Skip to content

Analysis: Breaking down the 2025 MLS roster rules

The 2025 MLS Roster Rules have officially been released.

Because I am a licensed attorney and a certified MLS sicko, I have run a comparison of the 2024 and 2025 MLS roster rules.

After an incredible response, it's back for Year #3!! Because I am an attorney and a certified MLS sicko, I have run a comparison of the 2024 and 2025 MLS roster rules. Below is a thread to highlight a few of the changes🧵

Chris Ivey (@chrisivey.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T15:03:50.178Z

Let's dive into the biggest changes to the 2025 MLS roster rules.

First, the new "Cash for Player Trades" is the big one! Thus, it leads the way.

We've already seen Dejan Joveljić (LA Galaxy to Sporting KC) and Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union to Houston Dynamo) traded utilizing this new rule, and there may be more yet to come in the near future - Evander to Cincinnati, anyone?

Cash For Trades – or as it should be called "RAM" - Real Actual Money, courtesy of our friends at Soccerwise HQ – includes a 10% payment to the player.

The 10% applies to the Budget Charge which all but guarantees that a Cash for Player Transfer will almost exclusively be used to acquire a new DP or U22 Initiative players.

An important nugget here: A player acquired via Cash for Player Trade and made into a Designated Player cannot be later converted into a different roster mechanism. For example, even if a player would fit under the Max TAM threshold, they cannot be later bought down from a DP into a TAM-level player during the guaranteed portion of their remaining contract.

Next, a rule that clearly benefits Inter Miami (and I guess SEA). After dubiously "earning" a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup, Inter Miami will now receive $750k additional GAM and can pull forward another $1.25m in GAM... which won’t be paid back until after Messi’s contract expires.

As an aside, this is just an appreciation of a drafting fix. Neither “player” nor “club” is a proper noun or a defined term w/in the rules. As someone who scribbles all defined terms on a sticky note while reviewing a contract, I applaud the strike of capitalization here.

Next, the Supplemental Roster has increased from 10 slots to 11. This increases max roster sizes from 30 to 31. Slot #31 will largely, but not exclusively, be filled with homegrown players who will be loaned to MLS NEXT Pro affiliates while retaining the ability to play in Cup matches.

MLS also created “Off-Roster HG Players”, which work very similarly to the Slot #31 rule. The difference is that the player must be under 21 years old and still on their original contract. This rule should benefit Dallas, Philadelphia and other clubs that keep churning out homegrowns.

As previously announced, the summer transfer window has been pushed back a week. While this better aligns MLS with the European transfer market, it comes with a downside; late summer signings will only have a few weeks of MLS regular season play before the season wraps up.

As announced previously, clubs can switch their roster construction model (3 DP vs. U22 model) during the Secondary Transfer Window. This is probably most important for the big-spending clubs that want to push the chips all in on an immediate MLS Cup run.

While MLS recently increased the amount of GAM that clubs can convert from sales from $1.1m to $3.0m, it is no longer possible to convert any of the transfer fee of a Designated Player if they are not eligible to be bought down (ie. above the Max TAM threshold of $1.74m).

Rule changes have made it easier to re-open DP and U22 slots via loans outside of MLS. Now, so long as the acquiring club takes on 100% of the player’s salary, the DP or U22 slot formerly occupied by the player will open up.

As previously announced, clubs can now buy out two players, rather than one, each season. The theme of this offseason’s rule changes has been all about MLS making it faster and easier for aggressive clubs to quickly. The level of play in MLS is quickly increasing.

And finally, in a bit of marketing news, with the MLS Super Draft no longer being televised or streamed, adidas has dropped its presenting sponsor status. The move makes sense, but it's the end of an era.

The full 2025 MLS roster rules and regulations can be viewed here:

Roster Rules and Regulations | MLSsoccer.com
Official MLS roster rules and regulations

Comments

Latest