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Portland, Vancouver to take part in Expansion Priority Draft today

Whitecaps_new_logoPortland Timbers MLS Primary

The 2011 MLS Expansion class, Vancouver and Portland, will take part in an Expansion Priority Draft today to determine which of them gets to select first from a number of transaction mechanisms (yes, that sounds very boring, but it is pretty important in determining how these teams will build their rosters):

The teams will be selecting from the following list, with Vancouver having first pick of the following:

· First pick in the Expansion Draft

· First pick in the MLS SuperDraft

· USL Player Priority on opening of signing period

· Allocation Ranking

· Designated Player Ranking

· Discovery Ranking

· Lottery Ranking

· Waiver/Re-entry Draft Ranking

You can hear the selections via audio on MLSSoccer.com at 4pm.

Which mechanism would you select first? Expansion draft top pick or MLS Draft top pick?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. To be clear – SBI, you are using the wrong Timbers logo. The one you show lived a short 3.5 weeks before it was replaced.

    (SBI-I had no idea (as it happens I was in South Africa covering the World Cup when this slight change went down), and after looking at them side by side I’m not sure how anybody would notice without being told they are different. I’ll be sure to add the newer logo, assuming it doesn’t change again.)

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  2. Agree. Vancouver’s is generic. Looks like it’s logo for the Apex Corporation or something. How hard is is to just take a look at a city or states coat of arms, flag or seal for inspiration? But Portland makes Vancouvers look classy by comparison. Especially considering Portland started out with a great crest and went backwards.

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  3. Both new logos are embarrassments. I especially expected Vancouver to do much better.

    Won’t matter once the games start, but until then, we’ll debate how both teams allowed their logos to be designed by a Human Resource sub-committee looking for a diversity logo for their seminar.

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  4. I think Ives is the last person you should be complaining to about blowing the Timbers logo. Go chew out Portland for creating that minor league baseball logo. The new one still sucks.

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  5. Way to blow it on the Timbers logo, SBI. New one has been in place for awhile

    (SBI-That’s what I get for using the logo sent to me by the PORTLAND TIMBERS. Had no idea they changed it again so quickly. So much for the wood carving they sent me with that very same logo. And John, settle down, I doubt many people outside Portland (and even in Portland) could tell the subtle difference between the logo I used and the newer version Portland adopted.)

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  6. I wonder if it means they get the chance to sign any and all of their current players, plus 1 more from another USSF-D2 team AND then after that acquiring lower division players reverts to being a discovery claim ranking issue. So in that sense, there sort of is (and apparently has been in years past) a continuous allocation order, but only if other teams put in a discovery claim on the same players.

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  7. They are either 1st or 2nd except for the Discovery, Waiver/Re-entry, and Lottery draft rankings in which they are either 17th or 18th.

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  8. No,no,no……DP’s were not, and have never been required to be protected. Only players with no trade contracts.

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  9. I am hereby not paying attention to any of that crap. Seeing them listed out like that just makes me realize how ridiculous the whole system is.

    I’m just going to accept who the players on a team are and not worry about how they got there. I will not rot my mind thinking about “transaction mechanisms”. That’s what MLS executives are for.

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  10. Other than the two drafts – are they first (say in allocation order) or are they just ahead of each other? In other words, Vancouver could be first in allocation with Portland second. Or Vancouver could be 17th and Portland 18th.

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  11. I still don’t get “USL Player Priority.” Do the two teams have the right to priority on one player each, or do they still have the player priority over other MLS teams no matter how many players they sign their first season?

    Also, the Vancouver link makes it look like this only applies to USSL D2 players. Does it also apply to all other levels of USL such as USL2 and PDL (non college players of course) or other American leagues like the NPSL?

    Regardless, I’m just happy that there isn’t a continuous allocation order or draft for USSF D2 players

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  12. Yeah, it was always going to be that way after they won the coin toss. I suppose Portland could have taken 1st in Allocation, but it’s not a sure thing anyone big comes to MLS and then Vancouver has 1st in the SuperDraft and Expansion Draft.

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  13. Caps chose to get 1st pick in SuperDraft and Timbers get 1st pick in expansion draft

    Vancouver gets 1st in Allocation, USL Priority and Waiver Re-entry. Portland gets 1st pick in the others

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  14. None of the promised audio/video feeds are working. Been trying off and on for 45 minutes. I’d think it would be done now, but no news has emerged.

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  15. Thanks. Can’t say I fully understand the discovery ranking system. Can it be used to steal signings, eg Lindpere signs with MLS to play for Red Bulls, from another league. Could a club with higher discovery ranking have stepped in and stolen him?

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  16. “The Designated Player ranking comes into play when two MLS clubs wish to negotiate with the same player. In this case, the club with the higher ranking receives priority.”

    Demonjuice linked to the source above.

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  17. Yes, each team can lose up to 2 players. They will protect 11 and if one is chosen they can protect someone else that they left unprotected initially.

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  18. Can teams lose more than player in the expansion draft? Or, rephrasing the question, will the expansion team once again get to pick ten players from existing MLS clubs?

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  19. Anyone got details about

    · USL Player Priority on opening of signing period

    · Allocation Ranking

    · Designated Player Ranking

    · Discovery Ranking

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  20. Allocation ranking… the differences between #1 and #2 in a draft can be negligible compared to being #1 and being allocated an absolute stud TBA

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