In 2021, Major League Soccer introduced a new roster mechanism to encourage it’s clubs to invest in young players with the hopes of selling them overseas for big money. The U-22 Initiative. You can be excused for not knowing about it. First, Sporting Kansas City didn’t sign any players using that roster designation. And second, MLS is weird. It’s nearly impossible to understand all the ways player can be signed (Designated Players, Homegrowns, Targeted Allocation Money, General Allocation Money, etc.).
In 2022, Sporting KC shifted their focus and hit on this roster mechanism hard.