I jusr read a Boston Globe article about Taylor Twellman possibly heading overseas. The article said Twellman makes the MLS minimum which is below 30k a year. OUCH!! I had heard the upper end was somewhere between 100k and 125k and thought a guy like Landon Donovan could make several hundred thousand more through endorsement deals with Nike and maybe a few other companies and enjoy life in the US playing soccer and making a combined salary of probably 200-300k?? a year. That kind of deal will keep some star americans here if they want the luxury of staying in the US. But if the salary scale is that low it is obvious why the young guys develop here and go overseas. I'm just guessing because my mind is permantly ruined by hearing salaries of NFL,MLB,NBA players but I am guessing the overseas teams will pay these guys more than 30k a year to play on a development team. Heck I know a guy who played on a local team in England a few years back and while I don't know what he got paid I do know the town treated him and the others like royalty, no rent etc. So while we hope that we can keep our star players here in the MLS I don't think we can expect them all to make the finacial sacrifice. I'm guessing a guy like Donovan who can make the endorsement money may stick around and I guess Brian McBride just enjoys it in the US, hopefully more are like that.
First off, this is a bit off-topic for the DCU board... but not by much. Secondly, you have to understand that Twellman is somewhat of special case. He basically told MLS to go screw and went over to Germany to pursue his career. He languished on the bench for 1860 and came back to MLS (a bit hat-in-hand). So, MLS decided to make an example of the guy (IMO) and gave him league minimum. Rest-assured, if MLS wants to keep the guy, they'll have to pay him. Or he'll leave and try Europe again. In Twellman's case, think of the $30,000 as an investment, not his salary. He gambled that he would do well and that writing this year off (from a salary perspective) was worth the gamble.
League max is $265K. A few players (like Etcheverry and Valderamma) have league sponsored deals with advertisers that boost their salary to around $350K. Players also get playoff money (a max of $30-40K if you win it all I think). A few, a very few, have endorsement deals (Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Marco Etcheverry) and make additional money. Some players get money for appearing on the National team (WC this year was very good money b/c of the Quarters appearance but you also get money for appearing in friendlies). Going on loan--additional money. But when it's all said and done. About 2/3rds of DC United's roster is being paid $40K or less this year. Minimum salary for vets is around $30K. Minimum salary for college rookies is a little over $20K I believe (could be wrong about that). This year, the league added a "developmental" player designation on rosters in which players get even less (it's assumed they are local and are living at home or have second jobs--they're used to fill out practices and provide "depth"). Most of the players MLS teams cut in the offseason won't be b/c those people can't play. Any team in the world wouldn't mind having a Richie Williams as a sub and practice player (even if he never got into a game--his value inpractice is great). But in MLS, you can get someone who can do what he does (and with more skill) for half of what he's being paid. Especially if you look in the Caribean or Central America. That is part of the reason there are so few Mexican players in MLS. Mexican teams pay better (and you've even had cases of Americans--Wynalda, Sorber, Coiiman--going to Mexico to play or onloan in part for those reasons). Most Mexican players would be taking paycuts to come here.
It is true that the minimum salaries in MLS are AMAZINGLY low. The real travesty about the bottom-end salaries are that they are the same in KC as LA/NY/DC etc. But you must realize that the Twellman situation is almost a total fluke. He signed at the bottom-dollar salary and has performed better than anyone in the league save Ruiz. You can be certain that there is a major salary offer on his doorstep as we speak from MLS. It is also probable that he could be using the "overseas" thing as negotiation. The upper end is actually something like 275,000. Only a few players per team make near the max. In fact, DC probably has the most players of any squad that are around max salary (at 3). These days, the league's teams seem to shy away BIG TIME from acquiring anyone near max salary. During the NFL Players Association lawsuit (yes, the NFL Players sued MLS) it was revealed that MLS spent WAY more than the league max on a handful of players, such as Jorge Campos, Lothar, Marco, El Pibe, etc. They did so with perks, like houses/apartments, cars, etc. Cobi Jones renegotiated a contract several years back to attempt to obtain a "Campos" contract...I don't know if he was successful or not. Just to give you an idea about salaries...here is pretty much how DC United's players break down (some are known, most are guesses): Marco 270,000 Eddie 270,000 Jaime 270,000 Olsen 140,000 Amman 110,000 (doesn't count towards cap) Reyes 90,000 Williams 80,000 Rimando 80,000 Convey 70,000 McKinley 60,000 Prideaux 50,000 Nelsen 50,000 Alavanja 45,000 Quaranta 40,000 Curtis 30,000 Alegria 30,000 Mapp 30,000 Quintanilla ?? (only on roster for a few games) Zambrano ?? (only on roster for a few games) I'm probably +/- 10,000 or so off on the middle tier guys, but the top and bottom ones are pretty accurate, I think. Tim
The league minimum has always been disgustingly low. I'm surprised Twellman's agent couldn't get more for him with the hype about him even coming in, but I'd be surprised if talk of Europe is much more than negotiating banter at this point. League max is, unless I have missed something, about twice what you're talking (~$200-250), and sponsorship deals go on top of that. So it was generally understood that Marco , for instance, was making about $500K all told at one point. Problem is, you get young guys like Twellman (or Convey) coming along who have to get popped up in salary pretty fast if you want to keep them (otherewise, as you say, they *will* go overseas, though if someone really wants to get into a bidding war with MLS, MLS can't win). At the same time, you have the league vets who are still around and playing pretty well (the others have retired), and you can't cut them too far back. And the prepospterously immovable salary cap crushes the top and bottom together. So actually the most in-demand players are the guys in the middle, journeymen who won't ask too much.
Its good to see I was off on the upper end. We can say things as fans like "I'd stay in the states and make 200-400k to play soccer and advance the game for my country" but we aren't in a position to go make that kind of money somewhere else. I just think for the good of MLS and for the league to grow in fan base we need guys like Donovan and Twellman to stick around. But really with the MNT doing well and getting a lot of hype anyone that suits up for the Nats would improve the MLS' outlook to US soccer fans or potential soccer fans. Man at 270 a year Marco and Moreno need to go! or atleast become victims of the NFL scam of cutting a guy and then offering him much less money to return.
It's one of the weird parts of the league that there are people in the stands making more money than the players. In fact, a lot of the people in the stands are making more money than a lot of the players. You don't see that as much in other professional sports in the US.