2025 Club Roster Profiles give MLS some transparency
A look at Sunday Night Soccer, and a touch of culture
MLS released their official Club Roster Profiles on Thursday morning which, frankly, is awesome. If you’ve followed me at all over the years you probably know that I’m a huge NBA guy, and as a huge NBA guy I spend a ton of time going over roster permutations via cap and salary data. It is a (very, very nerdy) hobby of mine and believe me, I am not the only one. This type of offseason1 roster-build theory-crafting drives interest, and it is a type of interest MLS 1) is ripe for, and 2) has missed out on because of the opacity of… almost everything.
So I am very, very happy to see the league take a very concrete step into a brave new world of fan engagement. The fans I’m talking about are, of course, the first 2.5% here:
Those innovators make it much, much easer for the subsequent 97.5% to find their own entry into the league in particular, and the sport overall. The value they add is exponential.
To that end, here are some useful tools if you’re the kind of fan who thinks too much about roster construction:
Everything at AmericanSoccerAnalysis. And if you really want to get ahead of the curve, sub to their Patreon to beta-test tools for sickos (including their yet-to-be-released Roster Builder and Trade Machine).
The excellent Absolute Unit substack, which applies economic theory to MLS roster construction practice. Think of this as a tool2 for how to clarify your thinking.
Soccerwise has comprehensive, in-depth roster profiles (including total roster spend, GAM on-hand and salary data going out years, for the duration of every player’s contract). They’ve also got depth charts. Join the Patreon for access.
Devin Pleuler’s Central Winger substack. Devin’s one of the OG quants in world football (and, full disclosure, one of my closest friends). He’s got lots of tools and tips on how to measure player and team value.
Arman Kafai’s Footy Analytic Musings. Arman is a GAM-obsessed NBA sicko3, just like me, and did a great job of drawing the NBA comparison in his most recent newsletter. We were even able to get a live action shot of him during the Dejan Joveljic transfer:
When we get updated team GAM totals, and when the ASA Trade Machine comes online, I’ve got a few trades to run by all of you. In the meantime you’ll definitely want to read everything Tommy Scoops writes, because there’s a lot of smoke in the air already in this young season.
Got a column up on MLSsoccer right now previewing the Sunday Night Soccer match between Houston and Inter Miami. CLICK!
Two things I didn’t mention in the column, or in Sunday’s big react column, that I wanted to give a little airtime to here:
Femi Awodesu was very good in his MLS debut at center back for the Dynamo last week. I still, for the life of me, can not understand how he went undrafted in 2024, given his measurables (he’s 6-foot-2 and tested well athletically at the Combine) and pedigree (Union academy, and then college at Penn State, which puts a lot of kids into the pros). I thought he’d be a top 10 pick!
Telasco Segovia has been really, really impressive to me. He hasn’t looked at all intimidated by playing with the Barça boys, and has injected the game with pace (both of play, and just actual pace) and some nastiness.
And finally, I wanted to share this hype vid Calen made last week ahead of the season opener in Atlanta:
Damn I miss The Movement.
A ton of it is in-season as well, as I madly craft scenarios for the Celtics to win the title AND add UConn’s Alex Karaban at the end of the first round AND somehow sneak under the luxury tax for 2025-26.
That gets published, like, twice a year.
Poor bastard’s a Mavs fan.
Is there any good analysis of the constraints that GMs and soccer directors are working with coming from their ownership? For example, FC Cincinnati’s front office seems to have much more money to play with from its owners than say, DC. What do the owners expect their organizations to be able to accomplish given the resources at their disposal?
Your theory that league parity is starting to fray makes all of this even more fun.