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One of the enduring mysteries of the Fire's legendarily tight cap situation - a set of salaries and strictures that led them to shuffle both the 2012 Rookie of the Year and a beloved veteran attacker for allocation money - is how the Fire could get anything done at all. When the reigning MVP goes on brief walkabout in preseason, and everyone's sort of shrugging and going, "Gee, we wish we could make something happen," you know the numbers aren't good.
But those deals did happen - Austin Berry spun off to Philadelphia, Chris Rolfe to the capitol. Mike Magee returned to the club, and folks around the club agreed that there was going to be a new deal, but not just now. Not just yet.
Then today, the MLS Players Union - in an increasingly-familiar rite of spring - waved a genial middle finger at MLS' intransigent opacity (as always, as usual) by releasing a .pdf file online. In it, the guaranteed salaries of every MLS player are rendered in bland 14-point Arial. Even without footed numerals, Magee's salary ($417,500) sticks out like a sore thumb.
Within minutes, the Fire announced that yes, indeed, Mike Magee had signed a new deal. Sometimes, everything comes up roses. Sometimes, your big announcement is perfectly timed to cut off questions about give and take in a salary-capped league. Ah, transparency.
In any case, fantastic news that the deal's done. Mike's here for the duration, and he's talking about how he "would have paid to play for the Fire" as a kid. And that's not nothing.
