The Designated Player Rule, also nicknamed "the Beckham Rule", is the name used for a rule change in the salary cap regulations of Major League Soccer, implemented for the first time for the 2007 season.

 

The rule allows each of the MLS franchises to sign one player that would be considered outside of the teams' salary cap, allowing U.S. and Canadian teams to compete for star players in the international soccer market. For each such designated player, $400,000 would be initially charged to the salary cap, with any remaining salary toward the player being imposed on the individual owner.

 

There will initially be one designated player slot available to each team in the league. A team can trade their designated player slot; however, no team can have more than two. If a team uses both of their slots, $325,000 will be counted towards the salary cap for the second player. The rule will apply for three years, until the end of the 2009 MLS season, when its future will be reviewed.

 

It is informally named after soccer star David Beckham, in anticipation of MLS teams signing lucrative deals with internationally recognized players of Beckham's caliber. 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 for $50 million in direct salary and a possibility of over $250 million total for five years.  The second player signed under this rule was an American playing in the EPL, the 2002 and 2006 World Cup USMNT captain Claudio Reyna, who will come over the pond from Manchester City to join New York Red Bulls.

 

distribution by the San Diego MLS Project  http://sdmlsproject.com  Updated Feb. 2007