Could you make ends meet on $11,700 a year, before taxes? How about $16,500?
For 86 players in Major League Soccer, that will have to do, because 26 percent of the league’s 331 players make less than $20,000 a year in base salary, according to salary documents obtained by the New York Times.
MLS is a single-entity operation, which means the league owns and negotiates all player contracts. For all of its 10 years, the league has scrupulously guarded salary figures and said that all teams must operate on a budget of less than $2 million a year for player salaries.
Recently, however, the league has reached deep into its pockets to accommodate a few select players.
Landon Donovan, for example, played last year under a complicated loan agreement with Bayer Leverkusen of Germany. Donovan went to Germany in the fall, but quickly grew dissatisfied and engineered a return to MLS and his hometown team, the Los Angeles Galaxy. The team has made him the highest-paid player in the league, with a salary of $900,000 a year.
Eddie Johnson, a young striker for FC Dallas, is now the second-highest-paid player in the league, according to the documents, making a base salary of $675,000 a year. MLS turned down a $5 million transfer offer from Benfica of Portugal earlier this year and quietly reworked his deal.
“We don’t find the league’s rules to be restrictive,” Doug Hamilton, Galaxy general manager said last week. “Six to eight guys above the budget is fine. What is difficult is finding the guys out there, like Christian Gomez at D.C. and Amado Guevara here with the MetroStars.”
The salary documents were provided to the Times by a person who requested anonymity so as not to jeopardize future dealings with the league.
Freddy Adu, who signed with the league last year and was the highest-paid player at the time, is now the league’s sixth highest-paid player, earning $300,000 in base pay (guaranteed bonuses bring his total to $550,000). Donovan, Johnson, Ramon Ramirez of Chivas USA ($425,000), Josh Wolff of Kansas City ($350,000) and Eddie Pope ($314,782) of Real Salt Lake are making more.
In all, 61 players, or 18.4 percent in MLS, make $100,000 or more a year. Just 15 players earn $200,000 or more.
In the middle are 127 players, or 38.4 percent, who earn more than $30,000 a year but less than $100,000.
At the bottom 143 players, or 43.2 percent, play for $30,000 or less–for a season that begins with preseason training in February and ends with the championship game in November.
MLS officials have said in the past that the salary structure is flexible and that players will be rewarded for their loyalty, their play on the field and the league’s desire to forestall their movement to Europe. But when it comes to acquiring players from overseas, teams have had a difficult time finding the right player at the right price.
By contrast, players like Gomez ($156,000) at D.C. United, Carlos Ruiz ($40,000) at FC Dallas and Andy Herron ($102,000) of Chicago are comparative bargains.
“How can we justify our salaries?” Hamilton said. “These guys are pioneers and can reap the benefits. Some will. Some won’t. But they are our partners.”
