By Jason Davis - WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 7, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Let’s just go ahead and overstate this a bit and say that Sharlie Joseph has pulled off the impossible. A domestically developed, MLS veteran who probably isn't a household name outside of his home market has just signed a new contract that bestows upon him the coveted “Designated Player” tag. Not only is this a first, it’s so different than every previous application of the DP rule that it raises many more questions than it answers.
Most general, but perhaps most interesting, is 'why.' Faced with losing the last link to a decade of success, the New England Revolution decided it was in their best interest to sign Joseph using the type of salary cap help that typically goes to flashy foreign players with no MLS experience. It wasn’t called 'the Beckham Rule' for the first few years of its existence for nothing. Players signed to DP contracts were supposed to add something to MLS teams - be it marketing power, big talent, or both - not simply represent the status quo.
If you need any evidence that the DP rule has evolved dramatically from its original intended purpose, consider that the “Beckham Rule” moniker has fallen completely out of use. It became clear quickly that many MLS clubs had neither the will nor the means to bring in their own megastar in the Beckham mold, or saw the rule as merely a way to spend just beyond the max salary limit.
Beckham’s example was too rich, or too prohibitive. Clubs quickly moved on to less financially draining options. MLS, seeing the movement towards alternative DP approaches, even added a "young designated player” rule to give teams more flexibility.
Even taking into account the lack of adherence to Beckham-style signings, the options MLS teams went after under the original DP rule were invariably of the older, accomplished, and (most notably) non-domestic variety. Occasionally, clubs utilized the DP rule to bring in expensive players on loan or purchase players they simply couldn’t (read: weren’t allowed to) before.
The rule didn’t change fundamentally, but its uses multiplied well beyond its original intent. Until Joseph’s new contract, it did so while leaving the acknowledged cream of the MLS crop (save for Landon Donovan, a player whose US National Team profile put him in a different stratosphere) on the sideline wondering why they were being left out. More than the money, perhaps, was the recognition that came with the Designated Player tag. Everyone, particularly those who have toiled in MLS for years when other opportunities passed them by, wants respect.
So Joseph not only gets a new contract with a requisite pay raise, he gets an honorific attached to his name. That might have been in the deciding factor in compelling him to re-sign. Joseph waffled about returning, and it could be that giving him the DP status was a crucial part of convincing him that remaining with the Revolution was in his best interest. It's certainly a different mentality than the established MLS model of expecting older players to take a pay cut.
From the club’s point of view, the decision to give a current player a designated player slot is amenable because they can maneuver within the rule to decrease Joseph’s impact on their salary budget. Joseph makes more, but he counts for less than if his salary was right up against the regular limit. It also helps make a statement to a player the Revs deem crucial. It's worth remembering the number of examples among MLS squads where the best player is not the highest paid.
The new wrinkle in the application of the DP rule should perk up the ears of players like Dwayne De Rosario, who might have a stronger case for DP status than Joseph, possesses as least as much of the “MLS mainstay” credibility, and is a unique attacking player where Joseph is a less sexy defensive-minded midfielder.
De Rosario just won his first MVP award. He just won a Golden Boot too. He has iconic, historic MLS goals to his credit and managed to settle at DC United after a tumultuous season of transiency, proving he still has much to offer at age 33. Like Joseph, it would be hard to fault De Rosario for feeling like he has been under-appreciated as a pillar of the League’s last decade.
The DP Rule isn’t the “Beckham Rule” in function anymore, but the aura that surrounds the designation remains attached to the scale of Beckham’s signing. Joseph, De Rosario and their peers could not have been expected to simply ignore that new twist in MLS roster building. At some point, the League has to pay for the best players, even the ones that have spent their careers in MLS.
Whether or not that happens, that the Joseph deal becomes another paradigm shift, remains an open question. One club's choice doesn't redefine the rule. For the rest of the League, Joseph's new deal could be a team-specific fluke. One brought about by the operational philosophies of the Revolution ownership, Joseph’s status as a tenured club fixture, and the gymnastics teams are performing to bend the designated player rule to their purposes.
Jason Davis is the founder of MatchFitUSA.com. Contact him: matchfitusa@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davisjsn.
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