Figuring out roughly how much GAM each team has
Plus the status of each team's DP & U22 usage
Uncorked a couple of 4000-word columns this week as MLS preseason began – simple overviews of each team’s roster moves thus far, and their biggest need in the current transfer window.
This was a team-by-team look at who’s used which DP & U22 slots (“premium roster slots,” in the local parlance). Baked into this is a guess at whether each team will go with the 3/3 or the 2/4/GAM roster build.
What I didn’t do in those columns is list each team’s GAM haul. I saved that for here, which is what I’ll call a “less official” outlet to estimate1 each team’s reserves.
Why only estimates? Because teams aren’t required to release their GAM totals and we haven’t gotten an official update from league HQ since September. So what I’ve done is taken that September number then added (or subtracted) any official incoming/outgoing GAM since then.
The two big issues with this:
There’s a million different under-the-radar ways to use GAM. The most obvious one is to buy down cap hits. You could (for example) buy down someone on a max cap hit2 to a $150k cap hit; it just costs you $653K GAM to do so. It’s a way to fit more good players under the salary cap, and every team does that to one extent or another. But nobody’s books are completely open, so we don’t know how much GAM is being used where.
We don’t know exactly how much $$$ from sales (either outright transfers to overseas clubs or intraleague cashfers between MLS teams) is being converted to GAM. Sometimes it’s a lot. Sometimes it’s a little. At all times it’s opaque.
Now, some very smart people have taken the time to reverse-engineer each team’s cap and GAM space. You can see Arman Kafai has done that here in his excellent FootyAnalyticMusings newsletter:
The Miami one is, for obvious reasons, the most interesting. But dig through his archive and you can find links for all 30 teams.
Ok, one last series of notes: This is simply the estimate of rolled-over 2026 GAM + new GAM acquired since then. This does not include:
Roster model GAM (from going 2/4/GAM build).
The “You suck!” allocation GAM teams get for missing the playoffs. It’s not a lot, but it exists.
GAM received for qualifying for Concacaf Champions Cup. (I’ve never seen it made clear how much that is).
Third Designated Player charge distribution. Remember, teams that want a third DP still have to pay the league to get that slot. All those funds are then put into a pot and dispersed as GAM to teams that only have two DPs.
The $3,280,000 in new GAM every single team gets to start the year, no matter their 2025 finish or roster build model or anything else. This number is up from $2.9m last year.
GAM lost from that $3,280,000 that certain clubs might have “pulled forward” to use in 2025.
GAM from the $3,921,000 slated to be given to each team in 2027 that might be pulled forward this year.
Any discretionary TAM, which is up to $2,125,000 per team.
Any declined options or contract buyouts.
In we go:
Atlanta United: As of September had $136,967, and have acquired at least $625k in new, 2026 GAM by trading Noah Cobb to Colorado and the No. 2 SuperDraft pick to Dallas.
Austin FC: As of September had $44,636. They got $50k in new GAM for trading Stefan Cleveland to Sporting KC, and sent out $700k of their 2026 total to Minnesota for Joseph Rosales.
Charlotte FC: As of September had $1,742,951. They got another $350k GAM for the trade of Drake Callender to Minnesota, and spent $50k of that to get the rights to Luca de la Torre from San Diego.
Chicago Fire: As of September had $11,689. They traded Justin Reynolds to Sporting and could get up to $100k GAM if undisclosed metrics3 are hit, but it’s not clear whether or not that’s $100k of 2026 GAM, or from 2027 or 2028. (My guess is 2026, but it’s just a guess).
FC Cincinnati: As of September they were flat broke, $0 GAM. They transferred Luca Orellano two days ago, but who knows how much GAM they’re getting from that.
Colorado Rapids: As of September they had $2,033,775. They spent $275k of that on Cobb (there’s $250k of 2027 GAM coming as well, and potentially more beyond that), and $1.15m 2026 GAM4 on Dante Sealy from Montreal.
Columbus Crew: As of September they had $1,990,355. So far it looks like they’ve just rolled all that over, and haven’t added anything new to the pile.
FC Dallas: As of September they had $1,140,345. They spent $175k in 2026 GAM on the No. 3 SuperDraft pick, $50k on the No. 12 pick, and $350k on the No. 2 pick.
Do I love this? Yes, of course, very much.
D.C. United: As of September they had $718,569. They spent $200k of 2026 GAM (and $150k of 2027 GAM) to acquire Sean Nealis from the Red Bulls, as well as $200k total ($150k of it 2026 GAM) buying the 8th pick from the Revs.
Houston Dynamo: As of September they had $2,931,725. They spent $75k 2026 GAM on the 11th SuperDraft pick, and cashfer’d Booklyn Raines to the Revs for $1.6 million Virtually all of that can be converted to GAM, but your guess is as good as mine re: how much actually will be.
Sporting KC: As of September they had $1,010,415. They spent $50k in 2026 GAM to get Cleveland from Austin and that $100k of Schrödinger’s GAM to Chicago for Reynolds.
LAFC: As of September they had $2,000,577. They got $200k from San Diego for Luca Bombino5 and paid $500k of 2026 GAM (and another $500k of 2027 GAM) to Nashville for Jacob Shaffelburg.
LA Galaxy: As of September they had $120,580. They traded $500k of 2026 GAM and another $600k of 2027 GAM to Philly for Jakob Glesnes.
Inter Miami: As of September they had $2,135,713. They haven’t officially traded any GAM in or out, but you’re probably aware they’ve been pretty, pretty busy. Clearly they’re hoarding what they’ve got on hand in order to buy down as many veterans as possible (which is how they’d afford to give Tristan Blackmon a big raise should they acquire him).
Minnesota United: As of September they had $4,947,077. Since then they’ve cashfer’d Rosales – who knows how much of that they’ll convert – and sent out $475k to RBNY for Peter Stroud, $350k in 2026 GAM (and another $100k in 2027 GAM) to Charlotte for Drake Callender, and $300k GAM to Toronto for an international roster slot.
Montreal Impact: As of September they had $1,646,143, and have been very busy. They got $175k of 2026 GAM (and the same amount of 2027 GAM) from Dallas for the third SuperDraft pick, then spent $1.2m GAM total ($700k of it 2026 GAM) to get Bryan Vera from RSL. Then they traded Sealy to Colorado for up to $2.5m GAM total ($1.15m of it guaranteed 2026 GAM), and also spent up to $625k GAM on Dagur Dan Thorhallson from Orlando, with $500k of that being guaranteed 2026 GAM.
Nashville SC: As of September they had $51,626. They got $1m GAM total from LAFC for Shaffelburg, with half coming this year. They also sent out up to $100k conditional Schrödinger’s GAM to Orlando for Thomas Williams (a move I like).
New England Revolution: As of September they had $286,754, which is real “tell a tragedy in six words” stuff given how much GAM they had 18 months ago, and how much of it they spent to build the roster to Caleb Porter’s specifications.
Anyway, they got $150k in 2026 GAM and another $50k of 2027 GAM by trading the No. 8 pick in the SuperDraft to D.C. The rest of their work this winter has been in the cashfer market.
NYCFC: As of September they had $2,422,943, and do not appear to have spent a single cent of it, nor added anything to it. New CSO Todd Dunivant seems to be easing into things.
RBNY: As of September they had $159,900, and have been VERY busy. They traded Lewis Morgan to San Diego for, among other things,6 $450k in 2026 GAM, and traded Stroud to Minnesota for $475k GAM, and sold the No 12 SuperDraft pick to Dallas for $100k GAM (half of it 2026 vintage), and traded Nealis to D.C. for $350k GAM (200k of it 2026), and traded Daniel Edelman to St. Louis for $700k GAM (500k of it 2026) plus an additional $150k – unspecified which year that’d be from – if performance metrics are hit.
Orlando City: As of September they had $622,039. They got $500k of 2026 GAM from Montreal for Dagur Dan (plus a potential $125k in 2027 GAM), and spent $1.3m GAM total (evenly split between 2026 & 2027) acquiring Braian Ojeda from RSL. They also have that potential incoming GAM from the Williams trade to Nashville.
Plus they sold Rodrigo Schlegel, and I believe they got GAM from that. But no idea how much.
Philadelphia Union: As of September they had $1,100,612, and as usual have been mad scientist’ing the roster. The only actual GAM trade is the Glesnes one to the Galaxy (which starts with $500k of 2026 GAM), but between the cashfer of Tai Baribo to D.C. and the sale of Kai Wagner to Birmingham City, I’m pretty sure they’ll have maxed out their $3m in convertible GAM for 2026.
Portland Timbers: Flat broke, with $0 GAM as of September. They sold David Ayala to Miami for $2m cashfer, so I’m sure they’ll have squeezed some GAM out of that.
Real Salt Lake: As of September they had $2,118,688, and have positively raked it in since then, getting $1.2m total GAM (700k 2026) from Montreal for Vera and $1.3m total (650k 2026) from Orlando for Ojeda. They used up to $650k of Schrödinger’s GAM to get Chance Cowell from the Quakes, but I’d say there’s little chance that’s tagged for 2026.
San Diego FC: As of September they had $3,424,625. They got 50k from Charlotte for the rights to LdlT, and the rest of their winter work has been the usual buying low. They sent LAFC $200k GAM to complete the Bombino trade and did that complicated deal with the Red Bulls for Morgan. They also sent the Quakes $350k of 2026 GAM to permanently acquire Oscar Verhoeven.
San Jose Earthquakes: As of September they had $1,448,024. They got $350k for Verhoeven and that mystery GAM for Cowell, as well as $150k GAM total (half of it 2026) from Houston for the 11th pick in the draft.
Seattle Sounders: As of September they had $1,146,234. They sold homegrown Danny Leyva to Necaxa for, reportedly, around $1m, and can easily convert that to more GAM if necessary. Their only other notable move was the loan deal for Nikola Petković from Charlotte, but they’re paying 2027 GAM on that one.
St. Louis City: As of September they had $2,435,816. They sent out at least $700k (500k of it from 2026) for Edelman, with another $150k of conditional GAM on top of that. That’s it for now.
Toronto FC: As of September they had $1,332,840, and added $300k to that amount when they traded an international roster slot to MNUFC last week.
Vancouver Whitecaps: As of September they had $1,648,728, and have added a ton between the trade of Nelson to Austin ($1,250,000 GAM total, 700k of it in 2026) and the sale of Ali Ahmed to Norwich City (it’s a good bet they collected some GAM from that, but as usual your guess is as good as mine).
No moves beyond those two, but I’m just gonna leave this here:
Blackmon’s good. Flexibility to build and keep your team at/near the top of the standings for years to come is better.
The club says he won’t be traded or, presumably, sold. We’ll see.
To be clear, these are all just estimates.
Which is different than a max TAM hit. A max cap slot this year is $803k; a max TAM slot is $1,803,000.
They’re always undisclosed, man.
Plus 750k in 2027 GAM and 600k in “conditional GAM.”
LAFC’s a really good front office but Tyler Heaps fucking killed them here.
This is a complicated deal in which RBNY are eating probably 2/3s of Morgan’s salary, and they’re sending out $525k of their own 2027 GAM for SDFC to take him off their books this year, but will also get $650k of conditional GAM if unspecified performance metrics are met.
it would be cool if we could see everyone's actual amount!
also, i think you have a unique job that you work for a company that you're kind of an outsider to in some aspects but have some inside information but not maybe a lot... or maybe a lot that you just don't share. but it is cool that you can give your honest opinion about your company and the different moves that take place!
Thanks for breaking that down and providing some clarity on the GAM mystery.
I just don't understand the Lewis Morgan trade. The GAM swap is like the old "I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A Hamburger Today" scenario. His guaranteed compensation for 2025 was $1,479,358.00. So if RBNY is paying 2/3 of his 2026 salary, that's about $1 million to not play for them. On the one hand, Cade Cowell is definitely better than odd year Morgan (i.e., injured Morgan). But on the other hand, neither Cowell, Harper nor anyone else on the roster is half as productive as even year Morgan (17 G+A in 2022, 18 G+A in 2024 per FBREF). So as a Red Bulls fan, do I hope he plays lights out for San Diego so we get extra GAM in 2027, or that he is not productive so we don't miss him?