OPINION: Dorman Signing Speaks Volumes of MLS

(And It's Not Good)

January 3, 2008

By Emlyn Lewis

The news is that St. Mirren FC of the Scottish Premier League has signed the Revolution's Andy Dorman to a one-year contract worth between $300-400K with an additional option year, though it's unclear whose option it is.

It doesn't really matter, of course. Dorman will earn more in the coming year with a team at the foot of the Scottish standings than he has earned in the totality of his MLS contract. And that's a problem for several different reasons.

Andy Dorman

Andy Dorman's deal with with St. Mirren doesn't bode well for the MLS. (Photo credit: Joyce Furia)

First, you can argue that Dorman isn't worth $400k in the MLS context, that level of salary generally being reserved for the top players who aren't David Beckham or his salary cap exempt ilk. But that argument would take as gospel that the best MLS players shouldn't be making more than $400k a year.

It seems odd to me, though, that the top MLS salary (under cap rules) has grown relatively little over the last decade while the Board of Governors has leapt to the idea that they need to authorize the spending of multi-millions on players like David Beckham, Denilson, Cuautemhoc Blanco and Juan Pablo Angel in order to improve the quality and profile of the league.

The idea there seems to be that in order to compete on the world stage, MLS needs big-name players. Of course, one step down from Beckham, the league is losing a good, young player to a second-rate Scottish club (that's basically every club that isn't Celtic or Rangers), so are they really competing?

Likewise, the league's minimum salary has moved very little, and that has led to more good, young American players (e.g. Jeremiah White, Charlie Davies, Jay DeMerit, Benny Feilhaber, Heath Pearce, Robbie Russell, et. al.) going elsewhere to ply their trade, not necessarily in the service of improving their game, but certainly in the name of making a decent living wage. No one will convince me that playing in the Danish first division is going to make you better than hoofing it in MLS.

If, rather than adding a $2 million dollar player to each roster, the league added $1 million to the salary cap, a lot of those kids would still be here and the quality of play overall would still be improving. Expansion wouldn't be such a tax on the talent pool, either.

In the grand scheme of things, no one at MLS HQ will watch Andy Dorman board his flight for the UK with any great sadness, but they should be asking themselves what is causing the young talent to forgo the MLS draft (or leave shortly thereafter) for greener pastures, and what effect is that having on the quality of play in the league?

Despite saying that young Americans don't have to go abroad to further their careers, MLS operates more or less as though they do. In the worst case scenario, other mid-level MLS players are watching this transaction and wondering why they're not making better money in Scotland or Denmark or Sweden or Norway.

For the Revolution, Dorman's departure merely underlines the need to recruit attacking midfield players. Dorman was the answer to Dempsey's departure. And, as it played out, he wasn't a great replacement. Now that the Welshman is gone, I hope Steve Nicol, Paul Mariner and the rest are seeking not one, but two good players.

They have at least $30k to spend.

Emlyn Lewis can be reached at emlynlewis@comcast.net.

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