Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Major League Soccer released the rules of the 2014 Expansion Draft involving newcomers New York City FC and Orlando City SC on Wednesday.
The 10-round draft, which will take place Dec. 10, will see Orlando pick first and each team will alternate picking unprotected players from among the 18 existing teams in the league. Chivas USA was disbanded on Oct. 27 and the league will hold a dispersal draft via private conference call for its players Wednesday.
Each team will be allowed to protect 11 players from its 30-player roster ahead of the expansion draft. Designated Players are not automatically protected, as has been the case in previous drafts, and any DP with a no-trade clause in their contract must be among the 11 protected.
Teams will receive allocation money from the league as compensation for any player selected in the draft. Allocation money is used by teams to sign new players to the league, “buy down” an existing player's contract to take less space under the salary cap or re-sign players to an active roster.
A contract that expires at the end of 2014 will still be considered part of the club’s roster. Protecting a player does not guarantee a club will pick up the player’s option. Any player on a club’s supplemental roster, except for active Generation Adidas and Homegrown Players on the club’s senior roster, will be eligible for the draft.
RSL's Homegrown Players are goalkeeper Lalo Fernandez, midfielders Jordan Allen and Benji Lopez, and defender Justen Glad. Each player is considered a supplemental roster player.
If New York City or Orlando select a supplemental roster player, however, the new club is required to offer him a senior roster spot on the new team by MLS’s roster compliance date. That means a club cannot select a player with the intent of playing him on the team’s reserve squad or USL Pro affiliate, such as Orlando’s affiliate in Louisville.
A club may not lose more than two players from its unprotected player list during the expansion draft. As soon as one player is selected, the team may exercise an option to protect one additional player for the remainder of the draft.
RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey has said he expects the Salt Lake club to lose the maximum two players in the draft, and could potentially see both go to former RSL head coach Jason Kreis, who now leads NYC FC.
NYC and Orlando will have the right to renegotiate a selected players’ salary, either up or down, without placing the player on waivers or relinquishing the right of first refusal to the players’ previous club.
