MLS have finally introduced the "Beckham Rule," though they can't actually call it that. Instead it's the "marquee" or "designated player rule" whereby financial restrictions are relaxed a little, allowing teams to pay silly money to one player like Becks or Ronaldo or Figo or any other over the hill big name that can't cut it in Europe anymore. Ahem.

That sounds cynical, but I'm actually very excited. The rules look like this:

• Each MLS team gets one marquee player allocation


• Teams can trade their marquee player allocation to another team, but how stupid would a club be to trade that away?


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• Maximum of two marquee players per team


• The first $400,000 of the player's salary counts towards the $2million salary cap (meaning MLS pays the first $400,000 of the players wages). The rest is up to the club, and the sky's the limit

Great news for teams with money, which basically means New York Red Bulls. Expect them to throw big money at at least one player before the 2007 season starts. Hopefully this won't get out of control a la NASL, and the one marquee player will add some glamour, some gate numbers and raise the standard a little without damaging the nice production line thing MLS have got going.

Less glitzy, but equally exciting news: MLS also passed something or other to ensure that at least a portion of transfer fees received would go to the selling club instead of the league, giving clubs more resources to replace lost players.

The "Beckham Rule" plus this greater freedom in the transfer market is a huge step towards giving MLS teams autonomy from the league. Evolution not revolution, and in the right direction (if the English Premiership is a man, then MLS is still a primitive monkey but at least it's figured bananas taste better when you peel them, or something). Maybe the discovery of fire, a single league table and a worthwhile Open Cup are just around the corner.