MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis participated in a press conference call hours after the Jan. 8 announcement of the leagueÆs folding his franchise, the Miami Fusion. Here are selected quotes from the deputy commissioner:
Ivan Gazidis
On the status of players under contract who are not selected in the dispersal draft: “Those players would be ultimately released. Of course, there will also be players picked up in the Dispersal Draft and teams will have to be in compliance with our roster rules and salary budget rules by Tuesday, January 15. So not only will players who are not picked up in the Dispersal Draft be released, but there will also be a second wave of players released on Tuesday for a Waiver Draft that following Thursday. If those players are not picked up in that second draft, they too will be released.”
On the player personnel decisions to be made by other teams in the league: “On a team-by-team basis, teams are going to have to take a very hard look at their roster and work out what the most effective way of using their salary budget is. At the end of this process we are going to have a significantly stronger league and we are also going to have some good players who will not be at the appropriate salary budget numbers and may come back in the league at more appropriate numbers after that. Clearly we are going to go through a difficult process.”
On whether coaches and general managers were given advance notice: “We weren’t giving any quiet, advance notice. They learned about this procedure and the way it will work today. Clearly, they’re going to be very, very busy over the next couple of days. We’re going to have all of our general managers and coaches here in New York from Wednesday evening onwards. It will be a very similar atmosphere to the one before a SuperDraft when all of our teams are together in a hotel. There will be a lot of discussions and player movement between now and Friday and then again between Friday and Tuesday.”
On international player limits: “We’re keeping to three senior internationals. We are looking at some adjustments to our roster rules to increase roster size slightly and to amend our junior international rules so that our young American players are put on the same footing as young international players. That information will be released next week.”
On the possibility of moving a team to Rochester: “We spent time speaking to a number of different markets, most specifically Rochester. We didn’t believe at this point that a move to Rochester would have aided Frank DuRoss’ stadium efforts. Our competition group spent time looking at Frontier Field, and we did not believe a minor league baseball stadium with infield turf would be appropriate for an MLS team. We are still bullish about Rochester and we believe Frank DuRoss will get his stadium funding finalized and construction plans approved. If so, we are pretty excited about speaking with him in the future.”
On how allocations can be used in advance of the dispersal draft: “Teams can elect to do that. There will be a pre-dispersal draft round, an allocation round for the teams that are due allocations. Teams will have the option to use available allocations then. They could also hold on to those allocations and use them later. Given the array of talent that is going to be available I think many teams will take up that option. The order of the allocations will be conducted in a draft-like manner and that order is: (1) Colorado, (2) New England, (3) D.C. United, (4) Colorado, (5) New England, (6) New England, (7) Dallas, (8) Los Angeles, (9) San Jose.”
On potential adjustments to the salary cap: “We believe there is enough room in the salary cap as it has been set. There is enough room for these players to be accommodated. What you will see though, is that players that are not valued for money on the dollar will be in jeopardy. Those that are will be even more valuable. There’s no question in my mind that competitively on the field next year we will have a much stronger league than we had last year. One of the fortunate side effects of this disappointing news is that from a competition standpoint it’s going to elevate the level of play.”
