With all the hubbub around the recent MLS labor negotiations, it’s possible you’ve heard whispers of a “new” mechanism making it’s way into the league for the 2021 season. The Under-22 Initiative is just coming to fruition in 2021, but it was actually a part of the 2020 CBA negotiations.
The U-22 Initiative, or Young Money as Sam Stejskal and Paul Tenorio have taken to calling it on their delightful Allocation Disorder podcast, is potentially a huge injection of money into the league (just as the league was crying they can’t afford the recently altered CBA).