MLS needs to open it’s checkbooks
Ever since San Diego FC played their first game in 2025, I have been obsessed with learning everything that needed to be learned regarding Major League Soccer. Other than a few historical moments and players like David Beckham joining the league or Thierry Henry going to New York, I’ve been mostly just casually catching a game here and there when their is absolutely nothing to watch. For good reasons to. Let’s face it. The players and the game itself in the MLS is not quite the same quality as other leagues around the world. Before San Diego FC came into the league, I followed exclusively The Barclay’s Premier League. The obvious disparity of the quality of players and the game being played itself was night and day, and there was no way you could’ve convinced me to leave that all behind and jump ship to our local national leagues. It just wasn’t the case. But when San Diego got its very own Major League Soccer team, I decided to give it a shot cause I wanted a local team to root for (Sorry USL, I thought about checking out San Diego Loyal, and I feel like I missed out on that, but here we are). From the get go, I got sucked in to becoming a fanatic. A rather unhealthy amount of desire to follow Azul y Chrome to the peak of joy all the way to the depths of misery engulfed my very existence, and I became hungry to learn more about this league. All it’s ins and outs, history, and structure.
So far I can say I have caught up and became pretty knowledgeable based on various Apple TV MLS features, YouTube videos, and just mingling online with people who have been life-long followers of the league. The one part about the league I have not been able to understand in order to fully engulf my knowledge bucket with top-notch information to earn a PHD in U.S. soccer, is the ever confusing Roster Rules. Apparently, rocket scientists are still going through the discovery phase of fully untangling the web of algebra required to stay within the salary cap restrictions imposed on all 30 teams in the league. Probably the only team that has figured it out is Inter Miami, but that’s a whole other blog to write and I don’t necessary like hate-writing. In other words, this shit is confusing. So I get the designated player part where you can sign a player of such immense talent that you can print money to bring this star in and his pay won’t count against the cap. I understand that one and can give myself a bit of an A+ score for comprehension. But then we go into the weeds of GAM and TAM and U-22 rosters and have two or three DP’s, and all of a sudden I feel like I just took a giant bong rip of indica and was asked to explain a statistical analysis of the New York stock exchange. My confidence in being a good “learner” was shattered the minute I tried to sit down and understand the complexities of how a soccer player gets paid. And so I had to just really simplify it for myself in order to fully give my 2 cents on the matter (and even that I feel like my 2 cents has gone over the GAM restrictions!).
What it all boils down to is that our players who are not Designated Players are paid like crap. In other words, If we develop or find a standout talent amongst our ranks, you can guarantee that player is going to be ripped away from our squad and shipped out to higher bidders in Europe and even in Liga MX. In return, we sign well-known superstars in this global game but are already 2 years removed from joining AARP or collecting social security. In other words, they are past their prime and we just signed them to sell jerseys. All in the name of parity, our league has kept this formulaic structure so that some teams who don’t want or can’t shell out the top dinero can stay competitive, and have a shot at grabbing a trophy or two. Which I guess in a way is what makes the MLS incredibly competitive. There is a benefit to these restrictions and I’m not saying it’s bad per say. But in the year of 2026, there needs to be a change. The FIFA World Cup summer was played in North America and the desire for soccer has indeed increased. Curiosity of the MLS has grown and the league has to capitalize on this.
On Tuesday, August 4th, 2026, the team owners of the MLS will be discussing changes to the roster rules. Many news outlets are hyping this as a key moment in the MLS 3.0 project touted by Commissioner Don Garber, and we all should be excited. Nothing confirmed as of this blog’s publish date, but many speculate an increase of the salary cap per team from roughly $6 million to maybe around $12 million or more. Also speculated is the untangling of all those weird restrictions that the team sporting directors have to maze through in order to fit the GAMs, TAMs, and the ‘wam-bam’ thank you ma’ams that prevent weirdo fanatics like me from pulling out the calculator and doing their jobs for them. Many fans from other leagues have no problem giving their teams praise for getting the best money can buy, or absolute ridicule for not opening their checkbooks wide enough for our team to compete for the grand prize.
Honestly, I am rooting for this positive change not really o bring in players like Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, or Lamine Yamal into our league (Although I say this, I will definitely cheer for San Diego FC to go after any of these three mentioned), but so we can retain our current star players. Many of us fans have for a long time assumed that we shouldn’t get attached to such breakout stars like Luca Bombino, Manu Duah, or David Vazquez because it has already been written in the stars that they will fly away from the birds nest to greener pastures. Just recently we found out that David Vazquez was already one cleat and a half away from going to Club America in Mexico City but the deal fell through because of visa issues which would’ve prevented him from arriving to their club till January 2027. Personally and selfishly, I didn’t want this deal to go through because he is a fantastic player. But we can’t compete monetarily. And because of the whole fiasco of losing a DP spot due to the friction with Chucky Lozano and the locker room, we have to pull the trigger on the 3rd DP spot and release some of our U-22 talents (at least that’s the best I can explain… I’m probably wrong but so is two thirds of the population of MLS fans trying to decipher the roster rules). Some of us are already bracing for the departure of our beloved center back Manu Duah, and our prodigy full back Luca Bombino. They are too good for the salary we are paying them. Which is the point of why we need such increases to our cap and de-cluttering of the roster rules.
San Diego FC has already planted their flag declaring that they want to be “producers” of the next soccer star. They were born out of Sir Mohammed Mansour’s Right to Dream Academy system and are dead set on becoming one of, if not, the best academy in the United States. If so, I would definitely want our team to have first dibs in retaining our talents. And when we do go out to the market and buy a fantastic player, I want our team to be able to sway them from enticing offers from across the pond or border. I want our team to be the greenest pasture players can count on for prosperous wealth and a healthy amount of bling bling. I mean, San Diego on it’s own already is quite expensive to live in. At least pay them enough money to buy 2 decent houses in Eastlake Chula Vista or a meager abode in Del Mar. Theoretically, if we can offer our players more, than that would drive up their value as well and force clubs from other leagues to cough up even bigger swads of cash that we can use. It’s a win for the league, a win for our club, and a win for the sport itself in our United States of America. So in the name of everything dirty with capitalism, and the sheer boldness of trying to finally be competitive with the rest of the world. Let’s hope this change brings Major League Soccer out of the closet of shame, and into the rainbow light of prosperity. #Blingforbombino
