Designated Player Rule

History

• 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 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, 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, Christian Gomez, Dwayne De Rosario, and Taylor Twellman.
• 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.

• 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, 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.

• 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 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 of birth.

Background

Current Designated Players

Year signed as DP	Player	Nationality	Current club	2019 guaranteed compensation
2015			Toronto FC	$6,332,250
2016			Seattle Sounders FC	$2,502,500
2017			Houston Dynamo	$650,340
2017			Real Salt Lake	$2,001,667
2017			Atlanta United	$3,058,333
2017			Portland Timbers	$1,375,008
2017			New York City FC	$2,000,000
2017			San Jose Earthquakes	$1,604,042
2017			Houston Dynamo	$386,804
2017			LA Galaxy	$2,000,000
2017			Columbus Crew SC	$864,560
2017			D.C. United	$707,000
2018			Orlando City	$1,503,333
2018			Los Angeles FC	$6,300,000
2018			Los Angeles FC	$1,052,000
2018			New York City FC	$870,833
2018			Atlanta United	$1,425,000
2018			Montreal Impact	$1,400,000
2018			Sporting Kansas City	$1,650,000
2018			FC Dallas	$591,400
2018			New York Red Bulls	$800,000
2018			Seattle Sounders FC	$1,800,000
2019			Sporting Kansas City	$1,700,000
2019			Minnesota United	$883,500
2019			FC Dallas	$650,000
2019			Atlanta United	$900,000
2019			New England Revolution	$2,337,500
2019			Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$655,000
2019			New York City FC	$500,000
2019			Real Salt Lake	$718,750
2019			FC Cincinnati	$333,125
2019			Orlando City	$2,486,250
2019			Toronto FC	$3,800,000
2019			Columbus Crew SC	$1,471,667
2019			Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$1,277,500
2019			New England Revolution	$2,100,000
2019			Orlando City	$1,078,000
2019			Minnesota United	$337,000
2019			Los Angeles FC	$1,039,800
2020			Inter Miami	$170,833
2020			Nashville SC	$n/a
2020			Nashville SC	$n/a
2020			LA Galaxy	$n/a
2020			Sporting Kansas City	$n/a
2020			San Jose Earthquakes	$n/a
2020			Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$n/a
2020			New England Revolution	$n/a
2020			Columbus Crew SC	$n/a
2020			Portland Timbers	$n/a
2020			FC Cincinnati	$n/a
2020			Philadelphia Union	$671,200
2020			D.C. United	$n/a
2020			Colorado Rapids	$n/a
2020			Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020			LA Galaxy	$n/a
2020			FC Dallas	$n/a
2020			Portland Timbers	$n/a
2020			Seattle Sounders FC	$n/a
2020			FC Cincinnati	$n/a
2020			Real Salt Lake	$n/a
2020			Toronto FC	$n/a
2020			Inter Miami	$n/a
2020			Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020			Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020			Montreal Impact	$n/a

• Chart indicates when players signed their current Designated Player contract, not necessarily their first year in MLS.
• Other players in MLS may also be paid a salary that takes them above the Designated Player threshold, but they have had their salary reduced against the salary cap using General or Targeted Allocation Money.
• Player salaries may be below the Designated Player threshold, but their transfer fee maybe mean the total compensation takes them above the threshold.
• Player salaries include compensation from their MLS contract, not including any bonuses or compensation from contracts with individual teams or their affiliates.

  Club DP history

• The below list indicates players who have had their contract assigned as a Designated Player contract during their time in MLS. Players may have not always have had a DP contract, or have later had their contract negotiated below a DP level. Similarly, some players have been in MLS whose salary has been at a DP level, but the club has opted to bring their salary below the DP threshold using General Allocation Money or Targeted Allocation Money. Their listed "Years as DP" indicates what seasons they were active as a DP for that club only. Players in bold are currently signed to a DP contract by their club.
• Former MLS sides Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were dissolved before the introduction of the Designated Player Rule.

  Atlanta United FC

Chicago Fire

Chivas USA (defunct)

FC Cincinnati

Colorado Rapids

Columbus Crew SC

FC Dallas

D.C. United

Houston Dynamo

Inter Miami CF

LA Galaxy

Los Angeles FC

Minnesota United FC

Montreal Impact

Nashville SC

New England Revolution

New York City FC

New York Red Bulls

Orlando City SC

Philadelphia Union

Portland Timbers

Real Salt Lake

San Jose Earthquakes

Seattle Sounders FC

Sporting Kansas City

Toronto FC

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Past and present Designated Players by country