Min Salary vs Poverty Level

You're missing the point...

If you try to compare a MLS minimum salary with some sort of arbitrary government standard, then you're just not getting it. The league minimum needs to be higher in order to attract more quality athletes into the sport. It really has nothing to do with the salary that a young person could get doing something else. Heck, kids play their hearts out in recreational leagues for nothing. In order for our sport to advance in this country, we need to raise the status of our players and the best way to do that is to pay them more money.

 

Professional athletes spend well over 3-4 hrs a day on their profession. Geez, NCAA D2 players need to work out at least that much.

Try living in New York, SJ, LA or Boston at $25K. You won't be living in the city, that's for sure. For these 4 cities, over 60% of your net salary would go to rent.

There are only a small handful of players in MLS that can afford to buy a house in the big markets. To buy a home in SJ/SF area, your combined yearly income needs to be $125,000.

So, mls players aren't 'poor', but their friends are making a heck more than they are...

 

I fail to see how the league minimum limits the quality in this league. Salary cap, yes. League minimum, no. How does a league minimum of $25,000 keep MLS from signing someone like Ronnie Ekelund to $150,000? It doesn't.

Has anyone checked what minor league and niche sports players earn? It's lower than many of you think. I'm talking about the roster fillers, not the stars.

$25,000 is the risk you take to make it big.

 

Blong, I disagree with you to a point. Though all athletes take a risk in chasing the dream of the sporting life as opposed to "a real job," even the players at the end of the bench should have the ability to live reasonably. The marginal athlete has the possibility for glory/wealth, but they also face the scrutiny and possibility of losing their livelihood more acutely than the majority of the population.

$25k/yr might make you king of the honky tonk in Pittsburgh, KS, but in the civilised places of the US, [NY, LA, Chicago, DC] $25k isn't a living wage.

You might be able to buy a pickup and all the Skoal you want on $25k/yr in Pittsburgh, KS, but $25k [after taxes] is truly p!ss-poor for the majority of the free world. Most states [Illinois is an example] tax athletes for playing in matches within their borders, whether they live there or not.

So, when the Wizards play in Chicago, all of the players from KC pay a FLAT 3.5% income tax of that week's wages. In Wisconsin, the state income tax is a FLAT 7.5%, cheerfully passed on to anyone who earns income inside "America's Dairyland." In some cases, the visiting athlete pays this state income tax superadded to their "home" state income tax.

After both federal and the various state taxes, $25k/yr becomes the mighty sum of $1,666.67 PER MONTH. [Assuming ~20% in total deductions (Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax, Social Security deductions, et. al.)] Factor in fees paid to agents, fees paid to the players' union, and other costs associated with their employment, and monthly income drops perilously near or below $1.5k/month.

In Chicago, a one bedroom apartment [depending on the neighborhood] might cost between $500 to $950 or more per month. This alone accounts for a serious percentage of a minimum-salary player's income, even BEFORE accounting for food or utilities or transportation to/from training and matches. Certainly in NY and LA, rent is even higher than in Chicago, and possibly higher in DC.

So a player such as Damani Ralph [SA reported salary ~$28k in 2003] is either:

1. Sharing an apartment with one or more roommates,
2. Living alone in a lesser neighborhood, or
3. Praying every single waking hour for a transfer out of MLS.

MLS needs to raise the total salary cap, but it should also raise the minimum salary somewhat, or have a built-in Cost of Living Adjustment for the player who toils in the more expensive markets.


Cheers!

 

First of all, Khan. You are right about Pittsburg, KS. It is honky-tonk ville, and I am King down here, on an income around $34,000.

But last I checked, there aren't any other leagues willing to play our bench warmers any more than we are. Damani Ralph could have used more money. We all could. But he has found a way to make it work somehow. He looked like he was getting his nutrition, one way or another.

Ever heard of the term "playing for peanuts"? That came out of baseball's minor leagues, if I'm not mistaken, and isn't far off from the truth.

I'm not saying that $25,000 is a decent living. I'm saying MLS should pay market value for their players. If that's not good enough for them, they can try another league, or sell insurance. If they would only make $25,000, and didn't have the confidence that they could get up to a "decent" salary, I doubt they would have improved the quality of the league anyway.

 

Interesting thread. I live in Northern New Jersey, about 15 minutes from Giants Stadium, and currently make 47k a year. It is so expensive here I just moved back in with my parents. 47k just pays your expenses and leaves no room for savings around here. There is no way in hell anyone making 24k can survive on their own here. It costs minimum 1000 a month just for a one bedroom apartment here. If your take home pay is like 1500 a month: 1000 rent. 100 utilities, 400 to eat for the month. You wouldnt have money for a car, car insurance or even clothing. All I can figure is they must do the 4 players sharing an apartment thing. Thats the only way they could survive on 24k here. Even that would be tough, you would still have to pay at least 500 a month rent. This brings up another question, Do players hope to get drafted by KC or Columbus just because of the cost of living? I know the midfielder who just got traded from SJ to Columbus mentioned that.

 

Blong, no offense, but I think you got it wrong. Maybe this is because Pittsburg, KS is one of the few places that hasn't recently been mentioned as working on getting a MLS expansion team and it's made you grumpy. Sure, young guys play for peanuts in youth hockey and minor league baseball, but this is so they can get a shot at the BIG SHOW. For soccer in the US, MLS is the big show. So what we're doing is paying minor league wages for a sport attempting to become major league. I see no problem in paying someone $25,000 a year during their developmental years. But if someone becomes a starter, they should get a $50,000 to $60,000 minimum salary. This won't improve the league for the next couple of years, but I think it would improve the quality of the league 5 or 10 years down the road.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a minimum wage soccer player."

Yeah, right.

 

I think the player's association has stated that one of their priorities is upping the minimum pay b4 raising the max. It's just not right.

And there is no "market" value when the market is controlled by one entity: MLS, which is Single Entity.

Another thing to consider is that there are many players who choose to go abroad b/c they are guaranteed a bigger pay day. If you're offered $100K by a Euro club, are you going to take your chances w/ MLS and possibly get $25K? If you up that to $40K or even $35, it makes it more appetizing for more guys to stay in the US and develop their game here. You might not be aware of it, Blong, but there ARE non-elite Euro sides competing for a lot of our 2nd tier players.

PS: Hey Denver, just so we don't agree anymore... Chivas! There, that'll do it.

 

Hey Carlos, if we don't stop agreeing with each other [bad California joke] people are going to think we're married.[/bad California joke]

 

UCLA there are second tier leagues willing to sign a few of our average players from time to time--you find out what Leighton O'brien and Luchi Gonzalez were being paid in 2nd div Norway. I guarantee you it was NOT $100,000. My guess: $10-20,000.

 

i used to be worried about MLS' players and their salaries, until I saw Ezra Hendrickson driving around in an $80,00O Mercedes.

I worried less after that.

 

Dawgpound2, are you certain that 'EZ' actually OWNED said Mercedes? Are you certain that 'EZ' PAID FOR said Mercedes? And if so, did you confirm that 'EZ' actually buy the car, or did he lease it?


As I recall, Hendrickson isn't/wasn't a "minimum salary" player in MLS; What pertinence does your seeing him in a nice car have to do with this thread?

 

Oh really, then what's "just right"?

Obviously lots of promising young players are signing up to play in MLS. So they must be getting paid "just right".

There is a "free-market" league and it's called the A-League. It was the only alternative before SEM enabled MLS-caliber investment. No SEM, no MLS.

Deal with it.

 

The league minimum needs to be higher in order to attract more quality athletes into the sport.

This won't happen unless MLSfans start buying season tickets and quit complaining.

 

Are you sure about this? I think the NBA is around 70% but MLS is more like 30-40%. I mean (15 home games)*($15)*(15,000 butts) is itself twice the salary cap.

I realize that you said % of revenues, and that costs are greater than revenues right now, but I remember seeing somewhere that player costs were a small fraction of total costs.

In any event, no profits no raises. I just don't want to overstate the case.

 

When people start talking about low MLS salaries I think of guys like Mike Fisher and RT Moore who showed promise but chose other careers.

 

Thanks. I'll see my therapist about it...

What's not "right" about the low salaries and the fact that they are now so public, is that it will hurt US soccer as talented youngsters choose between sports, or when adults choose between professions, as puttputtfc pointed out.

It's sad that a top-flight pro waterpolo player in Spain (the 2nd most lucrative pro league, behind Italy) earns more money than former MVP Carlos Ruiz.

Oh, and as far as the Mercedes... a lot of ppl don't buy BMWs or Mercedes, they lease them. Those cars are too expensive on their own, so it's easier to contain costs by leasing.

 

As do American soccer players

Only for the deluded or woefully ignorant.

 

Ding, ding, ding. Using the "free market" in defense of any of MLS' policies is pretty much not going to fly, considering how diametrically opposed to said "free market" the league is in most areas. I don't think there should be a minimum salary either, but then I think the amateur players ought to be able to negotiate salaries with as many teams as are interested in his services. If no one wants to pay him more than 25 grand, than so be it.

And the A-league isn't a free market option because it isn't 1st division football and has no ability to become 1st division football as US Soccer has decreed it so. It's like saying the electric company doesn't have a monopoly because people can buy power generators instead. They're not equivalent products.

 

Until someone lets me know what brand of gun was placed to the head of MLS players who signed a league minimum contract, I'm not going to lose sleep over this. Every player who signs such a contract does so because he deems it better than other career options he has at the time, be they in soccer or elsewhere. It's not the only line of work where people start off with meager wages until they work their way up. No, it isn't easy to live in big expensive cities on such a salary, but they do manage.

 

If MLS owned his contract, do you really think he'd be making as little as he does?

 

I'm assuming (though perhaps I shouldn't) that the position on a team comes with many freebies. Meals, training, gym memberships, clothing, etc.

Frankly, in the places around the world i've traveled, i've learned that the U.S. is a pretty cheap place to live. However, we do have a high standard.

One thing I realized is the huge number of things we deem vital. Some people deem cable, DSL, daily take-out, dry cleaning, a maid and a gardener to be life essentials. They're not.

A lot of places in Europe don't even have air conditioning. And yet the people there have not keeled over and died yet.