After listening to Tony DiCicco discussing the WUSA salary cap of $834,500 on the radio two weeks ago, I came up with a rough approximation of what the average salaries for the different Courage players might be: Founding Players (Carla, Fotop, & TR) 85K International Players (Riise, Lehn, Prinz) 55K National Team Starter (Slaton) 45K Regular Starters (Lucks, Fettig, Burt, & Baxter) 35K Remaining roster players (Wilson, James, "Monty," O'Hanley, Barnes, Oleksiuk & Anderson) 27.5K Reserve players - 27 K total Some of my estimates might be a bit high and some are probably too low, but the total Courage payroll using these figures would be $824,500. Since Carla wasn't one of the original Founding Players, perhaps she is playing for quite a bit less than 85K. I still haven't seen anything published that clearly states whether or not all of the Founding Players make the same salaries so that is why I am using 85K as my estimate there. I recall reading something about international players making around 45 to 55K, but am wondering if a top international player like Hege who is signing a contract extension can actually make closer to what the Founding Players make. In any event, I would think that the Courage will probably need to be at least 20 to 30K under the salary cap with the players they currently have if they are going to have enough room to sign a "quality" fourth International Player like Solveig Gulbrandsen for example. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this?
Thanks for the analysis. I wonder when the annual salaries are decided on because at the beginning of the season you don't know who is going to be a regular starter. Or do they just base it on starting the previous season? I assume we will see some roster changes in the off season and hopefully come up with the $ for another foreign player that way? I think you mean "Yanki"
All I was doing by having two separate groups for "Regular Starters" and "Remaining Roster Players" was attempting to show that players who were expected to be regular starters are probably making more money than the other players on the roster. Perhaps the regular starters are actually making closer to 40K while the remaining roster players are making closer to 25K. It also isn't clear to me that the Founding Players are all actually making 85K. Perhaps the Courage Founding Players have average salaries closer to 70K. Until I see something published about actual salaries or until I have a chance to talk to Tony DiCicco on the radio again or better still, Jerome Ramsey, then the best I can do is come up with some very rough estimates about what the actual Courage salaries might be.
Yankowski name change No, actually I did mean "Monty," but as you can see even though Kim has changed her last name, her nickname has not yet been officially changed. Big Changes in Store For Yankowski
Re: Re: Courage Salary Cap Issues Another variable in roster changes will be our draftees. And we could be lucky enough to get another NT starter, like say Cat Reddick. A long shot but if we trade up, it could happen. Nordby1, I hope you can dig up some more info. This is an interesting topic.
Re: Connecticut? I guess depending on where in Connecticut she has her house, it wouldn't be that unrealistic for Kim to commute to Long Island. However, like Kester, maybe "Monty" would also threaten to retire if she got traded to the Power.
WUSA Salary Structure Here is some more information I found about the salary structure for the WUSA teams during the inaugural season: WUSA Salary Structure
i dont see cap problems for the courage in fact the courage recieved a big cog in their title run through the cap problems of the power...of course i mean nel fettig where i see cap problems is the power (4 founders) charge (only one founder or allocated player but 3 1st rounders a super 12 and another high level foreigner) C'rays (2 founders 3 super 12s and 3 allocated players, vench BETTER retire or they are in trouble)
Salaries of Founding Players After doing a little research it became very clear to me that the three Founding Players on the Courage all have a salary of 85K. Every article I read consistently stated that the 19 Founding Players signed contracts with the WUSA for the same salary. However, I believe that the five "allocated Founders" probably have salaries that are lower than the original Founders, but none of those players are with the Courage.
Potential Salary Cap Issue One of the main reasons why the Courage had room under the salary cap to sign Nel Fettig was because the Courage only had three international players last season. If the Courage end up signing a top name international player such as Solveig Gulbrandsen, they will likely have to pay her around 55K. Since a fourth international player would probably replace a player making close to the league minimum or around 25K, this transaction would likely increase the overall salary of the Courage by approximately 30K. If my estimates are anywhere close to what the actual team salary is for the Courage, then unless the salary caps for each team are increased by at least 20-30K for next season, the Courage could have a problem adding a fourth international and also keeping all of their top players while staying under the league salary cap.
all founders do make 85k...this is why the power can NEVER compete without one or more founder retiring...especally given the infieority of 3 of its 4 founders. likewise the charge have only one founder, Lorrie Fair. hence why they can get 3 1st rounders, despite large foreign salaries to Pichon and Smith. the courage will probley still be in very good shape financally, could be moreso if overbeck finally realizes its time to retire. i think they could get an extra foreigner if they wanted...also is riise coming back or is she still on the fence? i would rate the salary cap situiation of the courage 4th best. especally since you have a cheap goalie as far as goalies go in lucky given that shes probley still on backup's pay. From worst to best id rate cap problems as so Power 4 founders with HORRIBLE return on investment C'rays Breakers with the high profile foreigners Freedom good cut and paste job last year made them more sound Courage Beat if sun wen indeed has retired Spirit with alot of places to cut and paste salaries Charge with only one founder or allocated player, they can afford 3 picks but they have a major chance to overspend as well.
Great job with your analysis g4m. I'm in complete agreement with you here. What if Carly Smolak and/or Nicole Williams beat out Saskia Webber? Would the Power still be forced to continue eating Webber's 85K salary? Right now are continuing to stay on the roster and collect 85K or retiring the only options that Founding Players have? I wonder if it would be possible for a Founding Player to voluntarily give back some of their salary if they want to stay on their team's roster, but realize that they can no longer contribute the way they once could as a regular starter?
Riise Is Off the Fence The great news for Courage fans is that Hege has been quoted in several articles saying that she is definitely coming back to play for Carolina next season. Just out of curiosity g4m do you have any information about the salaries that the international players make? I'm sure I saw something last year that said that the WUSA international players make around 50K, but I didn't see anything mentioned about this in any of the articles I came across yesterday.
foreign salaries vary based on draft vs allocated, super 16 vs non super 16 and then on a per diem basis since they are shopped for by the clubs. id reckon between 40-60k. you cannot cut a founder, you cannot place a founder on the practice squad...i always wanted to see a clause in the CBA where a founder could accept or be forced to accept (as in being cut) a job with the league or team for the remainder of her salary...so overbeck could become a coach and still make her founder's contract. you cannot even trade a founder unless the founder asks out (as webber did) the founder has the right to request the team to be traded to. since webber is a founder williams or smolak will have to be cut or placed on reserves even if both are better...although i heard an implication through WUSA.com that webber will retire this year.
Foreign Salaries Thanks again for your input g4m. A salary range of around 40-60K for foreign players sounds reasonable for the most part, although I would like to see the top international players like Riise, Prinz and Pichon making closer to what the Founders make when they sign contract extensions. On a side note, I guess that now after the retirements of Espeseth, Aarønes, Fitschen, Wiegmann, and Karlsson coupled with Nordby, Bengtsson, and Roseli also leaving the WUSA, the super 16 is already down to 8.
New Salary Cap The 2001 WUSA salary cap was $800,000 for 20 roster players and three reserves and the 2002 salary cap was $834,500 for 18 roster players and two reserves (later increased to three). I have a feeling that when terms of the new collective bargaining agreement are announced, the new salary cap might drop down to $750,000 or perhaps even lower depending on how much of a pay cut the Founding Players agree to take.
No Salary Cap For Kolbotn I just found out some interesting news this morning about Bente Nordby's club team Kolbotn. Teams in the Norwegian "Toppserien" have no salary cap and can have 20-24 players on their roster. Last year Kolbotn decided to only have 20 players on their roster, but all of the players were on salary and the team's budget was 3.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK). At today's exchange rate of about 7 NOK for one U.S. dollar that mean's Kolbotn had a budget of about $500,000. I'll check back with my source and find out how much of that 500K was used for player salaries.