TAM Talk: So what exactly is FC Dallas doing?

This is the most active window in memory for FC Dallas. Los Toros went into the offseason with an overloaded and over-cap roster, they trimmed a lot of deadwood, and are now moving out salary cap weight to clear the deck.

One might then ask, what’s next? What’s the plan? Not Buzz’s plan, surely?

So in this space, I thought I might try and parse out the new direction I think FCD is headed.

Step One: New Coach

The first step came when FC Dallas hired Eric Quill. I think this is a great hire. I’ve talked about why on the podcast.

The important thing for this discussion today is the hire points to new player profiles and a direction for the rebuild. By watching him work over the years, I feel confident saying Quill prefers a degree of athleticism combined with soccer skills.

The Anderson Julio trade, in my mind, is a Quill trade.

Step Two: Return to the Club’s DNA

Both Dan Hunt and Andre Zanotta have publically stated they want to get the club back to its old ways, matching its DNA. In part, this means a return to Homegrowns, the pathway, North Texas SC, and the Academy. You saw this yesterday with the signing of six Homegrowns.

But it’s not just Homegrowns. It’s also the tradition of guys like Fabian Castillo, Juan Toja, Roberto Mina, Mauro Diaz, and Joselito Vaca. Young’ish internationals at lower prices who are developed and perhaps eventually sold. You might even include Alan Velasco and Bernard Kamungo in this paradigm, both of whom the club extended recently. And maybe even the just purchased Patrickson Delgado.

You also see the application of old ways in the announced shift by FCD to the two DPs and four U22 Initiative players roster model. U22 players have limited cap hits of $150k or $200k depending on age.

In another way, this return to DNA likely means moving on from the veteran, perhaps surplus, players that cost TAM/GAM. Perhaps guys like Paul Arriola (trade pending) and Sebastian Lletget (rumored to be on the block). Moving on from veteran depth, small-minute fillers like Omar Gonzalez, Eugene Ansah, and Liam Fraser. Those depth spots will likely go to younger developing players.

Step Three: Dumping Cap and Getting TAM/GAM

The MLS salary, cap, and roster rules can be tough to parse so I will try and simplify what’s happening.

But trading Jesus Ferreira, FCD got $2.3 million in General Allocation Money (GAM), a 2025 international slot, and Léo Chú.

Moving Ferreira could have opened a DP spot had FCD not chosen the 2DP model. Instead, FCD gets four U22s, the aforementioned Chú being one of them, with Enes Sali and Geovane Jesus being the others. So FCD has one more open U22 spot and by choosing this model, FCD gets a bonus of $2 mil GAM.

For the record, I really don’t like the 2 DP / 4 U22 model. They have so much GAM already, I’m not sure $2 mil more helps. DPs are far too important.

We’re also about to see Paul Arriola traded to Seattle. At this time I am writing this, we don’t know if anything is coming in return. But that doesn’t matter cause the move is about getting Arriola’s salary off the cap and not having to buy that salary down with $1 million of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) or GAM. By moving off Arriola’s salary the team opens a max-salary slot of $743,750.

How Much GAM has FCD piled up?

As of December 10th, FC Dallas had $4,482,846 for use in 2025. (From the base allotment of $2.93 mil, more for missing playoffs, expansion season bonus, and any they got via trade or selling players to that point.) Since then, FCD…

• Added $1 million in 2025 GAM in the Jesus Ferreira trade.
• Traded away $200k in 2025 (and more overall) in the Anderson Julion trade.
• Traded away $50k in 2025 GAM in the Shaq Moore trade.
• Added $2 million in 2025 GAM by using the 2 DP/4 U22 model.

So my quick unofficial math says FCD now has $7,232,846 in GAM to work with during 2025, as of today.

They also have $2,225,000 in TAM, which MLS is phasing out (it goes down each year going forward) and can not be traded.

That’s roughly $9.5 mil to spendin total. What’s the point of all this money you ask?

What are GAM and TAM used for?

General Allocation Money can be used for:

• Trade to another team.
• Reduction in your own player’s salary on the cap (including max players to be under max).
• Reducing or eliminating the cap hit for the transfer fee or loan fee of a player.

Targeted Allocation Money may be used for “TAM Buy Downs”:

• Sign a new player with a salary and acquisition costs are more than the Maximum Salary Budget Charge of $743,750.
• Re-sign an existing player provided he is earning more than the Maximum Salary Budget Charge.
• Convert a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player (Like Paul Arriola in 2024).

In other words, TAM is for “targeting” big-money players. GAM is for everything else.

You can also use both kinds of AM to sign players to their first Homegrown contract. GAM can be used on a homegrown on any later contacts. The idea here is to get Homegrowns into your supplemental roster even if they are highly paid Homegrowns. None of the four HGs from this week will likely fit this category of spending.

Step Four: Spend the Money

So just what is FC Dallas going to do with all that “funny money” as we sometimes call it?

Dallas will need to use a certain amount of their TAM to buy down their players that exceed the max budget charge of $743,750. These are the proverbial “TAM players” on the current roster that need a little buydown: Paxton Pomykal, Shaq Moore (we assume as he has a new contract), Sebastian Lletget, Sebastien Ibeagha, and Anderson Julio. The rest they can use on any new “big” signings they need to make.

The GAM will be used everywhere else to bring the team into cap alignment or can be traded as part of further moves. They may have just used some on the Delgado buy, for example, thus allowing him to not be a U22 initiative.

Step Five: Further Moves

Zanotta said the big priority this year was to improve the defense. Specifically at center back.

They then grabbed Lalas Abubakar in free agency perhaps as the Omar Gonzalez replacement, that’s a start. Adding Shaq Moore was nice since I’m worried about Geovane Jesus‘ 2025. Moore is an upgrade on the Geovane period.

But Zanotta said after Abubakar they wanted one more center back and then they loaned out Carl Sainte. So the Burn might need a backup center back as well. They also traded away one of their two left backs, so that spot might need a piece too.

So specifically, most of us observers are still waiting for one large, TAM center back signing. Probably an international. A CB1, if you will. A Reto Ziegler, Bressan, and Juan Antion Martinez type. Your mileage may vary.

(I said this last year too. We saw how that went.)

Likely they can use Arriola’s vacated max-salary slot and the TAM to bring in a salary between $750k and 1.7 mil (the buydown max). In effect, a new center back will be “swapped in” for Arriola.

And they also still have an open U22 spot sitting there that they need to take advantage of. Filling one of the depth holes at CB or LB with a U22 would work nicely.

Honestly, I don’t see all that adding up to $9.5 mil $AM. Not without something radical.

TL;DR: TAM center back, a U22 maybe as a defensive depth piece. Maybe a TAM signing this summer.

Remaining Questions?

I’m sure you have asked some of them yourself.

Is FC Dallas in a Salary Dump Mode Because of the Stadium?

On the field, I only kind of think sort of.

By moving Arriola and Ferreira FCD saves approximately $4 million in salary. That’s a lot of money. But that’s not billionaire panic money. They have had players in that same kind of range before like Franco Jara. Velasco and Pomykal still make over a mil each. But it is a cost-saving measure in real life, not just cap. Hell, they even have to eat part of Paul’s money, something like a $1 mil.

The move to the 2DP/4U22 is a saver too. Having one less DP on the books is maybe the biggest budget move.

The way I think of it, the Hunts have been planning this stadium reno for years. They knew this was coming. If Nico Estevez had made the playoffs would he have been fired? Would FCD have started gutting the team and rebuilding? I don’t think they would have. I think they would be continuing with the Nico way.

So I don’t see them going full salary gut job just because “surprise, stadium reno!” So maybe just some budget consciousness while they rebuild? That’s how I see it anyway.

Time will tell, right?

But What if FCD Sells Alan Velasco or Petar Musa?

Yeah, that’s going to be a full-on rebuild. Either sale would then send FCD down the path of finding a replacement DP. And at that point, FCD would pick up a bunch more GAM they could use over the next few seasons.

Here’s the thing though, football at the FCD/MLS level is pretty much a commodities business. This is how all teams get better. You buy low and sell high.

So if FCD sells Alan Velasco for $10 mil and a sell-on, they get a profit on their (reported) $8 mil buy and a possible big future payday if he shines at Boca Juniors. Or maybe it’s $12 mil and no sell-on, that’s still a profit. You go hunting for another DP, be it young or old. I take that deal on a player coming off an ACL.

If there are offers for Petar Musa for $22 mil just one season on from your $13 mil buy, then you say thanks and pocket the $9 mil profit. Then you go out and buy another $10 to $13 mil striker with extra coin for something else.

This is the business, this is the game, this is why Andre Zanotta is here.

If they sell those two and don’t replace them, then I’m on in on the stadium reno budget slashing thing.

Were Velasco & Musa Sales the Plan All Along?

I don’t think so.

I think the contract extension for Velasco was supposed to lock him up and end all that Argentina stuff cause it raises his market price. Instead, it seems to have thrown gas on the fire.

And coming off the amazing season he just had, I’m quite confident the club wanted to double down on Musa to see what he could do after a year in Texas.

The football world moves fast. Yes, it would be a drag to lose those two if they do. But this is what selling clubs like FCD do. You move on to the next signing.