Just going to leave these here.............. https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/youth https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/philadelphia-union/inside-look-unions-ysc-academy
Here is the Quakes Ultras cheering on the youth team... Nice victory for the U-14 @QuakesAcademy and most importantly great passion and heart on and off the field pic.twitter.com/cagVOY2QIv— San Jose Ultras (@SanJoseUltras) December 16, 2018 Doesn’t matter if it’s the @QuakesAcademy or First Team. We’re all one club. 🖤💙 The @SanJoseUltras gave the 05 Boys team to a proper send-off today for their last match of 2018. 👏 #ForwardAsOne pic.twitter.com/V2IK7Qn2ja— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) December 16, 2018
This post is wrong in many facets. For instance, the idea that $54k-$100k is starvation wages. Very few players on first team rosters make less than the median American household of $60k. That MLS academy players don't get to finish high school, when clubs like Salt Lake are building high schools as part of their academy complexes. That somehow European and South American academy graduates are worth lots of money but US ones aren't. Ask Tabla or Adams. That MLS academy players don't get to train with the pros. Four Academy Standouts Learning Valuable Lessons at RSL Preseason And surely part of the reason Andrew Weideman quit was that he wasn't good enough to play in MLS and was forced to drop into the lower divisions with Ottawa and Cincinnati.
Really? San Jose has players making less that $70k-$80k and rents are over $2500-$3000 a month. Here are some low ball figures the LA Galaxy are paying out...
To even think $70-80k is starvation level is insane. Yeah, sure you won't get rich off that living in SJ. Also are these young single guys are older guys trying to provide for a family? Also are you sure some of these players also don't get room and board. I think that happens sometimes. They are very likely getting free meals at least. If they are getting room and board on top of $70-80k, they are living well. I saw a "behind the scenes" video of one of these younger guys once and I believe he was getting a place to live and meals, which was not included in his salary. I could most definitely be wrong.
Not really. Making $70-80k in San Jose/Silicon Valley and trying to live like a professional athlete is like living on peasants. Rents are crazy and no one does anything about it. Having roommates , whether they divide up the expenses or not , kids still have to pay over $1,500 a month and that is not including living expenses, eating and training like a professional should. I think the club set them up with housing but I don't believe they are paying rents for players.
Again, pretty sure the teams are supplying them with meals. They want to make sure their players are eating right. They also get team paid healthcare. They are likely getting a lot of clothing free too. There are many perks that aren't part of their salary. These guys are not living in poverty. If they are....guess what....they are free to leave. The rest of us have made it through life without professional sports.
They most certainly are not feeding them morning noon and night or in the off season. They may get lunch during training days. My cousin's restaurant was actually catering their team lunch meals for a while. Gilbert Fuentes drives back and forth from his parents house in the East Bay to training every day. He is on an HGP contract and he is only 16. Living at home with his parents, he has it a little easier than most but the other guys don't have it that easy at all and as professional athletes, they are making peanuts.
You know this how? I have also read of them taking left overs home from free team meals. The rest of us eat left overs, no reason they can't. They are not going to let their players starve. That would be pretty bad business. I am sorry I just don't buy the poor starving picture you are painting.
Again, my cousin was catering their meals. His kid also tried out for them a few years ago. They get some perks but its minimal. No one said they are starving but they are playing for peanuts.
Because he only catered their lunches means they were not providing other meals by other means...got it. What about the clothing and medical care? That is by no means nothing to sneeze at. Most of us have hundreds to thousands a month in medical insurance and when we go get medical care we still have to pay for it (up to a very high limit) as most have high deductible plans. I pay hundreds for insurance and still pay for virtually 100% of my medical expenses as I don't hit the max out of pocket. This is not to complain, just pointing out free medical care provided by your employer is worth thousands a year.
Unless something changed in the last 12 months, they aren't paying their grocery bills or rents but just like most jobs, of course they provide medical. Bobby Convey's wife when he played, had cancer and the team insurance paid the excessive O'Connor Hospital bills from what I heard. Some players get sponsorship money to wear equipment. Again, its nothing major.
Umm, most companies don't "provide medical". We are on different pages here. Most companies provide access to insurance (some may pay a very small percentage of your insurance). You still pay for the insurance and for all your medical expenses the insurance doesn't. My understanding is, most professional sports teams provide free healthcare. As in the they pay 100% of all your medical expenses. If this is the case the 2 are not even comparable. I pay $1000's a year for my own medical insurance and expenses...out of my own pocket. That isn't including the rest of my family. If I were to have a surgery I would pay up to $10,000 or whatever. An MLS player would pay zero if I am correct. I am not saying they shouldn't get this. They are putting their bodies at risk for their employer. I am just trying to explain the difference. To say, "its nothing major" means you don't understand what they are getting.
Alvarez is 16. How many 16 year-olds make $72k a year? Teens do what college kids do, what young grads do, they share. Or if they're at Salt Lake or one of the big academies they can live on campus.
On which planet don't pro clubs not provide pro athletes medical? Of course they have to provide medical.
Dude, of course they do. The point is this is a massive perk that others don't get and has to be considered when talking about their salary. There are thousands of dollars they put right back into their pocket the rest of us don't. It is HUGE perk worth real money. So $70k is really like 80k or more. You compared it to other jobs "providing medical". It isn't a comparison.
Sure but they have to provide medical. That is true of any professional sports team or pro athlete. Matheus Silva, 20, had to be pulled from Lake Tahoe, where he had been swimming, and was in critical condition at a Reno hospital after nearly drowning at Lake Tahoe on the Fourth of July. The Earthquakes paid all of his expenses even though they released him after the season. When TFC found out Demitrius Omphroy had multiple sclerosis, they claimed they had no knowledge of his condition when they drafted him. Part of Omphroy's ongoing treatment is daily shots and they released him as a result of it even though he was just as good as other players.
1) Median family of four makes somewhere in the $50ks 2) $70-80k MLS salary is probably closer to $100k if the player takes advantage of a) team meals b) top notch health insurance c) per diems d) clothing allowances - a ton of team gear, plus most teams supply suit budgets e) appearance fees - these can be big money for down-roster players f) housing and car allowances g) camp appearance fees - another big income source This was true when the "junior development" players were making $12k/year, and it's still true today. The vast majority of working Americans don't get these benefits, or don't get them to the extent that MLS players do. That's not to say it's a life of luxury. But having 2 to 4 23 year-old scrubs share an apartment isn't a bad thing. There should be an incentive for players to improve or find another career. Being at the end of the bench, or part of an MLS practice squad shouldn't be confused as a career. I would suspect if you take any sliding 3 year window and look at the players who consistently get first team minutes, but the end of that window virtually all of them will be getting a hell of a lot more than $70-80k.
I have tried to be nice but i really just don't know if your intelligence level is low or what. Pro athletes get perks the rest of us don't. So you can't compare a $70k pro athlete salary to a $70k accountant salary. To do so is ignorant. They get $10's of thousands of dollars of perks that save them $10's of thousands of dollars. So a $70k salary becomes$90-100k in reality. If someone gives us both $5. Then gives you a free $5 meal and gives me nothing and I buy a $5 meal...you still have $5 and I have nothing and we both ate the same meal.
Yeah but living in KC is different than living in the Bay Area. I'd like to see some on the board try it, just for a little while and see how long you can survive. I'm telling you I live here and am making just as much as they are if not more and after rent, taxes and expenses, its not easy at all. I'm not lying I'm telling you the truth. Especially since their careers can be over on a whim at any minute, these guys are making peanuts.
At the Galaxy's school, soccer is hardly the only subject (from 2016) It's a model that's been successful for soccer clubs around the world — and one that's now beginning to take hold in the U.S. Last June, Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union saw the first class graduate from its 3-year-old college-preparatory school, which is housed across the street from the team's youth development academy. And Real Salt Lake plans to build a $50-million complex for both its first team and its academy players, who will attend classes at a charter school affiliated with Utah State University. The Galaxy will present their first senior class of 11 students with high school diplomas in June.
If I was single, had free medical care, free meals (for at least part of the day), free clothing (maybe not every article of clothing but a lot), was around 20 years old and made $70k...i could live comfortably anywhere in this country...very comfortably. If you can't...then you suck at life and managing money. I am done being nice about this. I tried and we are destroying this thread.
Sure but they are kids and their career can be over in 6 months or even on January 1st. They can't even save money because of their expenses. What happens if they are released in 2019? What happens to their $70k salary? They go from making $70- $0 in hurry. Again, I'm not arguing but whichever you want to spin it, I'm just talking about reality and they are still making peanuts.