Why Major League Soccer’s new CBA is good news for Charlotte’s MLS expansion club
Major League Soccer and its players association agreed to terms in a five-year collective bargaining agreement Thursday. The new terms include increasing the amount teams are able to spend on player salaries, expanding free agency and improving player experience with more charter flights for away matches.
“We feel this was a huge step forward for both the players and the league in so many areas,” tweeted Montreal Impact goalie Evan Bush.
For Charlotte’s expansion team, which will take the field in 2021, the new terms provide greater flexibility for players and Charlotte’s burgeoning club. Here’s how:
Expanded free agency is good for an expanding team
Under the new CBA, players who are 24 or older and have spent at least five years in the league are now eligible for free agency, which lowers the previous eligibility threshold from 28 years old with eight years of MLS service.
In the past, players who were out of contract but not eligible for free agency had to re-enter the draft, and, in many cases, their former team retained their MLS rights. The lowered threshold should help free up younger, newer talent for Charlotte since out-of-contract free agents are not automatically protected by their former teams in the expansion draft, which will take place in November.
Although only five players can be selected in the expansion draft and they typically do not end up playing for those teams, better picks would still bode well for Charlotte because it would still be able to trade with other clubs in exchange for players or assets, such as allocation money.
The expanded free-agent eligibility will also play out during the league’s transfer windows, which are other periods when Charlotte can add to its roster. The team will likely participate in the second of the two transfer windows this summer.
“We have already started researching, scouting and analyzing potential targets,” Charlotte MLS Sporting Director Zoran Krneta said last month. “I am confident that we will be doing business in the Secondary Transfer Window in the summer of 2020.”
Clubs can spend more money, and team owner David Tepper has money to spend
Designated players and those earning more than the maximum salary will also be eligible for free agency for the first time under the new CBA terms. This is big news for Charlotte because designated players are not bound by a salary cap, which means an owner can spend as much as he or she wants on recruiting top-tier players from around the world, similar to how Atlanta United built its team in 2014.
Tepper, who is the NFL’s richest owner and owner of the Carolina Panthers, already agreed to pay a record $325 million expansion fee to bring the team to Charlotte. He is set to invest at least another $100 million on player salaries and coaching staff, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.
“I want to win that MLS Cup,” Tepper said in December. “We will have everything in place by the time we play. We’d like to win the first season, but we understand — as I’ve said in other situations — that things are a process.”
Last season, MLS club spending was capped at just under $8.5 million. By 2024, that number will increase to roughly $11.6 million under the new CBA.
More salary budget flexibility, but impact on Charlotte is TBD
The latest CBA also allots $1.2 million in General Allocation Money (GAM), which can be used across the entire roster rather than only on player contracts in a specific salary range, which is what that money was previously designated for (i.e., Targeted Allocation Money). It has yet to be seen how this will impact Charlotte since expansion clubs receive a separate amount of GAM for their inaugural season.
Last season, for example, Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC received additional general allocation money as compensation for five exempt teams (which were exempt because they had players selected in the expansion draft the year prior), protected Homegrown players and the one additional protected player per team allotted in the expansion draft.
The amount of GAM Charlotte will receive has yet to be announced.
The latest CBA marked a win for players, as it also includes increasing the number of charter flights for teams from four last season to 16 in 2024, increasing the minimum salary for players on the senior roster, as well as expanding players’ share in media revenue.
From the outset, it also appears to benefit Charlotte’s new club.
“We have been able to reach an agreement that will provide players with greater rights and increased compensation,” MLSPA Executive Board Member Jeff Larentowicz said in a statement Thursday. “And will ensure that the league’s resources continue to be used to create a league of choice for players both on and off the field.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 5:47 PM.
