Atlanta United to hold No. 1 allocation ranking, No. 2 pick in 2017 MLS SuperDraft
Atlanta United won the coin toss at the MLS Expansion Priority Draft on Sunday and elected to pick first in the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft, to be held on Dec. 13.
The MLS Expansion Priority Draft was held to determine the selection ranking in six player acquisition methods for 2017 MLS expansion teams Atlanta United and Minnesota United FC. A coin toss determined which team would be able to select from those mechanisms first.
Below are the results, in order by selection, from the 2016 MLS Expansion Priority Draft:
- 2016 MLS Expansion Draft – Atlanta No. 1, Minnesota No. 2
- 2017 MLS SuperDraft – Minnesota No. 1, Atlanta No. 2
- Allocation Ranking Order – Atlanta No. 1, Minnesota No. 2
- USL/NASL Player Priority Ranking – Minnesota No. 1, Atlanta No. 2
- 2016 Waiver Draft and Re-Entry Draft Ranking – Atlanta No. 21, Minnesota No. 22
- Discovery Player Ranking – Minnesota No. 21, Atlanta No. 22
The 2016 MLS Expansion Draft will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Both Atlanta United and Minnesota United FC will have five selections. Atlanta will select No. 1 overall, and will alternate selections with Minnesota until the conclusion of the draft.
The 2017 MLS SuperDraft will be held in Los Angeles in mid-January. Minnesota United FC will hold the No. 1 overall selection, while Atlanta will follow with the No. 2 selection. The rest of the draft order will be determined by the reverse order of finish in the 2016 MLS Standings – coinciding with subsequent MLS Cup Playoff results.
Atlanta will have the No. 1 spot in the Allocation Ranking Order, followed by Minnesota. Similar to the SuperDraft, the rest of the allocation order will be determined by reverse order of finish in the final standings, again coinciding with playoff results. The Allocation Ranking Order determines what team has the first priority to acquire a player listed on the Allocation Ranking List. That current list of players is available here.
Atlanta will select 21st in both of the MLS Waiver Draft and MLS Re-Entry Draft, with Minnesota to follow. The first 20 picks will be determined by reverse order of finish. The MLS Re-Entry Draft will be held in mid-December (in two separate stages) and gives teams a chance to select players who have not agreed to a new contract with their current club, but are not eligible for free agency.
Atlanta will hold the 22nd spot in the Discovery Player Ranking, followed by Minnesota. The Discovery Player Ranking Order is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a Discovery Player if multiple requests for the same player are submitted on the same calendar day. Teams may have up to seven players on its Discovery List at all times, and are free to sign as many players from this list as they wish.
Finally, Atlanta will hold the second spot in the USL/NASL Player Priority Ranking, after Minnesota. This mechanism will be used to determine which club has first priority to acquire the USL/NASL priority player if requests for the same player are submitted on the same calendar day by both expansion clubs.
