The year: 2010. The setting: my grandparents’ living room. Young Kyle is watching his first FIFA World Cup, from Luis Suarez’s antics against Ghana to Landon Donovan’s dramatic winner against Algeria. That summer, I discovered the world of soccer. That means I should be allowed to sign every single one of those players before anyone else can, right? Unfortunately, younger me, that interpretation of Discovery Rights is very, very wrong. You didn’t even account for the now defunct Allocation List (maybe a different article for that)! Good try, though. It’s time for another Know Your League Explainer.
Welcome to MLS, where roster rules and regulations are too complex for my 10-year-old self to understand. We’ve probably all heard about a certain midfield maestro from a Manchester club that’s rumored to be looking for a move stateside, and you may have heard about some reports saying his Discovery Rights belong to Inter Miami (lol). Does that mean David Beckham was the first person to scout De Bruyne? Does it mean no one had ever truly watched him until the folks at Inter Miami finally discovered him? No and no, once again. If you’re anything like 10-year-old me, this mechanism makes no sense, and it’s about time we learn about it together.
Discovery Process
Every team in Major League Soccer is entitled to a Discovery List of up to five players. These lists contain players who are not yet under contract within MLS and who aren’t eligible for any other assignment mechanisms (like the MLS SuperDraft). Considering how many professional leagues there are around the world, that includes tens of thousands of players. Whether it’s an American player playing abroad or a foreign player playing in their domestic league, the potential names for these lists go on and on. There are a few more nitty-gritty stipulations, but I’ll leave those to the article from the league.
From names like Kevin De Bruyne to Kazuyoshi Mura (the oldest professional player in the world at 58 years old), clubs can scout far and wide and be as ambitious as they like with their Discovery Lists. But just because a player is on your list, that doesn’t mean they’ll be joining you.
Essentially, placing a player on your Discovery List gives your club the ability to play the main role in their potential — but not guaranteed — transfer into MLS. Here’s the order of operations: club identifies player that fits above criteria, club places player on Discovery List, club can negotiate with said player, sell Discovery Rights to another enquiring club, or leave them on their Discovery List until they decide to take them off or fail to make a legitimate offer to the player following Discovery Conflict Resolution.
What is that, you ask? In short, multiple teams can place the same player on their list, but they’re subject to a pecking order based on who claimed them first — the Discovery Priority. The only team that can negotiate with the player is the team in first position, but that spot can be exchanged. At that point, Discovery Conflict Resolution takes place, offering the sale of the Discovery Rights and requiring a fee or trade to be exchanged between clubs in order for a player to negotiate with a different team. Fans may remember last season’s big story, when Marco Reus joined the LA Galaxy. Charlotte FC originally held Reus’ rights, having placed him on their Discovery List while he played for Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga. As he prepared to leave Dortmund, Reus wanted to join LA over Charlotte, prompting the $400,000 fee paid by the future champs in exchange for his rights.
But … Why?
Obviously, Charlotte didn’t actually discover Marco Reus, and neither did the Galaxy. It’s a misnomer of sorts that makes for some great banter and plenty of confusion. But, while this mechanism isn’t exactly what it sounds like, it’s a tool that further contributes to the parity of our league. By allowing teams a chance to scout and essentially reserve the right to negotiate with talented players around the globe, MLS has given every club the chance to snag a few big fish without having to worry about rival MLS team’s getting to them first or driving up the price of the deal.
Every club is free to take their own approach to stocking their Discovery List, whether that means claiming superstars before anyone else can or finding diamonds in the rough and saving them for when they can make the finances work out. Players must be on your list before you sign them, meaning clubs are always juggling who is and isn’t on their list. While lists don’t have to be made public, they tend to come out through unofficial channels when rumors start swirling, causing a stir and getting people talking.
So, should that Manchester City midfielder be joining the league any time soon, the story of his arrival will run through Miami one way or another. Whether they exercise their Discovery Rights and do some financial gymnastics to make him fit in their roster or they sell his rights to another team for a likely very generous fee, Beckham’s club holds all of the cards in this latest transfer rumor.
