Sounders have one of only six open international spots in all of MLS

Sudden scarcity means Sounders need to operate a little more carefully.

In years past, international roster spots were considered a reasonable fungible commodity. They were definitely important, but there were usually enough unused ones in circulation that acquiring one wasn’t particularly difficult. As recently as last year, the going rate for one of these spots was between $75,000-$100,000 in allocation money.

That seems to be changing. A report at MLSsoccer.com revealed that...