How much do Union players make?
The Major League Soccer Players Union has published its latest listing of players' salaries each year.
How much do Union players make?
Jonathan Tannenwald
The Major League Soccer Players Union has published its latest listing of players' salaries each year. As you may know, it's a standing policy of MLS that terms of contracts aren't announced when they are signed. But the union puts the numbers out en masse every so often.
There are two numbers to know: base salary and guaranteed compensation. If the two numbers aren't equal, the latter is always higher.
It won't surprise you to hear that the two players who make the most money are David Beckham ($5.5 million/$6.5 million) and Landon Donovan ($2.05 million/$2.1 million).
The entire list for the league is here, in PDF form. A table of Union player salaries is below. Before you ask, I don't have any information on why the differences in base and guaranteed money are what they are. I am just putting this out there to get it on the record.
Andrew Jacobson: $40,000/$40,000
Brad Knighton: $40,000/$40,000
Kyle Nakazawa: $40,000/$40,000
Shea Salinas: $40,000/$40,000
Nick Zimmerman: $40,000/$40,000
Toni Stahl: $40,000/$110,300
Brian Perk: $52,250/$86,350
Jack McInerney: $52,250/$116,416.67
Jordan Harvey: $55,000/$56,250
Cristian Arrieta: $60,000/64,500
Amobi Okugo: $75,000/$158,000
Roger Torres: $96,000/$99,125
Chris Seitz: $100,000/$135,500
Danny Mwanga: $100,000/$206,250
Sebastien Le Toux: $110,000/$122,000
Stefani Miglioranzi: $125,000/$148,125
Alejandro Moreno: $145,000/$158,125
Shavar Thomas: $145,000/159,375
Michael Orozco Fiscal: $150,000/$200,000
Danny Califf: $250,000/$250,000
Fred: $250,000/$282,000
Any numbers surprise you?
Comment removed.
This is the salary scale that all athletes' salaries should be based. Plenty of $ for playing a kids game. Then the rest of us could all afford to go to some games.— eagleflyerfan- "This is the salary scale that all athletes' salaries should be based." Agreed. There is no reason for some 22 year old kid coming out of college making $15 million dollars, as you see in some leagues. As you pointed out, higher salaries mean higher ticket prices to pay the salaries.— phillysports33
- What surprises me is there is someone who's name is just "Fred".— JettMartinez
- Fred chooses to go by one name just like his idol Pele..but unfortunately Fred kicks the ball more like another single-named legend...Madonna— Will T.
- SEITZ MAKES 100K!?!?! he's 100,000x worse than englands goalie green too— wonka4444
eagleflyerfan you aren't very smart are you? the top athletes are paid such great amounts because of the amount of money they bring in. say you were a the best employee in the entire industry in which you worked and were the main reason your company made millions of dollars based on that, yet you only made $40k per year. sound fair?— MPatt24- If it's such a "kids" game why don't you guys do it and make the big bucks in professional sports? Sports may be games that kids play, but they play at an adult level. I agree that salaries can get waaay out of control (especially in the NBA), but in general, I don't have a problem with professional athletes making big bucks. First off, they worked longer at their career (starting from their youth) than most other professionals (beginning post high school). They also have shorter careers (10 years if they're lucky) and most important, they're the best in the world at what they do. Top 1%. Now, obviously MLS doesn't have the world's best soccer players, which is why the salaries are so low, but in the other major pro sports in this country, this applies. I'm tired of people making the argument that it's a kids game and they should be paid as such. Before people complain that sports are a kids game and they are overpaid, let me ask you, if someone paid you millions to play sports, would you turn it down for ethical reasons? Thought so.— awl
- They still make too much money to play a game!!!— slade1955
- People who think these are "games" have never played them at a high level.— Bake McBride
- For kickball?— montco1
- Yeah, people need to grow up a little. The same people that are complaining about players salaries are the same people that are so obsessed with these sports and its players that they define their own self-worth and the worth of their hometown by how that towns pro teams do. Then they will embarass and humiliate themselves and ask another adult man for their autograph. They get paid what they do because the masses love sports and pay lots of money to watch. We cant ask these guys to dedicate most of their youth and into their late 30's to entertain us and then act like when they are done that they are supposed to go out and work in a cube from 9 to 5. They bring in millions, they make millions. End of story. Is it a kids game? Yep. And millions of adults will obsess over these kids games all year and spend obscene amounts of time and money to follow these "kids" games.— Sewellmatt
- I will never understand the "athletes are paid too much money" argument. For starters, it sounds like complete sour grapes. If you were in the professional athletes shoes, I doubt you would be complaining. Second, and more importantly, if the money doesn't go to athletes, it goes to team owners. Athletes are the reason we watch sports, and if they are generating billions upon billions of dollars annually for owners of professional sports teams, what is wrong with them getting a slice of the pie? If anything, athletes are undercompensated when one considers the amount of money they generate for owners/professional sports organizations. 3.) Ticket prices are not based on player salary--players salary are dictated by generated revenue. Its simple economics. The collective bargaining agreements mandate a set percentage of the generated revenue to go to players. Per point #2, the higher the generated revenue, the more players are entitled to be compensated.— IgglesPhitinPhils3
- Comment removed.
Athletics is actually one of the few businesses where the people generating the product, in this case the players, are paid a fair wage relative to the amounnt of money they bring in. In too many fields the do-bothing management makes all the money while the workers generating the product are wage-slaves.— Pelti
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
