In a salary cap league like MLS, squeezing every possible ounce of value from every corner of the roster is paramount to success. The best teams get production from all strata of players. The worst teams don’t.
While MLS hasn’t made the sweeping changes to their rosters some fans and media members have clamored for ahead of the 2026 World Cup, they have made incremental increases in the amount of money owners can invest in their rosters. One of those increases was the U22 Initiative, a mechanism introduced four years ago that could, in theory, be a sort of Designated Player-lite method of acquiring players.
But has it worked? Has the U22 Initiative improved either the quality of play on the field or the standing of MLS in the global soccer landscape? That answer isn’t quite as straightforward as it might seem.
What is the U22 Initiative? And why was it created?
MLS launched the U22 Initiative in 2021. Billed as another opportunity to add quality players to rosters who would otherwise be out of reach, the U22 Initiative was rolled out with three main goals.
