After releasing its initial list of player salaries in May, the MLS Players' Union recently released an updated edition, which includes all of the new signings from an active summer transfer period.
More recent Designated Player signings Robbie Keane, Frank Rost, Mustapha Jarju, Jeferson, Milton Caraglio, Danny Koevermans and Torsten Frings are included in the bunch. To nobody's surprise, Keane makes the most of that group this season ($3.4 million). Caraglio is making the least ($54,000), which suggests that the Revolution likely paid a hefty transfer fee for his services for him to be considered a DP.
David Beckham continues to lead all players with his $6.5 million salary, while Thierry Henry is next at $5.6 million. On the other end of the spectrum, Seattle playmaker Mauro Rosales remains one of the top signings (if not the top signing) from a bang-for-your-buck standpoint, making just $42,000.
Who do you think are the best bargains in the league? Who do you think isn't living up to his end of a lucrative deal?
Share your thoughts below.
eek. no kiddin. i thought ream and lindpere were a steel.
The problem with the chart is that it doesn’t reflect salaries across the whole season.
TFC sucks in the standings, but they added about $2.4 million of that amount at midseason — hardly time to see any correlation with winning. Actually, TFC has performed better since the signings than before.
…and yet they are here. I think DCLee nailed it right on the head. Is there desparity? Yes as there is in other leagues, it’s just that our numbers are a lot smaller. However, MLS is an option and these players exercised it. The league has a long way to go yet, bt it it getting better.
The Fire has a number of players making over $100K that either don’t play or rarely do. That’s a problem.
good stuff..i always figured Columbus as a lower paying team.. guess not. And TFC, Vancouver and Chivas!? Big Fail!
Interesting that the playoffs will consist of mostly teams in the 8-14 range besides LA
now now…if he didn’t injure himself sitting on an airplane, his GAA of over 2.00 might have gone down slightly.
+1
I have been told by a very reliable source that these salary figures are what count against the cap, not necessarily what the player is actually being paid. Teams “buy down” a players salary with allocation cash.
Yeah, this team would be bottom of the table, actually.
It’s crazy that LAG’s third string GK (Perk) makes significantly more than Saunders.
Agreed. There’s some seriously underpaid talent in MLS. And conversely, some seriously overpaid bench riders.
…must LEAD the league…*
Seattle must the league in income from ticket sales. Not sure what an entry-level ticket goes for, I’m sure it’s comparable to LA. So you multiply that by 36,000 and whammy, that’s some big dollars.
But they can’t sell Beckham or Henry jerseys, so…
Thanks Nate! Great list!
Calm down. Its called supply and demand. Anyone starting out there career is not going to make big bucks unless your are the 800 pound gorilla known as the NFL and one of the things I enjoy about MLS is players like people in other jobs have to earn their pay so a rookie only makes 42k(still more than a lot of kids get right out of school and more off time to do other things to get more money) but if he proves himself to be one of the top players at his position or carves out a good career then his pay will match that and he will be paid easily six figures or more in the states or go overseas and make his pay day there. And players like Rosales took a contract to prove they were not done and make their money after this season. Rosales will easily jump to a top salary next season. And players like Plata are coming over to prove themselves here then get a bump in MLS or go elsewhere.
I like the team assembled. It would probably be a fun team to watch but not enough on it to make the playoffs for sure.
Great informative table. That’s about a 5X salary difference between the big spenders and the cheapos. Where’s the balance in that? But it doesn’t compare team income – which I would assume LA & NY lead the pack.
With Toronto getting raped.
Pretty sure I’m the only one who cares this much/has enough time, but for anyone who’s interested:
Team—-Players–Guaranteed Comp.
LA——–30——-$14,661,978.77
NY——–31——-$13,367,747.37
TFC——-33——-$6,659,618.84
VAN——-30——-$4,004,986.38
CHV——-29——-$3,924,919.30
PHI——-24——-$3,569,981.17
CLB——-30——-$3,551,414.79
KC——–30——-$3,515,259.06
HOU——-26——-$3,492,155.24
DC——–27——-$3,475,415.17
SEA——-31——-$3,400,133.23
DAL——-30——-$3,330,729.00
RSL——-26——-$3,321,694.76
COL——-30——-$3,173,078.72
CHI——-30——-$3,012,683.04
NE——–27——-$2,947,386.34
SJ———29——-$2,853,603.71
POR——-29——-$2,690,690.92
Total—–525——$85,079,475.81
Hope this formats alright. A quick look shows RSL, Dallas, and Seattle as the main over-achievers.
I’m shocked by Caraglio’s salary.. how can he be a DP and only making that much? Is that just his salary for the last couple months of the season, and he gets a raise next year? I would assume he’ll be making around what Joseph/Feilhaber make.
Not disagreeing with you, but you don’t mention Noonan too ?
The crazy thing is they didn’t need to resign him….ok the crazy thing is Sigi is still playing him.
They are hurting for money.
Anyone else think it’s ridiculous that some of these players make in a year what some players in Europe make in a week/month?
LOL
Omar Cummings at 89,000 is a steal. espically considering that Kanji, Casey and Folan make at least 2-4x more than him!
I don’t see this team making the playoffs, but they wouldn’t be bottom of the table either.
See below
Seattle is running a sweat shop.
I realize that the league has to maintain a skewed pay scale to stay viable, but some of the over and under paying is an absolute crime.
Best XI earning $42,000 per annum:
— Levesque (SEA) — Plata (TFC) —
Alexander (RSL)- Rosales (SEA)- Nyassi (COL)- Zusi (SKC)
Purdy (POR)- Beitashour (SJ)- John (DAL)- Horst (POR)
-Saunders(LAG, $62k, but he’s a steal)-
Jesus this is depressing. I make more than George John…and i thought it was ME that was underpaid by my job!!!!! new motto by MLS players union: GIMME THE LOOT, GIMME THE LOOT!
well played
The sounders just really need to drop Jaqua and the couple hundred grand he is making, and split it between rosales and neagle.
This expression has been updated with America’s bulging waistline.
Mau Ro is by far the best value. George John a very close second. Both are getting paid next year.
Lamar Neagle is also drastically underpaid. He only makes $32,000 He’s got 5 goals and 1 assist in about 600 minutes of playing time.
Have to agree that these two are the best bargin. It will be interesting to see If GJ can get to Europe this winter and How much of an increase Rosales gets.
I’ve never even heard of the 4 after Keane; how are the two Toronto DPs doing?
yeah, bc otherwise they’d be out spending Krafts hard earned money, right? They’re the cheapest team in the league, it should come as no surprise that even their DP is cheap.
Isn’t it the butter to their bread?
I think it borders on slave labor.
That would be pretty funny. I bet you’d be able to put together a pretty damn good roster.
Seems like Caraglio is a steal at his base salary rate… only wish it hadn’t eaten up a dp slot to get him.
RBNY with another AMAZING signing in Rost. They just never get it wrong, do they? Always on top of their game. OH WAIT.
Márquez, yikes.
Ives
You should do a best XI $42,000.
Is Graham Zusi in the 40’s as well?
I think Osvaldo Alonso (SEA) is a steal at 140k.
How Corben Bone (CHI) is getting paid more than him is beyond me. There is a lot of FUBAR’ed salary comparisons, though, around the league.
Plata also in the low 40’s…how many GWGs/Assists does he have
Tough to find better value than Rosales and George John in the low 40s.
It is a freaking crime how much Sounders are paying Rosales. He is no doubt the bread to their butter. Hope he gets a huge pay increase next year.