When the MLS Players Union released 2018 salary figures in late October, fans learned that Wayne Rooney, D.C. United’s prized mid-season acquisition, was earning a base salary of $2,776,730. Now, in documents obtained by The Athletic and interviews with people familiar with the deal, Rooney’s contract—which will earn him far more than that—is laid out in much greater detail.



A term sheet obtained by The Athletic puts Rooney’s guaranteed compensation over the entirety of his contract—which runs from June 15th of this year to the end of the 2021 season—at $12 million, an average of roughly $3.5 million per year. That number is boosted by a seven-year marketing agreement between Rooney and the team worth a guaranteed $2.5 million. And that’s just the beginning.



Rooney’s contract contains the possibility of multiple bonuses based on individual and team performance benchmarks that could be worth as much as $4.85...