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Sources: Donovan deal could make him highest-paid player in MLS

Landon Donovan

By IVES GALARCEP

When Landon Donovan agreed recently on a new contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy, it was figured that his new deal would likely rival the one recently secured by fellow U.S. Men’s National Team star Clint Dempsey. Sources tell SBI that not only is this the case, but bonuses in Donovan’s new deal could make help him surpass Dempsey as the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer.

Donovan’s new four-year deal will double his current salary of $2.5 million in 2014, with modest performance bonuses in place that could help him surpass Dempsey’s reported salary of $5,038,000, sources confirmed to SBI on Wednesday.

Donovan’s 2014 base salary of about $5 million a year will make him the second-highest paid player in the league behind Dempsey next season, and is the fifth-highest salary ever paid to an MLS player.

Where Donovan could surpass Dempsey is with the help of performance bonuses that, if reached, would help his total compensation figure surpass that of Dempsey, who does not have performance bonuses in his contract.

What do you think of Donovan’s new deal? Think the Galaxy were wise to give him the new deal? Impressed with recent deals secured by American players in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Yo.. Clint is the truth.. best US player of all time.. i won’t even check this thread because any attempt to debate that would indicate a level of retardation that I refuse to acknowledge.. the rest of the US is crap.. our best athletes don’t play football.. they play american football, baseball, basketball, etc. so they can make real money.. i mean 2.5 million? seriously? you can make that much as a pornstar taking money shots to the face in southern cali.. that’s more fitting for little landon.. the little engine that couldn’t.. dude is a joke.. clint teabags his wife when he feels like it.. why? because landon pays him to.. because that’s how he gets down

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  2. jeez really?? he is 31 getting up there in age and he sucks!!! what did he accomplish? he went to Europe and chocked unlike Clint!
    He make a little bitchy treat in the press how he will go overseas next year and MLS bow down to him? jeez let him go, who will want him? some bottom of the table team in EPL or Serie A if he is lucky? after this season with his age the best he could do is go to a lower league in Norway that about it

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    • So i take it, all the success he’s had in the USMNT and all the goals he’s scored throughout his carrer mean jack right? SO that fact that when he plays for the USA & changes the game means nothing because he didn’t play in Europe, seriously??

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      • No, it doesn’t. typically teams get in trouble when they pay for past performance because players’ health and performance declines as they age.

      • That’s like saying Seattle paid for Dempsey’s past performance.
        Donovan is playing pretty well right now though, with no sign of that fading. So they are paying for his current and future performance.

        “he is 31 getting up there in age and he sucks!!!” – This is either a joke or you have never seen him play more than a couple matches.

  3. You know what I hate about MLS…guys who NEVER watch the league, then complain/whine about it all the time. Saying stuff like, this is the reason I am finished with this league…and then posting on the next article.

    Be gone. I had to park over mile from the stadium last game. The LA and SLC games will be the same……We don’t need you and we certainly don’t want you.

    The number one thing I hate about MLS.

    Congrats LD, I have seen you in person about 15

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      • I watch it so I can complain about it. Last night, for example, FSP was showing the Quakes playing a CCL game in Guatemala, while FSC was showing a rerun of Tottenham vs Inter from last year’s Europa legaue. The former looked like a pick up game (SJ lost), while the latter was easy on the eyes and fun to watch – even though I remember what happened.

      • That is truly a sad commentary on your life, seriously. You endure something you don’t like and adds no value to your life, JUST SO you can complain about.

        Think about it….

      • I don’t watch it a lot, just enough to know what I’m talking about on blogs like this. Which is probably a commentary on both our lives…

  4. He earned it. Value is dictated by market. He earned his value. It might be end-loaded, but he deserves every piece. Any contrarions? Bring it

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    • there is no market in MLS since there is no free agency. So his value is whatever MLS wanted to pay him, not what his market value was.

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      • then you don’t understand economics. Its impossible to get market value when there is no free agent market.

      • Wrong. The market is world football, not another MLS team. He was FREE to go to any other league, at whatever price he could get. He CHOSE to stay for $5M. ergo free agent market.

      • Actually the US courts deemed that there is enough competition in the global soccer community to not classify MLS as a monopoly of soccer in the US. Donovan got offers from abroad so how can you say there is no market.

      • It’s not a free market because of visa limitations and homegrown player rules in our league and other leagues.

      • Well in that case there is no free market for any business because of child labor laws and passport restrictions.

        Homegrown player rules do not restrict the market. It only gives MLS team flexibility to bypass draft rules to retain player they developed themselves.

      • That’s funny. Soccer is a global sport. Donovan’s value is absolutely determined by the market: the entire friggin’ globalized world.

      • I believe that it is a free market, but Landycakes has gotten a very sweet deal for reasons that go beyond his ability. It is very important for MLS to say that it has the best US player playing in its ranks. His value to MLS, and Dempseycakes’ value, lies not only in football ability, but also the fact that they are American and willing to play in the league. Abroad, their primary metric is their ability.

  5. I know this is a Donovan thread but Freddy Adu got his first start in Brazil for Bahia in the return leg of their Round of 16 Copa Sudamericana c lash. Positive Reviews so I can smile a little more. 🙂

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    • I was just going to comment on that,.. Also the reason he sat out last game was do to food poisining according to some fans on some soccer Brasil forums. Seems like my boy was on fire with his technical skills & agressive passing. That’s the report from Bahia

      I hope Donovan kinda falls a bit short on surpassing Duece for the most mula. 🙂

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    • posted this on the running commentary article:

      freddy adu played about 70 minutes in bahia’s cup game. played mostly on the wing, sometimes going up top. he looked good; very active, very troublesome for the opposing defense, and he hit a number of great through balls.

      the brasilian style of play seems like a good fit for him; often it seems like they’re kind of expected to create a little space for themselves before just passing the ball off, which definitely fits his skill set.

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    • ever…NO! And I like Bradley a lot. As much as people slight him, Donovan has had a greater impact on the USMNT and MLS than any other player over the last 10/12 years.

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      • I probably agree that if you look back that far you might be right. but McBride is then in that conservation and maybe others. OTOH if you look at which player has had the greatest impact for the USMNT in the last 2 years, it is probably Bradley (He is about 5 years younger than Donavon Dempsey). In the last 3 years, the USMNT has performed best against strong opponents when Bradley is on the field and not so well at the beginning of JK’s tenure when MB was not considered, was injured, or was settling in with a new team.

    • if not now, absolutely in the conversation. him and jozy are clearly the players with the highest market value on the USMNT as of this exact second in time. opinions aside, that’s the truth. $16M for Bradley is what Roma said they would consider fair.

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    • while he is a vital cog, he’s not the difference maker…he doesnt set up nor score goals regularly, which is what the elite box to box DM’s can do.

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  6. If AEG wants to pay him that, then go ahead. It’s not like the MLS is paying his ENTIRE salary. The dude is close to being the record holder for Assists AND Goals in the League, so I guess those efforts are for not amongst the haters.

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  7. “Some of the people who like to call him Landycakes and tease his manhood believe he hasn’t really taken the responsibility of the position he is in. If he is the best we’ve got, you would hope he would try to be the best he can, in Europe, and not take the easy way out in M.L.S. We have tended to put him on a pedestal and say, ‘Look how great of a player we have in this country,’ and then Landon shies away from proving it.”

    – Eric Wynalda

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  8. Ives how about a survey? Question one; is Landon Donovan the greatest player in MLS history? Two; is LD the greatest American player in history? Just a simple yes or no to each question.

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  9. You’re worth what you can get, good job Lando I’m happy for you and I don’t understand all the haters on this site. I think your best years are ahead of you and I’m looking forward to seeing them.

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  10. I see other DPs coming back to the table and asking for more money now that Dempsey and Donovan are getting paid so much more. Perhaps this puts pressure on ownership. I would think guys like Henry, Cahill and Keane look to restructure their contracts to get paid the new market level in MLS.

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    • Can you really say Henry and Cahill deserve MORE than they’re currently paid? I don’t think so. Keane just resigned with LA before the start of the season, and got a million dollar bump in pay over 2012.

      I can’t think of any other DPs deserving more than they’re currently paid. Maybe Marco Di Vaio ($1.9 million)?

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      • I am really becoming annoyed with this argument (or rather lack thereof). While I agree with you on the single table, systemic restraints such as a salary cap are necessary to ensure measured and responsible growth. A allows for the competitive and healthy growth of a league. As time goes on, the CAP should be raised and the constraints should be relaxed. Think of it as guardrails, speed limits and vehicle safety standards on the highway. There are guys who drive safely at 100mph in an urban, but most people people are too reckless to do it unless they are properly inculcated with the appropriate skill sets.

        Europe doesn’t have all the answers. Trust me, I have lived and worked there for 3 different long periods in my life. They are actually looking at the NFL model (at least they were a couple years ago when I was there). The last thing you want is a league like La Liga where two teams win and the other 18 teams (including one who qualified for Champions League) have problems meeting or can’t meet their wage bills unless they get bought by a Middle-Eastern or Russian billionaire.

  11. these are great salaries, i’m very happy to see US youth with guys they can look up to, who are also American, and are making big money. even if it’s just a small %…it’s better than it was.

    i think one impact this will have is on players like Kaka, Drogba, Ronaldinho, etc. teams that are targeting them need to know if LD and Dempsey are getting that much, then those star players have a valid argument to say they deserve more. maybe Kaka gives Orlando a break since they are friends…

    either way, i think it’s a positive for the league. spending this kind of money shows MLS at least some teams are very willing to spend. that’ll help convince them to either raise the cap or restructure it (e.g. axe some of these funds we hear about). it will not threaten the parity/competitiveness of MLS. i’m not saying allow teams to spend freely. but as we see in all major American sports, even with a cap, there will always be teams that spend more. i think everyone can agree with that. so stop complaining about LA/NY/Seattle and just realize it’s inevitable these big market teams will spend more.

    disclaimer: i do realize a lot of the complaint towards those MLS teams are the special rules MLS makes to allow (certain) teams to sign players.

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    • You do understand that the MLS subsidizes the big market big name players. The size of the stadium LA shares with the other LA team and east coast Energy drink team do not have large stadiums. Yet, they have the biggest payrolls? Those teams get preferential financial treatment being defined as the “big clubs.” Because of market size the MLS wants to define the Timbers as the Fulham of the league. When all they do is sellout their stadium, sell a ton merchandise, and pay out of pocket for their transfer fees?
      The MLS invisible hand needs to hold a mirror up when they talk about parity and fair play!

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      • LA is in the top two of attendance every single year that I can remember, going back to ’05. LA has largest SSS that exists in the country, and competes with Chivas not only for fans loyalty, but also competes with their horrible image that ruins the image of the game in So Cal.

        We were pulling 26k attendance with another team pulling like 15k for theirs a couple years ago. A market supporting 40K fans dwarfs any team in the league other than one. Attendance matters little though, I simply get annoyed when people say ours is bad when it’s actually pretty good, should be better, but it is what it is.

  12. Donovan is a great player but at his age and with his flaky nature, he’s not worth that much. And his salary and Dempsey’s and Gonzo’s is setting a very bad precedent. It shows absolute favoritism toward US players which will turn off internationals, doubling an already multi-million dollar salary while his team mates aren’t making 10% of his wages creates tension due to the salary cap, and the player’s union is going to have a field day come negotiations which will put the league at a poor vantage and probably prolonged discussions. With the league paying for Dempsey, or at least a lot of him, I can’t see the Owners being too pleased either. Much like communist Animal Farm, MLS too is meant to be communist in nature but as the saying goes from the book, “We are all equal. But some of us are more equal than others.”

    I’m glad Donovan is staying. I’ve accepted Dempsey is here to stay. But their costs will change MLS and will have consequences.

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      • Donovan’s numbers speak for themselves. 5 mls titles (plus goals,assists,games,etc) and he’s not done yet. When all is set and done there won’t be many players in mls history putting up numbers like him. I understand many people want him in europe, but as far as mls goes no one comes close to him. To me he’s worth every penny and then some….just my .02 cents.

      • MLS should not be paying those kind of salaries. Money should be going into developing and signing players from academies.

      • LA has the biggest academy in the country, signed the first home grown player in league history, and has since signed more HG players than anyone else in the league. Please insult our youth development program again…

    • I don’t agree Josh. What your argument misses is all of the marketing power these players bring. You can be sure none of these teams are overpaying any of these players. Each one of these deals are calculated to the penny and projected over the length of the contract. If the teams and the league weren’t making money from these deals, they wouldn’t be made. Simple as that. Oh, and saying Donovan is not work it shows either a bias or a lack of knowledge or both. No player have OR will ever accomplish what Donovan has in and for MLS as well as for the USMNT. No player. Period. Wait, make that a comma. And Donavan makes all the players around him better. Dempsey doesn’t. OK, cue the period.

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      • of course its communism. It’s centrally planned. There is no free market for player wages. All teams are owned by the head office. How is that not communism?

      • Technically, centrally planned and owned is socialism as a political theory and economic theory. Furthermore, distribution of gains according to work (quantity and quality of work done), as is the case with Donovan and Dempsey, is another element of socialism not communism.

        HOWEVER, neither applies here because socialism requires centralized government control, like China, and MLS is not a government entity). As discussed above, the model of MLS contradicts communism (centralized gov’t vs. no centralized gov’t and distribution of gains according to work vs. distribution of gains according to community needs).

        Sorry in advance (pet peeve)

      • Apologies in advance ought not to be delivered in arrears. Besides, isn’t central control theorized as a transitional artifact on the way to pure communism?

      • Zeke,

        You might be right about the apologies in advance. I suppose I was thinking along the lines of people telling me not to take it too seriously (having a political discussion on a soccer thread). However, I could be wrong about the placement.

        As it pertains to your comment about centralized control being a transitional artifact on the way to communism, it still does not make it part of communism. Virtually all (not all), but virtually all forms of have some sort of centralized control. If a society transitions to communism from those forms (which is usually slow and imperfect), the presence of any vestigial element from the previous government does not make it part of communism. The fact is, communism relies on community identity. Individualism, private ownership etc are suppressed.

        Good discussion!

      • no one said MLS was a government entity. But it applies the tenets of socialism to the league. It’s not capitalism.

      • No socialism would pay all the players the same regardless of performance. “Each according to his needs”. What MLS is is more like China’s version of communism, centrally controlled, but with capitalist rewards for strong performers, with an eye on how well the enterprise as a whole is doing, paying the lower levels just enough to make revolt a fairly unlikely thing.

      • You do know socialism and communism are 2 different things and should not be used interchangeably like you are doing.

        You mentioned MLS is communism, and I simply corrected you because the things you stated and MLS displays are indicative of socialism (or, rather, elements thereof) since it cannot be strict socialism without a government involvement.

      • MLS is a single entity…. a franchised corporation that does not make up the market, it operates within both the domestic and international market. I know people love to freely and interchangeably throw around these terms these days as the new boogie-men, but…. MLS is as “socialist” or anti-capitalist as Mac Donald’s. As is common practice between a franchise and it’s franchisees, it has mandated salary structures, fees/profit sharing and a host of other regulations/requirements for owners/investors. I agree that certain changes need to be made to the league long term, but it needs to be done incrementally and carefully as MLS and the sport gets a strong foothold in this country. If free agency and a single table and some of the other criticisms were an immediate cure all, NASL and USL should be dominating professional soccer in the US. Why would a club such as Portland Timbers choose to leave USL for MLS? Ask yourself… or better yet their supporters whether it has had a negative, or positive effect on the health and future of that club.

    • I don’t want to hear people whining about Donovan being “flaky” or “soft”. The dude has been THE face of the league for 11 years. He’s been the face of US Soccer even longer. In terms of showing up, he’s played in more MLS games than Beckham ever did. Landon carried this league for years when there were few other memorable stars.

      If trends continue, MLS teams will soon be crushing their competitors in the CCL. In the next 20 years, I expect the USA to get to the World Cup finals. We’ll look back and realize that Landon blazed the path for a domestic league. The survival of MLS and the growth of the sport in America are his persisting legacies. Frankly, Don Garber and Sunil ought to build a gigantic statue of Landon in front of USSF headquarters.

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    • Donovan was vital in the last cba negotiations. I believe he will be again and get the league to raise the cap and salary minimum wage like he did last time.

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    • I agree with you that there could be wage differential issues (the salary cap as a whole must be raised) but do you really think it would turn players off that are coming here??

      This is the US. US fans want US stars!! That’s not crazy. It happens everywhere, especially in England and that sure doesn’t keep the international talent away. Remember the 50 million pound Andy Carroll transfer? That happens all the time over there with British players.

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    • So let me get this straight…….players don’t mind playing for 10% of the salary of other nationalities, but if he’s from the US…. that’s a problem?

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  13. I’ve said it before. I’m not the biggest fan of MLS. BUT, these recent signings of American ‘superstars’ are making me think twice. It makes me want to commit if some of the best players this country has ever produced have decided to commit.

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    • Why are you not a big fan of mls, just wondering? Are you an expat from europe or s. america? Maybe you don’t have a mls team in your town?
      Not a troll, I’m trying to understand why you wouldn’t want to watch or support a league that’s in your COUNTRY and little by little becoming real good. It doesn’t have the 100 or so yrs. of history but it’s pretty entertaining and the check books are opening up…..slowly, but it’s happening.
      The more support, the more money, the quicker the league will spend and make people like you happy.
      Your comment just sounds…….to common with n. american thinking?? ….
      so you expect mls to compete with the top 5 leagues in the world from day 1?

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      • too Americanized with salary caps, single entity, drafts, no free agency, etc

        The salary cap weakens quality all in the name of fairness.

      • I don’t like those aspect either, but they’re secondary to the action on the pitch – which is improving every year.

      • The salary cap is ‘not all in the name of fairness’. Most of you are too young to remember the original NASL
        The NY Cosmos brought exciting and attacking soccer to the US with Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer et al. They also killed the league. Other teams couldn’t compete because of the deep pockets of Warner communications and for the mere fact that the league didn’t draw enough fans. Even as MLS continues to improve the quality of play and the bankability of it’s stars, the fact remains that is HEMORRHAGING money and it can only afford to pay top dollar to a VERY select few. The salary cap and single entity structure are there for very sound financial reason. Are they fair? No. Are they necessary? For the time being, yes. Will the time come when they will no longer be needed? Hopefully, but that time is not now.
        “Fairness” has nothing to do with it, this isn’t AYSO. This is a measured and calculated strategy to grow the game in this country. Any whining about it being unfair is short sighted.

      • I’m from Chicago. I had season tickets but the way my home town team is run just drove me away. I have no team that I can get behind. I’m jealous of the northwest. I want that here. But the location of the team relative to the city, the lack of commitment from ownership, it’s just turned me off to it.

      • To H, well the league is in the USA, right?
        THomas, i’m a ‘Quakes fan that should tell you everything..haha.
        I kinda envy your organization, with the stadium, and a few decent DP’s in your history, but you’re right things aren’t perfect.
        Thanks for answering but it’s basically what I thought with fans that don’t follow or support the league, you guys want a top tier organization and league(players, stadiums,etc) right of the bat….ain’t going to happen overnight.
        Support it now because in 15-20 yrs. it WILL be competing with europe.

      • I know that it will be a slow build, and I respect that. If they went from 0-60 overnight, the league wouldn’t be able to support itself.

        However, I want the same commitment that clubs in the Northwest, or expansion clubs, are showing. And don’t say it can’t be done. KC completely turned it around. I just want an ownership that is investing in the team that they own. If they’re not, why would I?

  14. God, first Dempsey then this Barbie. What’s next?
    Dempsey is being overpaid and it is not good, but will he recrew players for MLS and do his job.
    Donovan just took a break and got a raise……wtf.
    As for Donovan, he’s not Beckham or Henry and he should have said, I’ll won’t be a DP no more in order to attract maybe KAKA!!!!! Or Rooney or ronaldinho.
    On the other hand, now galaxy have Gonzalez as a dP, keane as a real dp and Donovan as the overpaid Barbie.
    Did galaxy just become the sounders? Lol

    Reply
    • Dempsey is about two years younger so that makes a big difference. Donovan will be 32 when the new MLS season begins so this is a great contract for him.

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  15. Don’t know if he’s worth that much, but the Galaxy think so and that’s all that matters. He’s set for life, so good for him.

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  16. he’s good, but don’t think him or dempsey deserve to be the highest paid players in the league from a pure salary stand point.

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      • Not sure we have a player in the league who is worth 5 million base salary. I am also not sure they are worth more than Keane, Valeri, or Cahill/Henry. I just don’t think we are setting a good precedent by giving them that much money when it is clear they aren’t worth 10x more than a morales, rosales, higuain and others. Now you can debate they advertising value vs team value. But in the end when you look at both of those factors not sure they are worth that much more than others.

      • Fact of the matter is that these two are worth more based on reputation and marketability. You put Dempsey shirts out there and you easily sell ten times more than even Henry shirts. On the field quality is important but these guys or at least their agents understand that they bring a lot more than MLS cup hopes to the table. Take all of these articles as evidence enough.

      • Is Bale worth a $100 million transfer fee? Was A-Rod worth $250 million for 10 years? The whole salary schedule for sports stars is cockeyed. You can’t make any sense of who should be paid what. They get what people will pay whether it makes sense or not.

    • Sports salaries are as much about star power as they are about rewarding talent. Southern California knows Donovan. His is a recognizable name and it draws people to games. We used to have another, bigger name in Beckham to draw crowds. Now that responsibility falls on LD.

      Reply

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