With the close of the 2014 MLS season and with it, the end of the Chivas USA franchise, the league also created a special Dispersal Draft to distribute the Chivas USA players to existing MLS clubs as well as the two new expansion clubs in Orlando City and New York.
The idea of a Dispersal Draft is not a new one. After the 2001 season, MLS contracted the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny with finding new homes for the Fusion and Mutiny players as the league's next priority. In early 2002, the league held two separate dispersal drafts.
In the first of these two drafts, MLS teams with so-called excess allocations were given first priority to select players from the two contracted clubs. The names of at least two of the players taken in that initial allocation draft should be familiar to Portland Timbers fans: Colorado Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni and Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
The second draft, officially dubbed the "MLS Dispersal Draft," gave the ten remaining MLS teams the opportunity to select players still left team-less after the allocation draft. When it came time for the reigning champion San Jose Earthquakes to pick, the club deferred. With the next pick, the Colorado Rapids selected a player who would go on to appear in over 350 MLS games and play for the U.S. in the 2014 World Cup: Kyle Beckerman.
On Wednesday, the Portland Timbers technical staff will have the 12th overall pick in the 2014 MLS Dispersal Draft. FC Dallas currently sit in the top position.
In theory, each MLS club would take a former Chivas USA player, with the draft only concluding once every player had found a new club or after all participating MLS clubs defer their pick.
Though there’s possibilities for taking a young unproven player or a veteran who could provide depth to a roster, the reality is that each team must also weigh the benefits of the potential pick against the constraints of its current roster and salary cap.
MLS explained the Dispersal Draft rules this way: "MLS clubs acquiring Dispersal Draft players must take players at their full 2015 budget charges and options must be exercised, including any associated transfers or loans."
In other words, any player that a team selects in the Dispersal Draft -- and a club is under no obligation to do so -- will take up a roster spot and add to the club's salary cap.
Moreover, any Chivas USA player selected Wednesday will also be subject to the same rules for the league’s upcoming Expansion Draft in December—they would not automatically be protected.
