I think Colvey's decision to quit the game was mostly financial along with a need to settle down. All Whites defender Kip Colvey announces shock retirement from ...
From the same article: . . . Colvey said he could foresee a future bouncing between MLS and USL if he was to continue playing football for a living, and having moved around so much during his youth, he was ready to settle down . . . The article goes on for a few more paragraphs on the same theme. Unstated is that he was dating a San Jose woman, who moved with him when he had to relocate to Colorado, and who may not have been interested in a relationship that involved his continuing to move back-and-forth to the minor league affiliate or otherwise being a journeyman. I'm reading between the lines, and I know it's hard to convince you that there are other factors in the world than money, but I suspect that prioritizing the relationship was the overriding factor in his decision to retire. If he had stayed with the team in San Jose, and been featured at left back instead of Qwiberg, the question of retirement might not have arisen at all.
I'm sure his relationship influenced his decision somewhat. Kip though told my cousin who played with him at Cal Poly that he didn't make enough money to make a living. USL teams pay a lot less than an MLS minimum salary and it didn't make sense to continue.
Once you understand that you are a journeyman level talent, there's not enough money in soccer in the US to keep doing it when you have other options. Your choice is a) make a very moderate living for 10-15 years of your life then start over on another career at the bottom rung, or b) start your lifelong career when you are young, in Kip's case probably at higher salary, and certainly much better position career wise in 10-15 years. And that doesn't even include the cost (in relationships, financial, etc...) of constantly moving to another city at the whim of a coach or owner. It's seems like such a no-brainer to me. I'm not sure why some players pursue it for so long. You'd probably be much better off as a plumber, let alone as a Cal Poly degree holding professional.
Yes and USL players other than maybe Drogba, make a pittance. Traveling, all over the place , playing in smaller venues and training like a horse during the hot summer months, after a while takes its toll. If you are making a decent living, it’s one thing but when you are making less than $50-$60k (if that) after taxes, it is just not worth it. A guy I went to HS with was a great athlete and won a little league world series and was our QB , place kicker and punter etc. He signed with the Dodgers organization and played A , AA and up to the AAA minor league in baseball and he was good but LA cut him anyway at 26 years of age because they didn’t think he was good enough to make it in the MLB. I’m not sure what the differences are between minor league baseball and the USL but I’m assuming the conditions in the USL are even worse.
If you absolutely love playing the game and you can earn a living doing so, I can see how someone could justify it to themselves for longer than one might objectively be expected to. If you aren't really able to make a living, and your life starts to be more than just yourself, that's when those questions start being asked seriously. The dream of playing a sport professionally is very powerful for some, and I can see how it would be very difficult to give up on that, especially if you aren't particularly interested in another possible career.
When they get their college degree in kinesiology from cal poly , where they can earn anywhere from $85k to $120k sitting on their can, I’ll be the first to tell them...
He's probably not making much money right now as a grad student, but he'll have a good career when he's done.
Either way, he is making more than a lousy USL salary pays.....and he is sitting on his duff! I hear he may make money under the table playin the Sunday leagues but I’ve yet found out how much. I recall after the old NASL folded, many former pros were pocketing $500.00 a game. Dangerfield made $1,500 a month as player coach of the Oaks, Silveira about $1,300 a game for Sporting and Mani Hernandez about $1,000. That was 35-40 years ago though so it’s a lot more now. Someone told me Claudio Suarez was making $6000 playing in the Latino leagues of Los Angeles.
Shea Salinas though hung in there and made a decent living as a club player and has doubled his salary in the last 6 seasons. I think players get bonuses on top of their base pay and hopefully , he planned ahead and saved wisely. He never was a great player but when you figure what they paid some players who came and went, Shea deserved more.
This is so much more important than it used to be in the past. This is one reason colleges are having such a difficult time filling classes for English, History, Anthro, etc. Gone are the days where simply having a BA was considered adequate preparation for a career in business or another field.
Can we move this discussion of pay scale for MLS players to its own thread, when I see a posting in a Shea Salinas thread I expect it to be about Shea Salinas, not Kip Colvey or how little money the bottom third of MLS rosters make.
It's related to the reason our "coulda been" LB was let go and retired thereby opening the door to move Shea to LB for the Quakes.
I most certainly did not bring up “what it would have cost to keep Kip Colvey” initially. Don did and I responded to his post on why he quit the game...
How about this? Salinas is in the 200k range for salary. I would argue he's a pretty good example of what one should expect from that salary, even if that salary is artificially suppressed via single entity. That said, a separate thread for pontifications on player value is a good idea.
When you compare him to all the overhyped , overrated and big name foreigners that came to league, Salinas is a decent enough player. I just wish he could shoot better.