Are MLS wages too low, should they be increased?

I think the more appropriate question is "Woukl MLS improve just by raising the minimum wage?".

And to that I think the answer is no. With the limit on internationals teams are still going to fill those minimum slots with the same sort of Americans and international college players they're being filled with now so there's no real change.

 

What we have seen last year and this year, after the minimum went up for 2015, is an increased number of players moving from the lower leagues into MLS. Up until the last CBA, there were many players who could earn more money as regular starters or even stars in the lower leagues than as minimum-salary players in MLS. That is no longer the case, except for a handful of players.

I'm really not sure there was much of an effect otherwise. It seems to have mostly reshuffled the pool of players, so that players who would have stayed in the lower leagues have moved up and some of the players that MLS didn't see as worth $51,500 are in the lower leagues instead. In that sense, it probably created more of a gap between MLS and the lower leagues as the quality on MLS benches improved and the quality of the lower leagues dropped a little.

I just don't see the MLS minimum as driving that much change in American player salaries, because of the explosion in lower league soccer recently.

 

Interesting topic, as some of the wages are quite lowly for a top league. With these lower wages do fans feel they can connect with the players better? Would "Unsociable hours" be brought into consideration?

How do the wages compare with the lower wages of the NFL, NBA and NHL? Or do they pay more due to higher interest? (Spot the non-american!)

 

NBA
The minimum salary is $507,336. The veteran's minimum for players with 10-plus years of experience is $1,448,490.

MLB
The minimum salary for a MLB player will remain$507,500, the same as last year's figure.

NHL
2015-2016 $575,000

NFL
The NFL is a bit different since the minimum is based on the number of years of experience in the league. That being said the base in 2016 with 0 years experience is $450,000. While a player with 10 years base is $985,000.

NFL practice squad
For the 2015 season, practice squad players can make no less than $6,600 per week. While the minimum salary for a rookie in 2015 is $435,000, a full season on the practice squad would earn a player more than $100,000 for the year. Alternatively, without being contractually obligated, players are released with no financial penalty.

 

Compared with the MLS minimum, it's a substantial difference, an order of magnitude. However, the change to the current CBA put the guys at the end of the benches firmly into the middle class.

 

The maximum salary for non-DP players in MLS is below the minimum salaries in all of the other four top US leagues. MLS also gets much lower revenues.

But MLS probably also has the highest percentage increase in wages in recent years. The league minimum salary has gone from $12,900 a year to $51,500 a year in the last 15 years.

 

I'm surprised the NHL minimum is higher than the other sports considering the top NHL salaries are much lower than the other sports. The Islanders' John Tavares had 86 points in 2014-2015, 1 short of Jamie Benn's 87, for the Art Ross Trophy for the most points. Tavares makes $6,000,000 a year. An MLB player who was second in RBI and didn't make less money because he was still under team control at the beginning of his career or an NBA player who was second in points per game would make a lot more than $6,000,000.

Hopefully no MLS players ever made minimum wage, but how could hours worked be determined for athletes for the purpose of calculating an hourly wage to compare to minimum wage? Two teams could have the same amount of games, but one team could have longer practices or longer travel. Some sports have optional practices, and there's also exercising players do on their own including during the offseason. Does anybody know the minimum salary for the NASL and USL?

 

Neither publishes a minimum salary, but published reports suggest that the NASL's bottom end players are earning about $1800 per month for the 7 months of the season (total $12,600 per year) and the USL's bottom end players are earning about $1000 per month for a 6 month season ($6000 per year). Most USL and NASL teams appear to also offer their players a rent-free shared apartment.

The majority of NASL and USL players either have non-soccer day jobs or earn most of their income coaching.

Pay scales may be much higher for some teams. Sacramento, while not paying at MLS levels, is believed to have well over double the average USL payroll, despite having no obvious big dollar players. The team probably has few or no players earning below the league median.

USL teams are allowed to have up to three unpaid players on amateur contracts. These are generally high school aged players, who can play with pros before they actually enroll in college and not lose NCAA eligibility as long as they are not paid themselves.

 

Not if you live in the Bay Area, LA, or New York. You're still pretty poor on 50k a year in any of these areas.

 

True, but a whole lot less poor than 33k a year.

 

Is there an allowance for this?

And by that I mean for teams that are based in areas where the cost of living is higher? Or may even have a higher minimum wage. Eg, in England I know London will pay more than similar jobs in the North of England due to the cost of living.

 

Definitely. It's just that in any other of the Major sports in this country, once you have signed a contract, you are now wealthy by anyone's standard. Still waiting for that in MLS. Not a criticism, just saying.

 

In 1961 the whole Minnesota Vikings roster had off season full and part time jobs because the pay just wasn't enough back then. IMO, MLS should have a minimum salary of 90k to 100k but would it make a difference in play?

 

Not exactly. A baseball draftee can go several years making less than a minimum wage fast food worker.

 

I wasn't clear. I meant, once he is playing with the big club.

 

I think it would make a difference, but not enough to justify the expense if you are just looking at quality of play in the near term. The benefit, IMO, to higher wages is not that it's going to make mediocre players more skilled, it's that it could/should raise the desirability of pursuing a career as a soccer player in the US. Theoretically, this could create more intense competition for playing time in youth ranks, harder work and more sacrifice on the way up as the reward becomes more attractive.

That said, I'm all for the minimum salary to be reasonably indexed with league revenue and not just raised arbitrarily. Now that the minimum is at least a dignified living wage, I think we can let the minimum go up organically as it has with the other major sports.

 

Well said.

 

Sometimes minor league players consider giving up. In addition to how a player's salary affects him directly, I would think having a job with lots of travel and a low salary can make it hard for a man to find a woman willing to marry him. Richard Bleier was drafted in 2008. He has played for ten minor league teams in the United States and in the Dominican Winter League. After pitching 963 2/3 innings, he made his MLB debut with the Yankees on May 30 at age 29.

 

A lot of minor leaguers seem to give it a shot for a few years, and quit if they aren't obviously on an upward trajectory within two or three years. I had a law school classmate who played minor league baseball and quit when he was still in single A after three years. He had offers from independent minor league clubs, but decided it was time to get on with his life.

 

how are NHL players earning that much? it's incredible that their minimum is higher than all the other major sports. Boggles the mind

I honestly believe MLS needs to set the minimum at 100 K. Even if a majority are only earning 105 K. Because it was maybe a decade ago key players on some teams were earning like 25 or 45 K a year. that's scandalous

 

The NHL put a ceiling on salary.

Most league minimum salaries are dictated by revenue. MLS is nowhere close enough, especially when you include other costs unique to MLS vs other US Sports.

 

so the minimum is higher but the maximum earnings are lower? cause it's fascinating

 

Yeah, it's set as a percent of the total salary cap.

http://www.puckreport.com/2009/07/nhl-minimum-wage-maximum-wage-by-year.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_salary_cap