On Friday, July 1, all Senior Roster player contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the year, meaning that a team cannot waive a player in order to free up salary budget space on or after that date. If a team does not plan on keeping a player, the player's contract must be terminated prior to July 1. This deadline only applies to players on the 18-man Senior Roster, since players signed to Developmental contracts do not have guaranteed contracts nor do their salaries count toward the team's salary budget. In addition, each team is given the option to extend the guarantee date of up to two players past the July 1 deadline.
On Monday, nine players were officially placed on waivers by Major League Soccer teams:
Alfonso Loera (Chivas USA)
Ryan Suarez (Chivas USA)
Eugene Sepuya (Colorado Rapids)
Mamadou Diallo (MetroStars)
Gilberto Flores (MetroStars)
Cassio (New England Revolution)
Felix Brillant (New England Revolution)
Noah Palmer (Real Salt Lake)
Marlon Rojas (Real Salt Lake)
Players are placed on waivers for a 48-hour period, at which point the teams with the lowest points per game during the current season would have the highest priority claiming opportunity. The ranking of the priority order is as follows:
Teams with the lowest points per game during the current season that have selected the fewest number of players off waivers in the current season (since they have all played more than three games). The priority ranking is set at the time the players are placed on waivers (Mon. June 27)
The teams are grouped by lowest points per game among those who have selected the same number of players.
The teams that have selected the fewest number of players off waivers during the current season have priority above those with more players selected.
If a team chooses to request to claim a player, they must submit their request to the League office by Wed., June 29 at 5 p.m. ET. If more than one team requests the rights to the same player, the team with the highest priority will obtain his rights. At the end of the 48-hour waiver claiming period, if a player is not claimed by any team his former team retains a right of first refusal should the League re-sign the player. This right lasts for 12 months following the date of his waiver.
The next dates of relevance to the roster composition are:
The current priority order for claiming is as follows (with players claimed on waivers in 2005 season):
1. San Jose (from D.C. United)
2. Kansas City
3. New England
4. Real Salt Lake (Leighton O'Brien)
5. Columbus (Denny Clanton)
6. Los Angeles (Josh Saunders)
7. Chicago (Jared Montz)
8. FC Dallas (Alex Woods)
9. Chivas USA (Milton Blanco, Michael Erush)
10. MetroStars (Dan Kennedy, Mike Ueltschey)
11. D.C. United (from San Jose) (Andrew Weber, John Wilson)
12. Colorado (Michael Cardenas, Bouna Coundoul, Eric Denton, Marcus Sagastume)
