Designated Player Rule

Steven Gerrard, LA Galaxy's former Designated Player

The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule,^[1] was adopted as part of the salary cap regulations of Major League Soccer for the 2007 season. The rule allows each MLS franchise to sign players that would be considered outside of the team's salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee for the player), allowing MLS teams to compete for star players in the international soccer market. Clubs have the option to use allocation money against a players contract, so to avoid a player with a Designated Player level salary using one of the club's Designated Player slots. As of December 2015, there have been 114 designated players in the MLS.

The rule is informally named after David Beckham, in anticipation of MLS teams signing lucrative deals with internationally recognized players of Beckham's caliber.^[1][2] Beckham was the first player signed under this rule, signing a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy with guaranteed annual salary of $6.5 million.^[3][4]

History

The team salary cap was estimated to be around US$1.9 million in 2006,^[5] was $2.1 million in 2007, and was raised to $2.3 million for the 2008 season.^[6][7] As part of the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLS and the MLS Players' Union, the 2010 salary cap was $2.55 million, with an automatic five percent increase each year until the expiration of the agreement at the end of the 2014 season.

Under the 2007 rule:

• The rule expires at the end of the 2009 season, and must be renewed then or allowed to lapse.
• For each Designated Player, $400,000^[7][8] of his salary is charged to the salary cap and paid by the league, with any remaining salary being paid by the team's owner. This value was increased for the 2009 season to $415,000.
• Prior to the 2007 season, there were three players whose salary exceeded $400,000. These players were Landon Donovan, Carlos Ruiz and Eddie Johnson. According to the rule, these players were grandfathered in for the 2007 season, and the exemption was extended after the 2007 season, with the league planning to review the issue at a future date. It was possible that the league would be required to renegotiate these players' contracts or consider them Designated Players. However, prior to the start of the 2008 season, Johnson moved to Fulham of the Premier League,^[9] while following Dwayne De Rosario's signing by Toronto FC in January 2009, Ruiz was released by the club and left MLS to play for Olimpia Asunción. This left Donovan as the lone player whose 2009 salary remained grandfathered under the exemption provision. However, there were several more players whose guaranteed salary exceeded the Designated Player amount, but whose salary cap expense was actually lower than their true salary due to the allocation rule. These players include Shalrie Joseph ($450,000), Christian Gomez ($430,000), Dwayne De Rosario ($425,750), and Taylor Twellman ($420,000).
• Each team initially had one Designated Player spot, but could trade their Designated Spot to another team; teams were allowed a maximum of two Designated Players.
• Only $325,000 of a team's second Designated Player counted against the salary cap, which was increased to $335,000 in 2009.^[7]

The 2010 changes:^[10]

• The rule has no expiration date.
• For each Designated Player, $335,000 of his salary is charged to the salary cap and paid by the league ($167,500 for DP players joining during the MLS summer transfer window), with any remaining salary being paid by the team's owner. This amount is halved for Designated Players signed in the middle of the season. The salary cap value of Designated Players can also be reduced using allocation money. Finally, teams whose Designated Players transfer abroad in the middle of a season can recoup part of the Designated Players' salary cap value.
• Landon Donovan is no longer grandfathered into the rule and must be considered a Designated Player.
• Each team is allowed two Designated Player spots, and they can no longer trade their Designated Player spots. The New York Red Bulls will receive $70,000 in allocation money in return for the nullification of their 2007 trade with Chivas USA for an additional Designated Player spot. This means that both New York and Chivas USA will have two Designated Player spots for the 2010 season.
• Teams can pay a $250,000 "luxury tax" for the right to sign a third Designated Player. This $250,000 would be distributed equally to all MLS teams that have not signed a third Designated Player in the form of allocation money.

The 2012 changes:^[11]

Starting with the 2012 season, the rule was changed with respect to younger players. MLS announced the changes in August 2011 after clubs expressed concern about signing young international players with no guarantees that they would develop into stars.

• Designated Players over the age of 23 will carry a salary budget charge of $350,000, unless the player joins his club in the middle of the season, in which case his budget charge will be $175,000.
• Designated Players 21–23 years old count as $200,000 against the club’s salary budget.
• Designated Players 20 years old or younger count as $150,000 against the club’s salary budget.
• The budget charge for the midseason signing of a young Designated Player (23 years old and younger) is $150,000 and this amount cannot be lowered with allocation funds.
• Clubs will not have to buy the third DP roster slot to accommodate Designated Players 23 years old and younger.
• Age of player is determined by year (not date) of birth.

The maximum budget charge for Designated Players over age 23 was increased to $368,750 for 2013, $387,500 in 2014, $436,250 in 2015, and $457,500 in 2016. The budget charge for those who join during the midseason transfer window has remained at one-half of the full-season cap charge since the inception of the rule. The budget charges for younger players have not changed since 2012.^[12]

Background

David Beckham

The rule is informally named after soccer star David Beckham, in anticipation of MLS teams signing lucrative deals with internationally recognized players of Beckham's caliber.^[1][2] As it turned out, Beckham was indeed the first player to be signed under this rule, signing a lucrative contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy worth up to $250 million over five years, with direct guaranteed compensation from MLS and Galaxy at $6.5 million a year.^[3] The rest of Beckham's increased earnings would come from Beckham regaining the entirety of his image rights, of which Real Madrid had owned fifty percent, effectively doubling his existing endorsement income, as well as new endorsement deals, a share of jersey sales, bonuses, etc.^[4]

Current Designated Players

Year signed	Player	Nation	Current club	2016 Guaranteed compensation [13]
2012	Higuaín, FedericoFederico Higuaín	ARG	Columbus Crew	$1,175,000
2013	Valeri, DiegoDiego Valeri	ARG	Portland Timbers	$550,000
2014	Laba, MatíasMatías Laba	ARG	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$720,500
2013	Dempsey, ClintClint Dempsey	USA	Seattle Sounders FC	$4,605,492
2013	Diaz, MauroMauro Diaz	ARG	FC Dallas	$544,400
2014	Bradley, MichaelMichael Bradley	USA	Toronto FC	$6,500,000
2014	Edu, MauriceMaurice Edu	USA	Philadelphia Union	$793,750
2014	Morales, PedroPedro Morales	CHI	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$1,258,900
2014	Villa, DavidDavid Villa	ESP	New York City FC	$5,610,000
2014	Kaká, Kaká	BRA	Orlando City	$7,167,500
2014	Piatti, IgnacioIgnacio Piatti	ARG	Montreal Impact	$425,000
2014	Besler, MattMatt Besler	USA	Sporting Kansas City	$733,250
2014	Zusi, GrahamGraham Zusi	USA	Sporting Kansas City	$732,102
2014	Beasley, DaMarcusDaMarcus Beasley	USA	Houston Dynamo	$813,333
2014	Pérez García, MatíasMatías Pérez García	ARG	Orlando City	$250,000
2015	Wright-Phillips, BradleyBradley Wright-Phillips	ENG	New York Red Bulls	$710,000
2015	Igboananike, KennedyKennedy Igboananike	NGR	D.C. United	$901,667
2015	Róchez, BryanBryan Róchez	HON	Orlando City	$279,500
2015	Accam, DavidDavid Accam	GHA	Chicago Fire	$770,938
2015	Torres, ErickErick Torres	MEX	Houston Dynamo	$650,000
2015	Altidore, JozyJozy Altidore	USA	Toronto FC	$4,825,000
2015	Giovinco, SebastianSebastian Giovinco	ITA	Toronto FC	$7,115,556
2015	Emeghara, InnocentInnocent Emeghara	SUI	San Jose Earthquakes	$1,300,000
2015	Rivas, CarlosCarlos Rivas	COL	Orlando City	$80,000
2015	Plata, JoaoJoao Plata	ECU	Real Salt Lake	$175,000
2015	Manotas, MauroMauro Manotas	COL	Houston Dynamo	$85,000
2015	Doyle, KevinKevin Doyle	IRL	Colorado Rapids	$1,120,000
2015	Pirlo, AndreaAndrea Pirlo	ITA	New York City FC	$5,915,690
2015	dos Santos, GiovaniGiovani dos Santos	MEX	LA Galaxy	$4,250,000
2015	Melano, LucasLucas Melano	ARG	Portland Timbers	$760,000
2015	Verón, GonzaloGonzalo Verón	ARG	New York Red Bulls	$500,000
2015	Valdez, NelsonNelson Valdez	PRY	Seattle Sounders FC	$1,455,000
2015	Martínez, Juan ManuelJuan Manuel Martínez	ARG	Real Salt Lake	$1,458,667
2016	Ontivero, LucasLucas Ontivero	ARG	Montreal Impact	$440,000
2016	Dawkins, SimonSimon Dawkins	JAM	San Jose Earthquakes	$800,000
2016	Movsisyan, YuraYura Movsisyan	ARM	Real Salt Lake	$200,000
2016	Gruezo, CarlosCarlos Gruezo	ECU	FC Dallas	$686,500
2016	Kouassi, XavierXavier Kouassi	CIV	New England Revolution	$890,542
2016	Gashi, ShkëlzenShkëlzen Gashi	ALB	Colorado Rapids	$1,668,750
2016	Kamara, KeiKei Kamara	SLE	New England Revolution	$1,000,000
2016	Gonçalves, JoséJosé Gonçalves	POR	New England Revolution	$479,375
2016	Rubio, DiegoDiego Rubio	CHI	Sporting Kansas City	$333,000
2016	Howard, TimTim Howard	USA	Colorado Rapids	$2,575,000
2016	Villalba, HéctorHéctor Villalba	ARG	Atlanta United	$170,258
2016	Lodeiro, NicolásNicolás Lodeiro	URY	Seattle Sounders FC	$1,743,429
2016	Bedoya, AlejandroAlejandro Bedoya	USA	Philadelphia Union	$1,166,254

Notes

• Chart indicates when players signed their Designated Player contract, not necessarily their first year in MLS.
• Player salaries include compensation from their MLS contract, not including any bonuses or compensation from contracts with individual teams or their affiliates.

^[14]

Past Designated Players

Year/s Played	Player	Nation	Club/s	Salary "
2002–2012‡, 2012, 2013–2014†	Joseph, ShalrieShalrie Joseph	GRN	New England Revolution, Chivas USA, Seattle Sounders FC	$599,333
2007–2012	Beckham, DavidDavid Beckham	ENG	LA Galaxy	$4,000,000
2007–2010, 2011, 2011–2012†	Angel, Juan PabloJuan Pablo Ángel	COL	New York Red Bulls, LA Galaxy, Chivas USA	$1,630,700
2007–2010‡†	Emilio, LucianoLuciano Emilio	BRA	D.C. United	$516,043
2007–2008	Reyna, ClaudioClaudio Reyna	USA	New York Red Bulls	$1,250,008
2007–2009	Blanco, CuauhtémocCuauhtémoc Blanco	MEX	Chicago Fire	$2,759,086
2007	Denílson	BRA	FC Dallas	$879,936
2007–2010‡†	Barros Schelotto, GuillermoGuillermo Barros Schelotto	ARG	Columbus Crew	$463,750
2008	Gallardo, MarceloMarcelo Gallardo	ARG	D.C. United	$1,874,006
2008–2009, 2010†	Lopez, ClaudioClaudio López	ARG	Kansas City Wizards, Colorado Rapids	$373,333
2009–2012, 2012	de Guzman, JulianJulian de Guzman	CAN	Toronto FC, FC Dallas	$1,910,746
2009–2010, 2010	Ljungberg, FreddieFreddie Ljungberg	SWE	Seattle Sounders FC, Chicago Fire	$1,314,000
2009–2010	Landín, Luis ÁngelLuis Ángel Landín	MEX	Houston Dynamo	$120,000
2009–2012‡	Montero, FredyFredy Montero	COL	Seattle Sounders FC	$706,000
2009–2013‡	Ferreira, DavidDavid Ferreira	COL	FC Dallas	$548,000
2010–2014‡	Donovan, LandonLandon Donovan	USA	LA Galaxy	$2,782,222
2010	Nkufo, BlaiseBlaise Nkufo	SUI	Seattle Sounders FC	$480,000
2010–2012†	Bošković, BrankoBranko Bošković	MNE	D.C. United	$528,978
2010–2012	Marquez, RafaelRafael Márquez	MEX	New York Red Bulls	$4,600,000
2010	Mista	ESP	Toronto FC	$987,338
2010	Castillo, NeryNery Castillo	MEX	Chicago Fire	$1,788,061
2010–2011‡	Mendoza, AndrésAndrés Mendoza	PER	Columbus Crew	$417,917
2010	Geovanni	BRA	San Jose Earthquakes	$n/a
2010–2012, 2012–2013	Fernández, ÁlvaroÁlvaro Fernández	URU	Seattle Sounders FC, Chicago Fire	$350,000
2010–2014	Henry, ThierryThierry Henry	FRA	New York Red Bulls	$5,100,000
2011	Bravo, OmarOmar Bravo	MEX	Sporting Kansas City	$170,000
2011	Jarju, MustaphaMustapha Jarju	GAM	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$426,883
2011	Rost, FrankFrank Rost	GER	New York Red Bulls	$545,460
2011	Jeferson Jéferson	BRA	Sporting Kansas City	$484,996
2011	Caraglio, MiltonMilton Caraglio	ARG	New England Revolution	$54,000
2011–2012‡	Adu, FreddyFreddy Adu	USA	Philadelphia Union	$519,000
2011–2012	Frings, TorstenTorsten Frings	GER	Toronto FC	$2,413,667
2011–present†	Chará, DiegoDiego Chará	COL	Portland Timbers	$202,501
2011–2013‡	De Rosario, DwayneDwayne De Rosario	CAN	D.C. United	$645,333
2011–2012, 2012, 2013†	Hassli, EricEric Hassli	FRA	Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Toronto FC, FC Dallas	$650,759
2011–2013	Koevermans, DannyDanny Koevermans	NED	Toronto FC	$1,546,655
2012	Puppo, FedericoFederico Puppo	URU	Chicago Fire	$100,000
2012	Boyd, KrisKris Boyd	SCO	Portland Timbers	$1,515,000
2012	Salihi, HamdiHamdi Salihi	ALB	D.C. United	$487,460
2012	Robson, BarryBarry Robson	SCO	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$596,500
2012–2013	MacDonald, SherjillSherjill MacDonald	NED	Chicago Fire	$527,125
2012–2014	Cahill, TimTim Cahill	AUS	New York Red Bulls	$3,625,000
2012	Tiffert, ChristianChristian Tiffert	GER	Seattle Sounders FC	$625,000
2012–present†	Garcia, BoniekBoniek Garcia	HND	Houston Dynamo	$258,742
2012–2014	Miller, KennyKenny Miller	SCO	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$1,032,496
2012–2014	Di Vaio, MarcoMarco Di Vaio	ITA	Montreal Impact	$2,158,338
2013–2014	Bieler, ClaudioClaudio Bieler	ARG	Sporting Kansas City	$212,500
2013	Rafael	BRA	D.C. United	$284,625
2013	Arévalo Rios	URU	Chicago Fire	$768,000
2013	Kléberson, Kléberson	BRA	Philadelphia Union	$495,000
2013–2014	Bernardello, HernánHernán Bernardello	ARG	Montreal Impact	$250,008
2013–2014	Anangonó, Juan LuisJuan Luis Anangonó	ECU	Chicago Fire	$147,500
2012–2014	Minda, OswaldoOswaldo Minda	ECU	Chivas USA	$127,083
2011–‡†	Rosales, MauroMauro Rosales	ARG	Seattle Sounders FC, Chivas USA, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, FC Dallas	$235,500
2014	Escobar, AndrésAndrés Escobar	COL	FC Dallas	$647,000
2014	Defoe, JermainJermain Defoe	ENG	Toronto FC	$6,180,000
2012–2014†	Bengtson, JerryJerry Bengtson	HON	New England Revolution	$136,560
2013–2015†	Lopez, AlexanderAlexander López	HND	Houston Dynamo	$161,000
2014–2015†	Texeira, DavidDavid Texeira	URU	FC Dallas	$338,000
2010–present†	Saborío, ÁlvaroÁlvaro Saborío	CRC	Real Salt Lake	$300,308
2012–present‡†	Morales, JavierJavier Morales	ARG	Real Salt Lake	$284,100
2013–2015‡†	Gonzalez, OmarOmar Gonzalez	USA	LA Galaxy	$n/a
2014–present†	Adi, FanendoFanendo Adi	NGR	Portland Timbers	$n/a
2001–2007, 2012–2015‡†	Johnson, EddieEddie Johnson	USA	FC Dallas, Kansas City Wizards, Seattle Sounders FC, D.C. United	$n/a
2013–2015	Torres, GabrielGabriel Torres	PAN	Colorado Rapids	$271,167
2014–2015†	Jones, JermaineJermaine Jones	USA	New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids	$n/a
2014–†	Maidana, CristianCristian Maidana	ARG	Philadelphia Union, Houston Dynamo	$n/a
2015	Aristeguieta, FernandoFernando Aristeguieta	VEN	Philadelphia Union	$350,004
2014–2015	Jaime, SebastiánSebastián Jaime	ARG	Real Salt Lake	$266,667
2015	Ramírez, JuanJuan Ramírez	ARG	Colorado Rapids	$75,000
2013–2015	Martins, ObafemiObafemi Martins	NGA	Seattle Sounders FC	$3,000,000
2013–‡†	Wondolowski, ChrisChris Wondolowski	USA	San Jose Earthquakes	$n/a
2014–2016	Gilberto, Gilberto	BRA	Toronto FC, Chicago Fire	$1,145,000
2015–2016	Rivero, OctavioOctavio Rivero	URU	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$890,850
2007–2008, 2009–2016‡	Espíndola, FabiánFabián Espíndola	ARG	Real Salt Lake, New York Red Bulls, D.C. United	$n/a
2015–2016‡†	Castillo, FabianFabian Castillo	COL	FC Dallas	$n/a
2014–2016†	Ridgewell, LiamLiam Ridgewell	ENG	Portland Timbers	$1,250,000
2015–2016	Lampard, FrankFrank Lampard	ENG	New York City FC	$6,000,000
2015–2016	Gerrard, StevenSteven Gerrard	ENG	LA Galaxy	$6,132,500
2011–2016	Keane, RobbieRobbie Keane	IRL	LA Galaxy	$3,500,000
2016	Damari, OmerOmer Damari	ISR	New York Red Bulls	$228,500
2015–2016	Drogba, DidierDidier Drogba	CIV	Montreal Impact	$2,166,668

Notes

• ‡ – indicates players who originally signed with MLS at a salary lower than a Designated Player level but later had their salary increased to a Designated Player level.
• † – indicates players who still continued to play in MLS but had their contracts negotiated below a Designated Player level.

Past and present Designated Players by country

No. of players	Country	Players
23	Argentina	Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Hernán Bernardello, Claudio Bieler, Milton Caraglio, Mauro Diaz, Fabián Espíndola, Marcelo Gallardo, Federico Higuaín, Sebastián Jaime, Matías Laba, Claudio López, Cristian Maidana, Juan Manuel Martinez, Lucas Melano, Javier Morales, Lucas Ontivero, Matías Pérez García, Ignacio Piatti, Juan Ramírez, Mauro Rosales, Diego Valeri, Gonzalo Verón, Héctor Villalba
17	United States	Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Alejandro Bedoya, Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Omar Gonzalez, Tim Howard, Eddie Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Claudio Reyna, Chris Wondolowski, Graham Zusi
8	Brazil	Denílson, Luciano Emilio, Geovanni, Gilberto, Jéferson, Kaká, Kléberson, Rafael
7	Colombia	Juan Pablo Ángel, Fabián Castillo, Diego Chará, Andrés Escobar, David Ferreira, Mauro Manotas, Fredy Montero
	Mexico	Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Omar Bravo, Nery Castillo, Giovani dos Santos, Luis Ángel Landín, Rafael Márquez, Erick Torres
6	England	David Beckham, Jermain Defoe, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Liam Ridgewell, Bradley Wright-Phillips
	Uruguay	Álvaro Fernández, Nicolás Lodeiro, Federico Puppo, Arévalo Rios, Octavio Rivero, David Texeira
4	Ecuador	Juan Luis Anangonó, Carlos Gruezo, Oswaldo Minda, Joao Plata
	Honduras	Jerry Bengtson, Óscar Boniek García, Alexander López, Bryan Róchez
	Scotland	Kris Boyd, Shaun Maloney, Kenny Miller, Barry Robson
3	Germany	Torsten Frings, Frank Rost, Christian Tiffert
	Italy	Marco Di Vaio, Sebastian Giovinco, Andrea Pirlo
	Nigeria	Fanendo Adi, Kennedy Igboananike, Obafemi Martins
2	Albania	Hamdi Salihi, Shkëlzen Gashi
	Canada	Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario
	Chile	Pedro Morales, Diego Rubio
	France	Eric Hassli, Thierry Henry
	Ireland	Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane
	Ivory Coast	Didier Drogba, Xavier Kouassi
	Netherlands	Danny Koevermans, Sherjill MacDonald
	Spain	Mista, David Villa
	Switzerland	Innocent Emeghara, Blaise Nkufo
1	Armenia	Yura Movsisyan
	Australia	Tim Cahill
	Costa Rica	Álvaro Saborío
	Cuba	Osvaldo Alonso
	The Gambia	Mustapha Jarju
	Ghana	David Accam
	Grenada	Shalrie Joseph
	Israel	Omer Damari
	Jamaica	Simon Dawkins
	Montenegro	Branko Bošković
	Panama	Gabriel Torres
	Peru	Andrés Mendoza
	Portugal	José Gonçalves
	Sierra Leone	Kei Kamara
	Sweden	Freddie Ljungberg
	Venezuela	Fernando Aristeguieta

See also

• Allocation (MLS)
• Franchise player

References

External links

• Current Designated Players