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Allocation money

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In Major League Soccer, allocation money represents an amount of money teams can use to sign players and/or allocate to their salaries to get under the salary cap.

Contents

Obtaining allocation money

Allocation money given to teams for seven reasons:

  1. Annual allocation money for each team ($200,000 general allocation money, $100,000 targeted allocation money, and $1,200,000 additional targeted allocation money in 2017)
  2. Teams that have missed the playoffs the previous seasons
  3. Expansion teams in their first season
  4. Transferring a player to a non-MLS club for value
  5. Teams playing in the CONCACAF Champions League Group Stages or Knockout Round (with additional money being given for each of those a team is in for a given season)
  6. Teams can trade in two of their eight "Off-Budget" (non-cap) roster spots for allocation money
  7. Teams that have yet to purchase a third Designated Player Slot split the money paid by teams getting their 3rd slot as allocation money.

Uses

General allocation money can be used in several ways:

  • Reduce the amount of money that a non-Designated Player Rule Player costs against the salary cap down to the league minimum salary ($65,000 in 2017).
  • Reduce the amount of money that a Designated Player costs against the salary cap down from $480,625 to a minimum of $150,000.
  • Change a player whose salary would get a Designated Player Rule Slot back into a normal salary slot (by reducing the salary below $480,625).
  • Acquire players outside the MLS (using allocation Money for any part of the salary or trade cost).
  • Trade it to another team for any value desired.

    • Targeted allocation money can be used in several ways:

  • Acquire players outside the MLS. Unlike general allocation money, however, targeted allocation money can only be used for players earning more than the maximum salary budget charge, which in 2017 is $480,625.
  • Convert a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player by buying down his salary budget charge to below the maximum salary budget charge provided the club then signs a new Designated Player at an investment equal to or greater than the player he is replacing.
  • Reduce the salary budget charge of one of its existing Designated Players to below the maximum, provided the club then signs a Designated Player at an investment equal to or greater than the player being bought down.
  • Trade it to another team for any value desired.

    • Whether the allocation is given, and its size is determined by MLS; the details are not disclosed to the general public. Citing this, some in the MLS community have accused the league of favoring major market teams, particularly the Los Angeles Galaxy, in the use of allocations.

    Twice in league history, an allocation received for a lost player was used on the same player upon his return to the league: by the Chicago Fire on Ante Razov and by the New England Revolution on Daniel Hernandez.

    Other allocations

    Allocation money is not to be confused with the MLS Allocation Order, which is a ranking used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a player who is in MLS allocation list. MLS allocation list contains select U.S. National Team players and players transferred outside of MLS garnering transfer fee of at least $500,000. Along with Allocation Money, Allocation Order rankings can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s Allocation ranking.

    References

    Allocation money Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA