Philadelphia Union's 2012 player salary figures published
The Major League Soccer Players Union delivered its semi-annual release of player salaries across the league on Friday afternoon.
Philadelphia Union's 2012 player salary figures published
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
The Major League Soccer Players Union delivered its semi-annual release of player salaries across the league on Friday afternoon.
Here are the Union's salary figures. All of the numbers are in U.S. dollars. The first number is base salary and the second is guaranteed compensation.
Freddy Adu: $400,000.00 / $519,000.00 1
Chris Albright: $55,000.00 / $55,000.00
Brian Carroll: $168,000.00 / $168,000.00
Keon Daniel: $55,000.00 / $59,410.00
Gabriel Farfan: $46,200.00 / $46,200.00
Michael Farfan: $57,200.00 / $94,700.00
Raymon Gaddis: $33,750.00 / $33,750.00
Gabriel Gomez: $275,000.00 / $294,702.50
Chase Harrison: $44,000.04 / $44,000.04
Kai Herdling: $94,002.00 / $94,002.00
Cristhian Hernandez: $52,500.00 / $54,375.00 2
Chandler Hoffman: $65,000.00 / $91,000.00 3
Antoine Hoppenot: $44,000.00 / $44,000.00
Greg Jordan: $44,000.00 / $44,000.00
Chris Konopka: $44,000.00 / $44,000.00
Michael Lahoud: $75,196.00 / $84,571.00
Porfirio Lopez: $120,000.00 / $125,087.50
Zac MacMath: $90,000.00 / $135,000.00 3
Josué Martinez: $65,000.00 / $71,062.50
Jack McInerney: $76,000.00 / $140,166.67 3
Jimmy McLaughlin: $48,000.00 / $57,000.00 2
Danny Mwanga: $250,000.00 / $356,250.00
Amobi Okugo: $90,000.00 / $173,000.00 3
Lionard Pajoy: $180,000.00 / $195,000.00
Zach Pfeffer: $60,000.00 / $70,000.00 2
Roger Torres: $116,160.00 / $119,285.00
Carlos Valdés: $268,000.00 / $268,000.00
Sheanon Williams: $85,000.00 / $90,500.00
Krystian Witkowski: $44,000.04 / $44,000.04
1 - Designated player
2 - Homegrown player, does not count against salary cap
3 - Generation Adidas player, does not count against salary cap
In total, the Union are paying out $3,045,008.08 in base salary and $3,615,062.25 in guaranteed compensation this year.
It is worth noting that Mwanga graduated from Generation Adidas after last season, so the Union are on the hook for his entire salary. The best list I can find of players who remained in Generation Adidas from 2011 to 2012 is here. Thanks to the RSL Soapbox blog for compiling it.
Now for the analysis. First, here’s who got a pay raise since the last set of salary figures were published in September 2011. I’ll use guaranteed compensation as the measuring stick since it’s the higher figure:
Brian Carroll: $160,000.00 to $168,000.00
Keon Daniel: $46,410.00 to $59,410.00
Gabriel Farfan: $42,000.00 to $46,200.00
Michael Farfan: $79,500.00 to $94,700.00
Zac MacMath: $125,000 to $135,000
Jack McInerney: $135,416.67 to $140,666.67
Danny Mwanga: $226,250.00 to $356,250.00
Amobi Okugo: $168,000.00 to $173,000.00
Zach Pfeffer: $65,000.00 to $70,000.00
Roger Torres: $108,725.00 to $119,285.00
Carlos Valdés: $180,000.00 to $268,000.00
Sheanon Williams: $42,000.00 to $90,500.00
Here’s who got a pay cut:
Freddy Adu: $594,884.00 to $519,000
Although Danny Califf isn't listed as a member of the Union anymore, his salary increased from to $250,000 to $275,000.00 since last season.
Michael Lahoud, who came to Philadelphia in the Califf trade, saw his salary increase from $72,735.00 to $84,571.00 since last season.
How does the Union's overall payroll compare to those of the other 18 teams in MLS? Here's the answer, ranked by guaranteed compensation.
1. New York Red Bulls: $12,207,557.54 / $12,957,790.88
2. Los Angeles Galaxy: $10,759,071.00 / $12,632,386.49
3. Toronto FC: $6,939,109.00 / $8,250,852.39
4. Vancouver Whitecaps: $3,606,950.04 / $4,294,436.53
5. D.C. United: $3,518,598.20 / $4,188,579.33
6. Portland Timbers: $3,525,650.00 / $4,158,661.29
7. Seattle Sounders: $3,505,777.00 / $3,981,973.32
8. Philadelphia Union: $3,045,008.08 / $3,615,062.25
9. Real Salt Lake: $3,154,385.04 / $3,521,095.29
10. FC Dallas: $3,031,897.04 / $3,450,147.04
11. Colorado Rapids: $3,194,716.00 / $3,430,955.01
12. Columbus Crew: $2,890,734.00 / $3,325,609.00
13. New England Revolution: $2,852,018.00 / $3,262,613.54
14. Chivas USA: $2,618,728.04 / $3,233,054.18
15. Chicago Fire: $2,880,426.04 / $3,225,555.03
16. San Jose Earthquakes: $2,905,834.25 / $3,211,334.32
17. Sporting Kansas City: $2,794,657.00 / $3,120,874.37
18. Montréal Impact: $2,649,095.00 / $3,025,864.92
19. Houston Dynamo: $2,664,916.00 / $3,001,091.87
In addition to the team payrolls, MLS is paying a total of $111,600.00 to three pool goalkeepers that teams can sign on an emergency basis. Brian Rowe and Steve Spangler are earning 33,750.00 each in guaranteed compensation, and Chris Sharpe is earning 44,100.00.
There is also one outfield player who is apparently being paid despite not being on a team roster. Birahim Diop, who was waived by Sporting Kansas City on March 26, is due $74,250.00 in guaranteed compensation from a $70,000.00 base salary.
The total amount of base salary paid out across Major League Soccer this year is $78,926,727.27. The total amount of guaranteed compensation paid out is $90,073,787.05.
Because it's always fun to look at who's making the big money, here are the top 20 salaries in MLS at the moment.
Note that this does not include the salary of the league's newest designated player, Montréal's Marco Di Vaio, because he hasn't officially joined the team yet. We probably won't find out how much the Impact's first DP is making until much later this year.
1. Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls: $5,000,000.00 / $5,600,000.00
2. Rafael Márquez, New York Red Bulls: $4,600,000.00 / $4,600,000.00
3. David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy: $3,000,000.00 / $4,000,000.00 *
4. Robbie Keane, Los Angeels Galaxy: $2,917,241.00 / $3,417,242.75
5. Torsten Frings, Toronto FC: $2,000,000.00 / $2,413,666.67
6. Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy: $2,400,000.00 / $2,400,000.00
7. Julian de Guzman, Toronto FC: $1,863,996.00 / $1,910,746.00
8. Danny Koevermans, Toronto FC: $1,150,000.00 $1,563,323.33
9. Kris Boyd, Portland Timbers: $1,250,000.00 / $1,515,000.00
10. Eric Hassli, Vancouver Whitecaps: $550,000.00 / $790,000.00
11. Fredy Montero, Seattle Sounders: $600,000.00 / $756,000.00
12. David Ferreira, FC Dallas: $600,000.00 / $705,000.00
13. Dwayne DeRosario, D.C. United: $617,857.20 / $663,190.53
14. Juan Pablo Ángel, Chivas USA: $350,000.00 / $600,000.00
15. Shalrie Joseph, New England Revolution: $495,000.00 / $554,333.33
16. Branko Bošković, D.C. United: $409,167.00 / $545,367.00
17. Freddy Adu, Philadelphia Union: $400,000.00 / $519,000.00
18. Hamdi Salihi, D.C. United: $305,460.00 / $487,460.00
19. Javier Morales, Real Salt Lake: $425,000.00 / $477,500.00
20. Benny Feilhaber, New England Revolution: $400,000.00 / $446,000.00
* - Beckham took a significant pay cut from last year, when he made $5,500,000.08 in base salary and $6,500,000.04 in guaranteed compensation. He was the highest-paid player in MLS in 2011.
Ángel is the highest-paid player in MLS who is not a designated player, at least according to the league's official list of DPs.
I find it very interesting that there are five DPs who are outside the top 20 - and two of them are way outside it. They are, in order of guaranteed compensation:
24. Álvaro Saborío, Real Salt Lake: $350,000.00 / $405,625.00
27. Álvaro Fernández, Seattle Sounders: $300,000.00 / $366,666.67
71. Mauro Rosales, Seattle Sounders: $200,000.00 / $225,000.00
100. Diego Chará, Portland Timbers: $150,000.00 / $193,750.00
365. Fabián Castillo, FC Dallas: $50,000.00 / $56,250.00
At the very bottom of the salary scale, the lowest guaranteed compensation figure in the league is $33,750. A total of 41 players are earning that amount of money, including Philadelphia's Raymon Gaddis.
Other notable names at that salary level include Seattle's Michael Seamon, a product of Villanova University; and Ryan Meara, currently the New York Red Bulls' starting goalkeeper.
For the statistics majors among you, here are the average, median and most common salaries across the league:
Average: $143,503.14 / $163,770.52
Median: $70,000.00 / $80,004.00
Most common: $44,000.00 / $80,002.00
Finally, I thought it would be interesting to put together a list of salaries for all of the former Union players who are still in Major League Soccer. Here goes:
Danny Califf, Chivas USA: $275,000.00 / $275,000.00
Jordan Harvey, Vancouver Whitecaps: $100,000.00 / $100,000.00
Andrew Jacobson, FC Dallas: $87,500.00 / $100,000.00
Brad Knighton, Vancouver Whitecaps: $55,000.00 / $55,000.00
Sébastien Le Toux, Vancouver Whitecaps: $145,000.00 / $169,000.00
Justin Mapp, Montréal Impact: $210,000.00 / $218,333.33
Alejandro Moreno, Chivas USA: $185,000.00 / $195,000.00
Kyle Nakazawa, Los Angeles Galaxy: $51,150.00 / $51,150.00
Brian Perk, Los Angeles Galaxy: $76,000.00 / $110,100.00
Shea Salinas, San Jose Earthquakes: $82,000.00 / $87,975.08
Chris Seitz, FC Dallas: $75,000.00 / $75,000.00
Shavar Thomas, Montréal Impact: $80,000.00 / $94,666.67
I have put together a spreadsheet with all of the salary data for each player across the league, and I'm happy to share it with you. You can download it by clicking here.
Just do me a favor in return: follow me on Twitter and keep reading the blog. The best way to ensure the best mainstream media coverage of soccer in Philadelphia is to keep buying our newspapers and driving traffic to our website. I promise that if you all do, eventually it will be noticed and properly recognized.
Aren't McInerney, Mwanga, and Okugo still GA?— Zherog- Adu is nowhere near the best player, gets paid the most?— SilliBilli
- Zherog, it took me a while to find out who's still Generation Adidas and who isn't, but I was able to and updated the post.
- Peter Novak is extremely overpaid. Danny Mawanga plays scared and needs to go!— LCBline
In this day and age of ridiculouse player salaries I am shocked at how little these guys bring home.— CyaNutter
Comment removed.- JT you missed Brian Perk for former players, he gets paid about 100,000 by LA, which is just crazy and he must be the highest paid 3rd string keeper in the league. Mwanga's contract is pretty shocking, that entire draft class was paid very well (not just the Union guys), when you compare the picks 4-10 in that class with the two following MLS definitely made a conscience decision to reduce 1st round salaries.— Jmcurto
- Jonathan...thanks for posting. Some interesting insight, and I see Le Toux is making 145k now. Wasn't he looking for something in the 400k range before we was shipped off? I don't think its a big deal to pay a player a top 20 salary for top 5 production. Seems like the Union still get the best of the deal there.
And, at 8th overall out of 19 teams, if the Union truly had money problems, you would expect them to slink lower into those salary standings. It truly is a shame what is happening to this team with Nowak at the helm. Just doing right by the fans and keeping good players like Le Toux was all they had to do. Nowak has made some poor decisions and its time for a change.— sobjoe24 
Goodbye JT. I was excited when you started this blog. It has not lived up to my hopes. Rank and file was fun, while it lasted. Not sure where that went. Only two regular trolls, I guess that's not too bad, except other footy sites have zero. Probably because the other sites are better moderated. The GK is not updated often enough, especially during March, but as Ray Hudson would say, you know what side of your bread gets the butter. I wish you good luck with the best mainstream media coverage of soccer, whatever that means, but I won't be reading it.— Osager- freddy adu is NOT worth that money- get ride of him and get back LeToux and Danny Califf AND then get rid of nowak and we will have the money to pay our great former team players!!!!!— temujindax
- freddy adu needs to go-he isn't worth that money and also get rid of nowak so then we can get back LeToux and Danny Calif. then maybe we could win a game or two and the going to the PPL park would be enjoyable!!!— temujindax
- From a playoff team on the rise to a nearly unwatchable barrel of slop in less than a year. Who's running this team - Harold Katz?— Jerome99RIP
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
