First things first: last night was awesome, destroying Mexican club Atlante 4-0 at Robertson. Simply awesome. Here are B-Fall's player grades. Nearly all A's, but just short even after a 4-0 win?
We got goals from both forwards (DeRo and Mullan) and two from our attacking midfielder (yup, that's Holden, who serves when DeRo is not in). Cameron served up two assists, Davis served up one free kick assist, and Barrett threaded one through for Holden's fabulous second goal.
Holden, Mullan, and Cameron were men of the match with their tireless play. Atlante were obviously in pre-season form, but let's hope this match serves as the catalyst for a great second half of the season for these three MIO, and for the team as a whole.
But first we have to face Chivas Guadalajara. They look to be in better form than Atlante. I didn't see all of their match versus DC United, but their 2-1 victory seemed to be due to a lot of luck, with DCU hitting the post hard on two occasions and missing a PK (Jaime Moreno, at that!) late in the game. Still, although they didn't look dominant, they looked better than Atlante did versus us, and we'll have to face them without DeRo.
This is the second match in a row (and maybe the fourth this season) where I thought "What the hell is DeRo doing? Is he trying to get kicked out?" Last week at Salt Lake he instigated a pushing and pointing match and he did the same last night. He didn't even get a warning in Salt Lake, but the SuperLiga ref wasn't having any of those childish shenanigans and sent DeRo off. What DeRo did was not deserving of a red card, but when you engage in tom-foolery (senseless tom-foolery at that), you take your fate out of your own hands and put it into someone else who might be capricious with it. If you want to control your destiny, act like a man.
So it seems ERob isn't the only hot-head we have on the team. DeRo has shown his temper on multiple occasions. My question: is it getting more frequent? Is there a cause? Is the increased hacking and double-teaming frustrating him and building up his irritibility?
Finally, hooray for the MLS Players Union, who is calling out the MLS. It seems the league is more than happy to market SuperLiga as having a "One Million Dollar Pot" if it sells tickets and hype, but only as long as they don't have to give that money to the players that have earned that money for the MLS and generate the revenues for the league every week. It seems that in the US, the pot is actually only $150,000 for MLS players, or just over $5,350 per player on a 28-man roster. The MLS struggles with credibility from soccer fans and sports fans in general. Improving the quality on the field and opening up the bureaucracy to the light of day would both go a long way towards improving credibility. Giving players what they earn, especially when the league itself hypes the amount, would help improve the motivation of those on the field and reduce the impression that the MLS is a Soviet-style apparat. Red card goes to the MLS on this one.
Showing posts with label Salaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salaries. Show all posts
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Green ain't just on the Pitch
There's been much scuttlebutt today about MLS salaries now that the Major League Soccer Players Union has made the information public. Basically, the data says what we already knew: young reserve players have to scrimp by, and there are some well paid athletes who would be on the bottom of the scale in other countries or other sports.
The Union has revealed the players' base salary and their guaranteed compensation. The base salary is self-explanatory. The guaranteed compensation is explained this way:
The annual average guaranteed compensation number includes a player's base salary and all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized over the term of the player's contract, including option years. For example, if a player has a base salary of $50,000, has a two-year contract with two one-year options and received a $10,000 bonus when he signed, his average annual guaranteed compensation would be $52,500 (base salary plus signing bonus ($10,000), with the signing bonus divided by the number of years covered by the contract (4)). The average annual guaranteed compensation number also includes any annual marketing bonus to be received in the current year and any agent's fees annualized over the term of the contract. The average annual guaranteed compensation figure does not include performance bonuses because there is no guarantee that the player will hit those bonuses.
Figures include income only from a player's MLS contract, and not from any deals he may have with his team or its affiliates.
There are 356 players in the league. The average guaranteed salary is $115,478 and the median -- the point at which an equal amount make above and below -- is $52,965. Nearly three-quarters of the players have base salaries of $100,000 or less. Thirty-two players earn the league minimum of $30,000, and developmental players get even less: 35 make $17,700 and 56 get $12,900.
Here are the top 10 paid MLSers this year. Claudio Reyna is the highest paid American, and exactly half of the top 10 is imported talent.
How do the Dynamo fare? Mulrooney and Ching are the highest paid players. DeRosario, still negotiating his raise, is fifth on the list. The average guaranteed salary is $83,724 and the median is $85,000. Wondo and new recruit John-Michael Hayden earn the minimum $30K (Holden makes only $1,500 more than the minimum) and we have two at $17,700 and six at $12,900. So, approximately 30% of the team makes less than $20K.
We have nine players (Ianni, who is a Generation Adidas player, and the sub-$20K group) who are Developmental players and don't count towards the salary cap. That means the 18 rostered players put the team at $2,001,549 in base salary. (Which is just over the $2MM cap, but some say the cap is $2.4MM. Hmm.)
Players' salaries have been a topic that's been beaten to death, but I'll join in on the horse-beating nonetheless. I understand the league's desire to remain solvent by limiting expenses, but I wholeheartedly agree with the argument that the salary minimum should be bumped up so players can make a living and so the sport can become a more attractive option for athletes.
The salaries for Developmental players are going to kids who are college age or just out of college. Starting salaries in the job market (outside of sports, where one has to work instead of play) wouldn't be very lucrative usually, particularly for the poor Liberal Arts major. In fact, the Developmental salaries are comparable to those of Minor League baseball. Still, increasing their pay to $26,000 would allow them to survive while they learn to play the professional game, and shouldn't put the MLS in dire financial straits. This would be approximately a doubling of the salary of 91 players (just over double for 56, just under double for 35). In lieu of increasing the salary of Developmental players, they could be offered assistance for living and travel expenses. The assistance wouldn't have to be monetary -- it could be a team-paid apartment reserved for the Developmental roster to share. Perhaps these players already receive something like this. The salary list includes only salary, not bonuses or any deals players may have with their team or its affiliates.
For rostered players, I think the salary should be bumped up to $50,000. That won't make the players rich, but would put them in the range of middle management salaries (but they get to play a game rather than deal with corporate shenanigans). The pay would provide a solid motivator to improve one's skills to move out of the Developmental level.
To truly help the quality of the league, the stars need to be justly compensated. I like the idea of salary caps as a way to instill parity into the league, but I look forward to the day when the cap is increased to allow the stars to get paid more (while giving the young and developing players a livable wage). MLS has been increasing the cap gradually over the years, and this should continue as revenues increase. To do otherwise is to sacrifice quality to protect parity.
The Union has revealed the players' base salary and their guaranteed compensation. The base salary is self-explanatory. The guaranteed compensation is explained this way:
The annual average guaranteed compensation number includes a player's base salary and all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized over the term of the player's contract, including option years. For example, if a player has a base salary of $50,000, has a two-year contract with two one-year options and received a $10,000 bonus when he signed, his average annual guaranteed compensation would be $52,500 (base salary plus signing bonus ($10,000), with the signing bonus divided by the number of years covered by the contract (4)). The average annual guaranteed compensation number also includes any annual marketing bonus to be received in the current year and any agent's fees annualized over the term of the contract. The average annual guaranteed compensation figure does not include performance bonuses because there is no guarantee that the player will hit those bonuses.
Figures include income only from a player's MLS contract, and not from any deals he may have with his team or its affiliates.
There are 356 players in the league. The average guaranteed salary is $115,478 and the median -- the point at which an equal amount make above and below -- is $52,965. Nearly three-quarters of the players have base salaries of $100,000 or less. Thirty-two players earn the league minimum of $30,000, and developmental players get even less: 35 make $17,700 and 56 get $12,900.
Here are the top 10 paid MLSers this year. Claudio Reyna is the highest paid American, and exactly half of the top 10 is imported talent.
How do the Dynamo fare? Mulrooney and Ching are the highest paid players. DeRosario, still negotiating his raise, is fifth on the list. The average guaranteed salary is $83,724 and the median is $85,000. Wondo and new recruit John-Michael Hayden earn the minimum $30K (Holden makes only $1,500 more than the minimum) and we have two at $17,700 and six at $12,900. So, approximately 30% of the team makes less than $20K.
We have nine players (Ianni, who is a Generation Adidas player, and the sub-$20K group) who are Developmental players and don't count towards the salary cap. That means the 18 rostered players put the team at $2,001,549 in base salary. (Which is just over the $2MM cap, but some say the cap is $2.4MM. Hmm.)
Players' salaries have been a topic that's been beaten to death, but I'll join in on the horse-beating nonetheless. I understand the league's desire to remain solvent by limiting expenses, but I wholeheartedly agree with the argument that the salary minimum should be bumped up so players can make a living and so the sport can become a more attractive option for athletes.
The salaries for Developmental players are going to kids who are college age or just out of college. Starting salaries in the job market (outside of sports, where one has to work instead of play) wouldn't be very lucrative usually, particularly for the poor Liberal Arts major. In fact, the Developmental salaries are comparable to those of Minor League baseball. Still, increasing their pay to $26,000 would allow them to survive while they learn to play the professional game, and shouldn't put the MLS in dire financial straits. This would be approximately a doubling of the salary of 91 players (just over double for 56, just under double for 35). In lieu of increasing the salary of Developmental players, they could be offered assistance for living and travel expenses. The assistance wouldn't have to be monetary -- it could be a team-paid apartment reserved for the Developmental roster to share. Perhaps these players already receive something like this. The salary list includes only salary, not bonuses or any deals players may have with their team or its affiliates.
For rostered players, I think the salary should be bumped up to $50,000. That won't make the players rich, but would put them in the range of middle management salaries (but they get to play a game rather than deal with corporate shenanigans). The pay would provide a solid motivator to improve one's skills to move out of the Developmental level.
To truly help the quality of the league, the stars need to be justly compensated. I like the idea of salary caps as a way to instill parity into the league, but I look forward to the day when the cap is increased to allow the stars to get paid more (while giving the young and developing players a livable wage). MLS has been increasing the cap gradually over the years, and this should continue as revenues increase. To do otherwise is to sacrifice quality to protect parity.
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