Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
MLS is a league of parity. Its structure, labyrinthine as it, ensures that there is some level of parity present. No matter how MLS’ arcane roster rules are shuffled, excised or updated in the upcoming CBA, parity isn’t going anywhere.
That does not mean the paradigm in the league hasn’t shifted dramatically during recent years. With every new year, a team comes in spending more and more on players forcing everyone else to adapt or be left behind. It can be existing teams like the Galaxy and Toronto FC, or new teams like Atlanta and LAFC. This past season’s final four shows where the league now is: to compete at the highest level, you’d best be ready to open your checkbook.
Sporting Kansas City is not a club that splurged on big name DP signings and transfer fees, preferring to use their cash evenly across their roster to create more balance. That worked extremely well, until recently when one of the league’s most consistent clubs was consistently off the pace. They knew they had to spend to not just thrive, but survive, and so they spent a reported $9.5 million on Mexican striker Alan Pulido from Chivas. In many ways, this signing is the antithesis of what the Sporting way used to be, but out of necessity, somewhat spendthrift ownership now is diving in deeper waters.
Vancouver Whitecaps might still be sitting on the MLS record outgoing transfer fee for Alphonso Davies, but they haven’t necessarily been willing to spend to bring in players at any point in their history. But they too are about to dive in deep water, spending around $6 million on Canadian striker Lucas Cavallini, according to reports. San Jose Earthquakes just broke their transfer record to signing winger Christian Espinoza permanently, too.
These three clubs are the first in a series of transfer dealings that will see clubs repeatedly break their incoming transfer records, just to stay competitive. If a rising tide lifts all boats, rising player spending is forcing everyone around MLS, even the thriftiest owners, to adapt or risk being left behind. Even a club like the Philadelphia Union spent big on salary to bring in Marco Fabian last year, as DC United did with Wayne Rooney, and so on. It’s not as if teams that don’t spend at the highest levels are without hope, because teams like the Union, Red Bulls, FC Dallas and now the Rapids are becoming more and more competitive with younger, homegrown squads augmented by bigger signings here and there.
But for clubs like Sporting Kansas City, and others who wish to aspire to that level, they cannot spend at the levels they used to if they want to achieve what they achieved before. In order to compete at the highest level with clubs like Atlanta, LAFC, Seattle, Toronto and more, clubs will need to spend more than they’ve ever been willing to before, because those clubs are not coming back to the pack.
The new CBA might eliminate DP’s, TAM, or make any number of other changes to how MLS operates, but what isn’t changing is that every club in MLS now must spend to succeed in some way. Sporting Kansas City was the model club that smaller clubs could emulate, knowing they could succeed without spending a giant amount of cash to do so.
But that is no longer the league that SKC, and by virtue more than half of MLS, now play in. It’s a brave new world, and how that is embraced by clubs will determine where they finish in future seasons.
