Whether it be calling for a front seat during a road trip, fighting for that last slice of pizza, or wanting to sign World Cup winner and Bayern Munich legend Thomas Müller in a blockbuster summer move for MLS, calling dibs is important. So important that it has its own rules in the league.
Müller recently made headlines after joining the Vancouver Whitecaps through an atypical but significant mechanism in MLS's single-entity structure called the Discovery List.
The "discovery" part of the rule often raises quizzical eyebrows. How can you discover, for example, a 35-year-old German international? The regulation allows teams to "discover" and select up to five non-MLS players (with certain exceptions), and those teams can be first in line to negotiate an MLS move. If two or more clubs have the same player on their lists, priority is then given to the first claim or, if filed on the same day, the team with the worst points-per-game record.
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Clubs can also exchange the priority rights -- "dibs," if you will -- and in the instance of Vancouver, the Whitecaps paid $400,000 to FC Cincinnati for the Discovery Rights of Müller.
For those taking notes, why does MLS add these confusing extra steps? Uncommon in the rest of the global game, there would be plenty of head-scratching in the Premier League or LaLiga if clubs queued in line or transferred the rights of a major incoming player.
MLS has defended its usage and said to ESPN that it helps the league. One agent believes it can help teams, yet also considers it a "necessary evil," while others are left with questions. An anonymous team executive in a conversation with ESPN said the process was "embarrassing."
With that in mind, why is the Discovery List a mechanism in MLS, and should it change or go away?
Diving into the Discovery List weeds
"The world of football transactions is really -- I think of it as like a rugby scrum where there's many stakeholders fighting for position, and it results in exorbitant costs," Christina LaBrie, MLS' senior vice president of player relations, said to ESPN. "The Discovery List is more like an orderly line in which clubs get their opportunity to negotiate in turn, which takes some of that noise out of the system. I think that's advantageous to the league overall."
One of the primary goals of the Discovery List is to help keep costs down for clubs that are looking to add non-MLS players, a mechanism that can help land marquee stars for smaller-market teams that don't have the finances of the biggest spenders. Instead of a player interested in MLS looking around and escalating bidding wars, this can be tempered through the process.
Parity is also a benefit for smaller-market teams, while others can be clever with scouting for specific players across the globe.
"There are owners in this league that have pretty much said I'll spend whatever I need to do, and obviously, we don't have that type of owner. I think our owners also understand the business side of sports and want to make sure that we're doing things with the bottom line in mind," San Diego FC sporting director Tyler Heaps said to ESPN.
"There's a pro in the Discovery Process in that you're not bidding against everybody else in this league. Because if that's the case, I think some of these teams that have obviously endless amounts [of money] and unlimited amounts of spending are going to be able to get whatever player they want because it will just get shopped around the league very quickly."
Agent Patrick McCabe, who has facilitated the arrival of more than 150 players to MLS, agrees.
"I think it's a necessary evil for where MLS is and where it continues to grow. We can't have a complete Wild West, free market economy for players joining from abroad, there has to be a process, there has to be rules, there has to be regulations," McCabe said.
"You're going to find that the clubs that do the best roster construction and future planning and scouting -- you know, they can really use this Discovery Process to their advantage, [but] the clubs that are reacting in the market, that don't have a good scouting setup, they're going to suffer."
It makes sense what MLS is trying to accomplish with the rule -- especially as many cases involve a player being on just one list -- but things can get complicated. If more than one club has a player on a Discovery List, a nonpriority team can then send $50,000 of General Allocation Money -- -- in-league funds that can be used for a variety of purposes -- to the priority club, which would have five days, or three days in the current Secondary Transfer Window, to accept the funds and pass on the rights or make a proposal to the player.
In the case of Vancouver with Müller, Discovery Rights can also be exchanged outright, with no waiting period or offer from the priority club, through GAM deals that are typically more than $50,000.
ESPN reported in April that Müller rejected Cincinnati's proposal, and by July, the Whitecaps were finalizing their $400,000 deal for the German player's rights.
"That [$50,000] just triggers the process to make sure the club is not just sitting on these discovery rights. You can also trade and make an offer that's more than that," LaBrie said. "It's a trade of discovery priority."
Beginning to get a little confused about Müller's path to Vancouver? You're not alone. The Discovery List is one of many mechanisms in MLS that make it a highly regulated league, a tool in which there are additional details that are too lengthy to cover in one article.
Despite the extra steps, Müller has found a way to join MLS, but is it the right path?
"That stuff is embarrassing to have to talk about"
Unsurprisingly, there are mixed feelings about the mechanism.
"I see both sides of it," Heaps said. "It's a league that's trying to hold parity. I would probably rather outdo with them [Discovery List] because again, then it becomes more about the project and the negotiations as it does about who has his rights at the time, and I think obviously the league has probably lost some good players."
One executive in an anonymous conversation with ESPN felt more strongly.
"Part of it is the issue of single entity, right? I believe in competition, but single entity forces them [MLS] not to allow that competition. But I think the rules of like discovery rules and all that stuff is embarrassing to have to talk about from a legitimacy perspective when you're talking to agents across the world," the team executive said.
"It's like, wait, so we can't talk because [MLS club], who has never talked to me, put [me] on a Discovery List? That makes no sense."
These regulations and "discovery" phrasing can be perplexing to not only new fans of MLS, but also some incoming players, and agents who are unaccustomed to the league.
"Just imagine explaining to -- I had to explain this to [a former MLS Designated Player], right? We didn't have him on the Discovery List originally, when I was with [MLS club], and we had to go and trade for that," the anonymous club executive said.
"[I said], 'We now have you on the Discovery [List], we have agreed to have you on Discovery,' and he's like, 'Well, but you guys didn't discover me.'"
After learning about the rule and not being able to negotiate with other MLS teams, the executive had to inform the high-profile player that he could discuss contract details only with a club that was higher in priority, unless there was an exchange deal between those teams.
"Legally, according to [our rules] ... you cannot talk to them and us at the same time. You can only talk to the team that's higher on priority, or if there's a negotiated deal between the teams," the executive said to the player, who signed with a different club.
When LaBrie was asked whether the process of the Discovery List might lead to players not committing to MLS or if it's a worry for the front office, the league official said that situations like that are exceptions.
"We sign hundreds of players each year through the Discovery Process, and it works really well. These deals are efficient, they get done quickly," LaBrie said.
"There are some cases, a handful of cases every year, where multiple clubs are interested in the same player. So, the other is a process to go through to make sure we're following all of the steps."
Should MLS change or keep the Discovery List?
For McCabe, an agent who believes the Discovery List can work for clubs that take the time to scout and prepare, he would still like to see alterations. Ideas such as reconsidering the number of players on the Discovery List, and limiting the number of players who could be discovered for clubs that have little to no salary cap space.
"A time limit on how long you can hold the discovery for should be put in place, in terms of the list will reset at either the end of each window, because, as far as I know right now, there's no time limit," McCabe said.
"The other thing I would say is that if a player is discovered, it should be made public. The agent should be contacted ... MLS should contact either the player or the agent to say you've been added to an MLS Discovery List by a certain team."
San Diego's sporting director has capitalized on his scouting and identifying to place intriguing options into his Discovery List, but what would happen if that process vanished?
"It's something that's there, so how do you try to take advantage of it and use it to your benefit, and that's the way that I view it, [but] if it went away, would I be mad? No, I think it would be totally fine," Heaps said.
"It would probably take a little bit of an adjustment period, and there would probably be some negotiations that we ended up not maybe getting because an agent or a player chose to go shop that deal around and maybe got a higher number somewhere else."
For now, the Discovery List is staying. When used correctly, it could be argued that it can benefit teams like Vancouver that were prepared to make an offer for someone such as Müller, who can elevate the club in 2025 and beyond.
But there is room for improvement, and as the league considers sweeping changes through its wider evolution in its third decade, changes and a more simplified approach should be considered for the Discovery List, which symbolizes how complex it can get in one of soccer's most regulated leagues. Or, if MLS feels it's fitting and beneficial, perhaps one day it'll do away with "dibs."