Explaining how the Bosman Rule prevented MLS from ever being another NASL

Answering a question from last week about the Bosman Rule

When Major League Soccer (MLS) launched in 1996, it exhibited a strong aversion to being associated with the North American Soccer League (NASL), viewing the latter as a failed experiment. MLS implemented stringent budget controls. While they initially attracted some established, often older, foreign players, the league's primary strategy centered on acquiring American players and making shrewd, cost-effective acquisitions in the transfer market.

As time went on, nostalgia for original NASL clubs like the New York Cosmos, LA Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and Tampa Bay Rowdies grew. We repeatedly heard that MLS should "take off the training wheels" and compete in the global market the way the NASL did. After all, no one in world football in the late 1970’s had the star power of the Cosmos and other clubs like the Strikers and Rowdies, who bought players in such a manner to try and keep up.

While MLS does still need to take the training wheels off in many ways, another Cosmos-like side I believe would be impossible to create in North America today thanks to the European Union and the Bosman Ruling.

The Bosman ruling was a landmark European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in 1995 that fundamentally changed the landscape of professional football in Europe. It centered on the rights of players and their ability to move between clubs.

By Luxofluxo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76261515

Prior to the ruling, European football clubs faced restrictions due to two key rules:

Transfer Fees: Clubs could demand a transfer fee for a player even after their contract had expired. This meant that a player who was out of contract couldn't simply join a new club; the new club would still owe a fee to the old one. This was deemed a restriction on the free movement of labor.

Nationality Quotas: Most leagues and UEFA competitions limited the number of foreign players a club could field in a match. While the NASL had a funky quota saying a minimum number of “North Americans” (which meant Americans or Canadians- Mexicans and Caribbean players were in fact considered foreign) needed to be on the pitch at a give time, it was generally 4 North Americans vs 7 foreigners whereas leagues in Europe often allowed only 1 or 2 foreign players on the field at a given time.

The case was brought by Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman, who played for RFC Liège. When his contract expired, he attempted to move but the transfer failed because RFC Liège demanded an excessive transfer fee. Bosman argued that this practice, along with nationality quotas, violated his right to freedom of movement as a worker within the European Union.

The ECJ sided with Bosman. They ruled that both the transfer fee system for out-of-contract players and nationality quotas were illegal under EU law. The ruling established the following key principles:

Free Movement of Labor: Footballers, like other workers, have the right to move freely between EU member states. A club cannot demand a transfer fee for a player whose contract has expired.

Abolition of Quotas: The ruling effectively ended nationality quotas for players from EU countries. Clubs could sign and field as many players from other EU nations as they wished.

So what did the Bosman Ruling result in?

Rise of Player and Agent Power: It shifted power from clubs to players, as players could run down their contracts and leave for free. This led to a significant increase in player wages. This eventually empowered agents.

The Big Clubs get Bigger: Wealthier clubs could sign top players from smaller clubs without paying a transfer fee, concentrating talent and making it harder for smaller clubs to compete.

Globalization of Squads: It led to the globalization of European club football, as teams could build squads with players from all over the continent, changing the tactical and cultural identity of many clubs. This point specifically speaks to why the sort of players caught in a numbers crunch in Europe in the 1970’s and 1980’s who came to North America would not in this era even if MLS didn’t have a salary cap or restrictions on spending of any kind.

The ruling has been one of the most influential legal decisions in the history of modern sport, forever changing how professional football operates.