ridiculous. The MLS is growing and increasing in popularity in spite of the censorship of the United States Television Stations and some of the detractors of the game. Before discussing about the Designated Player Rule, it is important to discuss what it is. The Designated Player Rule is a variation of a salary cap which was adopted in order for US and Canadian Clubs can sign International Players with $400,000 being charged to the salary cap. The only exceptions to the rules was Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, and Carlos Ruiz who were grandfathered into the MLS. The only Major League Soccer Clubs that have the privilege of two designated player slots are DC United and the New Yok Red Bulls.

I am a proud supporter of the United States Soccer Team and the Major League Soccer who thinks that the Designated Player Rule help the domestic side of football [soccer]. How will it help the MLS? It will stimulate the MLS to create better programmes to help domestic players while accepting foreign players that will help train the donestic ones. The Designated Player Rule should be applied evenly in favour of domestic players as well as foreign players since there is the disadvantage in favour of foreign players. The Designated Player Rule should accept those players who are well qualified regardless of origin and should accept the best in the univesrities and high school of those who are qualified to play football [soccer]. The Designated Player Rule should also be reviewed and in any case should be modified to fit the situations governing the Major League Soccer and other associations. Maybe the New York Red Bulls and DC United will have to give up one slot to be at par with the rest of MLS. the other suggestion would be for all of the MLS to adopt the two slot system in order to ensure equality.

Regardless, Major League Soccer will continue to grow and thrive. It will start and continue to build its own history just as previous leagues in Asia, Europe, and Africa have done before the United States. Major League Soccer will grow as the presence of people who love football and soccer multiply. Only time will tell what will transpire.

Learn more about this author, Roberto Alvarez-Galloso.
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Hurt

1 of 1

by Zach Bigalke

I think the "Beckham Rule" will hurt MLS for the following reasons:

1. Domestic Talent Exodus - Younger domestic & unheralded Central & S. American players are getting discovered in MLS... & then BOLTING for Europe. The Beckham Rule offers no incentive for non-marquee players to STAY in MLS...

Adding one marquee player does little if anything to improve the overall talent level. The designated player counts as $400,000 toward the cap... so one player takes up one-sixth of cap space. This forces teams to prioritize between a skilled TEAM and a skilled PLAYER. One better player does not a better team make...

2. Haves & Have-nots - The 2008 projected MLS salary cap is $2.3 million. One player making 3x the total cap (as is the case w/Beckham's precedent-setting $6.5 million base salary) only serves to drain the overall talent level as clubs can only hang on to their one star and a rotating cast of minimum-wage journeymen...

Five players are currently signed for the 2008 season under the Designated Player Rule:

Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls (32/$1.6m)
David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy (32/$6.5m)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago Fire (35/$2.7m)
Marcelo Gallardo, D.C. United (32/$1.3m)
Claudio Reyna, New York Red Bulls (34/$1.25m)

The reality is that the DP/Beckham rule brings in NAMES. All these players are past their prime seasons. Gallardo was signed after no one wanted him elsewhere after a disappointing season. Beckham has been largely an on-field bust. Blanco has only 4 goals in 17 appearances.

These moves are being made SOLELY for the purposes of getting big names. The goal for the MLS is to still be afloat in the near & distant future. The Designated Player Rule is a restricted attempt to become what the NASL was from 1968-1984... a premier American soccer league...

3. Fiscal health - MLS has lost $350 million in its first 12 years. Big-name players end up receiving the lion's share of revenue. Gate receipts and jersey sales can only do so much to offset the elephantine salaries.

But the NASL folded because it overpaid for aging & overrated BIG NAMES. The Designated Player Rule does nothing more than try to placate owner lust for marquee names & make a short-term effort to grab fans before debts get too big for solvency. MLS still only draws a 0.2 average TV rating... & gets, on average, 70,000 more for Beckham & LA...

I would ponder this: what is most important to the long-term survival of MLS - short-term buzz and continued fiscal decrepitude, or righting the books BEFORE growing into a star-packed league? The Beckham Rule sets a precedent that the league will subvert its own carefully-laid plans in a floundering effort to generate buzz with over-the-hill stars.

There is historical evidence that this method will work in the short term for an American professional soccer league. The NASL did it, most spectacularly with Pele & the New York Cosmos, but it did it while all the while bleeding money. Owners are giving themselves the rope to commit financial suicide...

The MLS needs attention, certainly, if it is to grow into a respected American professional league. Yet the early television returns seem to portend no great leap for revenues or ratings. The MLS Cup will continue to change hands in obscurity until the league realizes it needs more than just some pretty faces & well-known names to draw in viewers and breed new soccer fans...

Learn more about this author, Zach Bigalke.
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