The Red Bulls, Ted Niziolek and the absurd rules of MLS

Sorry for the lack of posts today but it till all day to get the blog fixed and I was pretty much wiped out after writing the stories I had to write and waiting for it to get fixed. Apologies for the lack of posts and for making you wait. I needed a break and just watched Mariano Rivera implode vs. the Red Sox.

Here is the interesting development regarding someone I wrote about recently. For those of you recall, I wrote a story about Clifton native Teddy Niziolek, whose story was told here. Long story short, the Columbus Crew drafted him and offered a developmental deal, which Niziolek decided he couldn't play for (between 13 and 14K for the year). The Red Bulls were interested and made some offers but Columbus turned them all down. Now Niziolek is in limbo.

Well things have gotten interesting thanks to Major League Soccer's absurd rules. If you want to see Niziolek play you can go to Giants Stadium on Saturday and watch him play for the Red Bulls' reserve team against Houston's reserve team. The game takes place after the senior teams play. No, there wasn't a trade you hadn't heard about. According to MLS rules, Niziolek can play reserve team games as a guest player even though Columbus owns his rights. The rule is even more absurd if you consider that, in theory, the Red Bulls could take Niziolek on a road trip to play against the Columbus Crew reserves if they wanted to. Yes, I know, insane. He can also train with the Red Bulls, which he did Friday.

While it is nice to see that Niziolek can get some action in a professional environment it is still difficult trying to understand MLS rules.

As for whether any progress has been made regarding the Crew potentially trading Niziolek, the Crew have not spoken to Niziolek and all indications are that Columbus isn't budging.

Sorry this wasn't more juicy Red Bulls related news but I thought you guys would get a kick out of this latest development.

Comments

[MIke]

wow...this is wild. Crazy rule, but maybe its a pre-cursor to a trade?

[undrafted]

sure, anyone can play reserve games (Greg Lalas?), but the catch is that they have to play for FREE.

MLS teams don't have the #'s to have depth on reserve teams (if you pay a reserve player 13k per year, how much do you pay his backup on the bench?). But then again I think EPL teams put out trialists on reserve teams and care less about the results than MLS teams?

[Bim]

Sounds like a good thing for all parties. New York can get a better look at him and decide if he's worth a real offer to Columbus.

[Bim]

Sounds like a good thing for all parties. New York can get a better look at him and decide if he's worth a real offer to Columbus.

[Matt]

Crazy rule? Not necessarily since the Crew drafted him and own his rights. He did enter the draft. He went and trained/trialed with the Crew, who then offered him a contract. If he is serious about his dream, maybe he should go to Columbus and actually play, since they actually want him. Man up and work your way up the salary tree young man. Otherwise, he can only wait for the Red Bulls to actually give Columbus proper compensation for a player they wanted to sign after they drafted him and saw him train/trial with them in preseason.

That said, Bim, you are correct.