2009 MLS Team Building: What New League Rules Mean for Your Team

Last year, Major League Soccer's rules allowed for 28-man rosters, which were split into two categories: an 18-man senior roster and a 10-man developmental roster. Developmental players were under the age of 25 and did not count against a team's salary cap of $2.3 million.

Also of note, a team's entire roster was allowed to have up to 8 international players with the rest being domestic players. Domestic players were and are defined as players with U.S. citizenship (Canadian citizenship for Toronto FC), players holding green card status, or players holding refugee status.

The newest rule which makes the salary cap structure a bit more difficult when crunching the numbers is the so-called Beckham rule, which was added before the 2007 season. This rule allows teams to have a designated player to be paid off of the team's salary cap with $415,000 counting against the cap.

For 2009, the league decided to cut the developmental roster by four positions and end its reserve league games, which were intended as a development tool for these players. Teams this year will be comprised of a 20-man senior roster and a 4-man developmental roster. The rest of the league's roster policies have not changed, which means that teams will need to find a way to spread the wealth a little further this season.

The hardest part for these franchises will be paying two extra senior players on cap and deciding which of the young players they will cut from the roster. However, the advantage is that the league may have a better chance of holding onto some of the young talent in the league by spending more money on the four developmental players on each team.

Recent years have seen young players opt to join the United Soccer Leagues or head out to smaller leagues in Europe with the hope of making more money than a developmental player in the MLS. If the league has cut the developmental rosters in half, in theory, each team could spend twice as much per player. (I acknowledge that this unlikely happen.)

On top of the salary cap issue is the league's roster situation. Each already had 28 players and many recently drafted an addition four or so players from the MLS SuperDraft. Admittedly some players have retired or signed contracts with other leagues during the off-season, but many teams will enter the pre-season with 30 players or more.

Take for example the Los Angeles Galaxy. Their pre-season roster is currently posted on their home page with 33 players. It's a fantastic assortment of players including six players with U.S. National Team experience, and two other players who have represented their national teams of Jamaica and England.

With Bruce Arena taking charge in L.A., it's no surprise to see so many former American National Team players. As a veteran coach in the league, he was also quick to add Ukrainian, Dema Kovalenko and Mike Magee. Arena recently coached both of these players at Red Bull New York.

It seems clear that assuming Landon Donovan and David Beckham return from their loan spells in Europe, that Arena will build his team around these stars. He will likely polish up the team by surrounding them with his core of American players: Eddie Lewis, Jovan Kirovski, Edson Buddle, Chris Klein, and Tony Sanneh. (So far the team is composed of 7 senior roster players and 1 international player.)

Add Jamaican goalkeeper, Donovan Ricketts, Kovalenko, and Magee to the list, and now a team is taking shape. It would appear that the Galaxy have a core comprised of 10 senior roster players and 3 internationals. This leaves the team with the task of adding 10 players to the senior roster and signing 4 developmental players, of which 5 can be from abroad.

For Los Angeles soccer fans, it's abundantly clear that at the very least the Galaxy will have new look this year. After two years of failing to reach the play-offs despite having two of the league's marquis names, it's time for the management to make a change. The only catch with this new-look Galaxy is that it's a window into the league's past, so it's also an old-look MLS franchise.

Chicago fans should be excited to find that they are likely in for more of the same. With the Fire dropping senior internationals, Tomas Frankowski and Andy Herron, and Diego Gutierrez's retirement, the Fire could potential sign some of last year's developmental players to the senior roster. The senior roster currently has 16 players, which leaves space for the Fire to sign an addition 4 players.

On the developmental side, the Fire saw decent production out of Patrick Nyarko, Mike Banner, and Stephen King. However King was lost to Seattle Sounders FC in the expansion draft. Of the Fire's draftees from this January, it seems that Baggio Husidic will likely have a solid spot on the roster.

Husidic hails from the Chicago-area and was a stand out at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Based on age, the Fire will likely sign him to the developmental roster, where he will likely join Nyarko. Despite solid minutes as a substitute last season, Nyarko's age will still qualify him for a developmental roster spot.

The Fire's senior roster will likely remain much the same with three open spots remaining assuming Mike Banner makes the senior roster. The team will also have two developmental spots which will be vigorously fought for by eight or so eligible players. The one advantage Chicago has over other teams now is their ability to sign another 3 internationals.

Both Chicago and Los Angeles serve as excellent examples of how established MLS teams make adjustments during the off-season. Successful clubs like Chicago will make minor tweaks, while those that have struggled will look at starting from scratch.

How does the league's Canadian franchise make adjustments with their roster rules? Toronto FC plays by a slightly different set of rules than the rest of the league, as Canada's talent pool is seen as smaller than the American one.

Toronto FC is allowed to sign up to 16 international players of which 11 are to be American domestic players. This allows Toronto to sign 5 players from anywhere in the world other than Canada and the United States, leaving 15 other roster spots open to Canadians or American domestic players.

The team has however been trying to add Canadian talent as it's management is certainly aware that the team won't be allowed to use these alternate roster rules forever. The teams has recently made two smart moves to pick up Canadian talent.

Drafting O"Brian White, a Canadian player who entered the SuperDraft from UConn should secure him a developmental roster spot. The team would do well to surround White with other Canadians on the developmental roster, but it would seem after a few stellar matches that Abdus Ibrahim of Ethiopia will remain on the developmental roster. This leaves the other young players with 2 developmental spots to fight for.

Dwayne De Rosario was recently added to the senior roster from Houston. De Rosario is a stand-out with the Canadian National Team. He will join fellow national teamers, Greg Sutton, Kevin Harmse, and Jim Brennan. The team will also likely keep Tyrone Marshall, Amado Guevara, Danny Dichio, Rohan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, and Chad Barrett. These players use six international roster spots with only two of the above players being Americans.

For now, the players listed above seem to have fairly secure jobs. In total, the senior roster would have 9 players with 11 spots left to fill, and the developmental roster would have 2 spots left open. In total international space left over, the team would have the ability to have an additional 8 Americans (as it is possible that Marshall holds a U.S. green card) and two international spots.

Also of note, this proposed roster is midfield heavy, which may effect the standing of Carl Robinson, a holding midfielder from Wales. If the team keeps Robinson on the books, then they will only have one open international spot left.

This midfield heaviness coupled with the open 8 American positions, will help secure the job of Marvell Wynne, who have less competition in the backline with the departure of Hunter Freeman to IK Start. It may even help Marco Velez keep his job, despite a few lapses in judgment last year which led to easy goals for opponents.

Seattle Sounders FC presents the last case at hand. They are the expansion team. This organization will be totally consumed with the filling the roster. Their initial moves were incredibly smart signing Freddie Ljungberg of Sweden as their designated player and adding Kasey Keller, arguably one of the most successful players in American soccer.

Keller and Ljungberg both have Premier League experience, and the team was quick to surround their experience with experienced Seattle players from the United Soccer Leagues. It is important for this new team to keep in mind the soccer tradition kept alive by the USL franchise in Seattle. Adding Taylor Graham (who once played in the MLS), Sebastian Le Toux, and Chris Eylander was incredibly smart from a marketing perspective.

During the expansion draft, the team was also keen on identifying a mix of both talented young players and experienced veterans. Jeff Parke,who once played with Taylor Graham in New York, joins the squad with James Riley (formerly of New England and San Jose). These players will be the backbone of the Seattle defense.

Riley will have a familiar face playing in front of him in Khano Smith, who was pulled from the New England roster during the draft. Stephen King and Brad Evans will give Seattle fresh talent through the midfield, and if Sanna Nyassi is anything like his brother, he'll give this team blistering pace.

Also, the team made a very smart move recently opening their training camp to the USL Seattle Sounders. Not only does this move build support for the new franchise, it gives the coaching staff a chance to look for more talent. If any of these players can make the grade, they'd be a huge help in filling a 24-man squad.

Between now and March 19, MLS coaches will be weeding out the weak and waiving them from the roster. As players are waived, some will some will stay in the league as other teams extend contracts to them, look for players like Andy Herron to land somewhere. Still other waived players may head over seas to places such as the leagues in Scandinavia.

As for the 50% of the league's developmental players who will need to find new homes, if they are serious about their soccer careers, they'll continue to play by looking at the United Soccer League. The USL has been quick in to sign young players out of the MLS. They can offer bigger contracts and playing time to the developmental players who often times earn only between $12,500-$17,700 while in the MLS.

On March 19, the MLS season will kick off with the Seattle Sounders taking on Red Bull New York. Until then American soccer fans will watch closely and criticize every move these coaches make until the season starts. Well coaches if you are reading this, just know, we're watching you with great anticipation.