Why Can't McBride Choose His MLS Team?

Here's some irony for you: Brian McBride announced last week that he was leaving Fulham and returning to the U.S. to finish out his career in Major League Soccer. According to reports, he wants to play for the Chicago Fire, which is his hometown club.

However, McBride can't sign a contract with a specific MLS club. He has to sign with the league itself, who then allocates him to a specific club -- and the club at the top of the allocation list is Toronto FC.

So the best striker in American soccer history comes home and finds that MLS rules will force him to play for the lone Canadian club.

Seriously, does that seem right to you? Why does McBride have to go through all this red tape just to sign with his chosen MLS club? Rules like this are why so many people view MLS as less than major league. Free agents should be allowed to sign with the club they choose, not the club the league assigns to them. This is just one more thing that really needs to be fixed in the next collective bargaining agreement.

You know where McBride should really be today? Santander. The U.S. men's national team takes on Spain today, and with Landon Donovan still begging out with a ~~lack of balls~~ sore groin, the U.S. needs all the help up front it can get.

(H/T: Soccer By Ives)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-04-2008 @ 11:09AM

Horatio said...

You are an idiot. You know that, don't you? Not to mention, you whine more than any blogger I've had the (dis)pleasure of reading.

McBride is doing nothing different than any other player coming back from europe - and that includes Donovan as well. Both times. Donovan, too signed a contract with MLS; he wanted to play in LA but San Jose had the first allocation. MLS tried to force them to make a trade. They wouldn't. Donovan played in San Jose.

Fast forward to Donovan's 2nd stint. He signed with MLS; he wanted to play in LA but Dallas had the allocation. They forced LA to trade Ruiz for the allocation, the NO. 1 striker in MLS for Donovan.

So McBride wants to play in Chicago. It will happen if Chicago wants him as bad as LA wanted Donovan. Chicago will have to give up something to get him, though. Nothing different than anything else.

6-04-2008 @ 11:14AM

Permanent4 said...

Horatio: No different from anything else in MLS, you mean. Show me one other soccer league in the world that operates with a stupid rule like this. Hell, show me one other sports league in America that "allocates" veteran free agents.

It's Mickey Mouse, and it ought to be changed.

6-04-2008 @ 11:18AM

lzrdkng82 said...

i don't even try to undestand all this trading business.. why can't a club pay for a player and just sign him?!

works in every other country that plays football. as far as i'm aware.

players sign for the league, not clubs? clubs get allocations? clubs at the top of a list get first refusal on a player?

wtf?

6-04-2008 @ 3:43PM

Cris said...

I would have to side on both sides of the fence here. I too am in favour of teams and players being able to do wht they want and buy or sell players at will, but not at the cost of the league. The MLS is just trying to keep parody in the league, as it is still a young league. It does not want dummy's like the one that wrote this blog to quit watching or going to games because his team can't compete. If it were the way "dummy" wants it then you would have stacked teams in LA New York and DC maybe CHIVAS USA too. Then all the rest of league would not be winning,loose local interest and then the team folds. Its like the expansion of the NHL into the southern states unless you have constant action and some cheerleaders no one cares. Its not like in the NFL where you're born and bred fans. The rest of the world is the same people support teams not because they win but because its their team. I'm sure the league will continue to do this until it feels it can retain a solid following but that prob won't happen for another decade.

Think before you write....

6-04-2008 @ 4:18PM

Dave said...

Well, so far, I've been called "dummy" and "idiot" for disagreeing with the way MLS is set up. I had no idea Alexi Lalas had so many staffers reading this blog.

First off, Cris, the word is "parity." Parody means something else entirely, though it does seem to fit MLS fairly well on occasions like this.

Second, I don't think parity is a terrible thing for MLS, but they take it way too far with rules like this. The bottom line is that Brian McBride should be a free agent, but because he has to sign a contract with the league and not the club -- and I repeat, NO OTHER SOCCER LEAGUE ON THE PLANET DOES THIS, not even USL -- he can't choose which team he plays for, and that's just ridiculous.

If an NFL team spots a really good quarterback in the CFL or in Arena Football, it can sign him as a free agent without Roger Goodell saying, "No, he has to go through the college draft first." The QB is already a pro and can do what he wants. If a baseball club spots a raw talent throwing a 100-MPH fastball in a pro league in the Dominican Republic, the club can sign him outright without league interference.

So why should McBride, a pro's pro, be forced to go through MLS' allocation system? What's the point? Why shouldn't he be free to sign a deal with whatever club he wants?

This is not about parity. It's about propping up a system that favors stingy owners and their profit margins over quality players and quality football. You can have a salary cap, but the current cap is way too small, and the minimum salaries are insane. Developmental players make about as much as Wal-Mart employees. That's why talented guys like Matt Kassel and Martin Nunez aren't with the Red Bulls right now. For Kassel, college is better than working at Wal-Mart, and for Nunez, starting for a USL club is more profitable.

Yes, McBride will probably end up in Chicago, but the point is that they shouldn't have to make a whole bunch of deals to make that happen. It's just silliness, and it's one more issue MLS needs to be iron out in the next collective bargaining agreement. If these issues linger past 2010, some USL club whose owner has a lot of extra cash is going to take the Open Cup and steal a Champions League spot from MLS, and more people will start to debate which league is better for American soccer's future.

6-05-2008 @ 12:12PM

B said...

"Why does McBride have to go through all this red tape just to sign with his chosen MLS club? Rules like this are why so many people view MLS as less than major league."

You make a valid point, but a minor one in the context of why MLS is viewied worldwide as it is - because the level of play is pitiful and laughable and there's absolutely no good reason for a football fan to pay any attention to it when there's international, Premiership, SPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, etc., games to watch.