Posted by

Aaron Nielsen ,

April 14, 2014 Email

Aaron Nielsen



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@ENBSports

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This past week, the MLS Players Union announced the updated 2014 player salaries for all players in the league. See: 2014 MLS Players Union salary information Since no other soccer league in the world does this, it can potentially be a great resource and is always a popular talking piece for people who write about MLS, as it seems to give a better view of player evaluation. For the most part sports, including soccer, allows itself for greater evaluation than most aspects in life and even without knowing salaries of players, one can assume what a player is paid is based on experience and performance. The last few years I worked with "ESPN the Magazine" for their Money Issue in finding salaries for players from leagues that is not public. However, based on transfer fees and perceived value, after talking with agents and league officials the assumed salaries is in the same range to what the player actually makes, so the list of the top MLS players is as expected. like I said as a player and continue to as an alumni...don't pay attention to those @MLS salaries not "True" numbers for many. — Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) April 10, 2014 In my conversations with people directly involved with MLS they take these numbers less serious and feel they are not as accurate as they are supposed to be. Even ESPN pundit and former MLS player Taylor Twelemen tweeted "like I said as a player and continue to as an alumni...don't pay attention to those @MLS salaries not "True" numbers for many" Personally, I don't care how much each player individually makes. They worked hard to get to this level and deserve what they negotiate for themselves, and arguably when looking at the numbers you feel sorry for players making a reported $36,500, especially ones who skipped or left college early to play in MLS. That being said, since the league is run by a salary cap system (in name more than literally though) what players are paid is imperative in understanding how teams are managing themselves. Comparing them to the league agreed upon salary cap, and all other sport leagues with salary caps, also make salaries available to help make the league and its rules more legit. If you look at the salaries, and especially compare them to the salaries from previous seasons, there are many aspects that are a bit confusing. The main one being players who are playing key roles with their clubs, yet taking a cut in salary, while other players have seen salaries increase almost four times what they were paid the season before. Using Toronto FC as an example last season the general view was Stefan Frei was expendable this off season, not because of his quality of play but because he was too expensive. Especially when looking at the fact Joe Bendik and Chris Konopka were on minimum wage salaries, so under MLS rules the money TFC was paying them didn't count against the cap. However, if we look at the new salary numbers Toronto are paying Julio Cesar $192,000, Joe Bendik $140,000, and Chris Konopka $60,000 – so for 2014 $392,000 against the cap compared to Stefan Frei $150,000 against the cap and guarantee money. Overall, Toronto FC is paying $454,560 in guaranteed fees for keepers this season, which seems high for a club with depth issues that has recently come back to bite them. Could this be the first criticism of Tim Bezbatchenko someone who came from the league office and worked directly with player salaries? If we look at Toronto FC’s roster, as expected Dwayne De Rosario did take a significant pay cut of close to $400,000. At the same time, the other new signings Jackson and Justin Morrow are making $60,000 and $40,000 respectably more than the season before. There been pay increases across the board for returning players, including very large ones for Jonathan Osorio (who I'm assuming is on a HGP contract and not counting against the cap) and Steve Caldwell, who is making close to four times what he was listed to making the season before. While other teams who are expected to compete this year, such as Seattle and Portland, have a number of new and returning players making less then what was listed in 2013. The other Canadian teams could be criticized for over spending as well. Vancouver players also got increases including Nigel Reo-Coker making $446,500 after just making $200,000 last season. David Ousted, Andy O'Brian and Gershon Koffie getting fairly large wages, while Matias Laba is now listed as making $100,000 more than he was with Toronto, and new signing Steve Beitashour who was only making $49,613 in San Jose now makes $177,166 with the Whitecaps. If you look at cap space set out by MLS, not including DP money over the cap hit, Vancouver are actually spending the most money in the league, which might cause them issues in the future in terms of keeping players. Finally, Montreal as expected are very top heavy with large salaries going to Piscu, who has hardly played a game, and players such as Hassoun Camara and Collen Warner getting large raises, although the new salaries list provided might explain the recent McInerney for Wenger trade. Player-wise, especially in the forward position, I think McInerney is the better player and counting only $125,000 against the cap last season the move seem to be a great pickup by the Impact. However, the 2014 salaries show McInerney is guarantee almost $300,000 this season, so I think the question becomes not if he is going to leave the club for Europe next year but should the Impact pay him max salary to have him with the club long term. Although the biggest issue in relation to salary is the league itself. If these numbers are not correct the question is why? Even if they are not, I still see these numbers as a reflection on how the league and teams evaluate players, which means if anybody looks foolish in their analysis compared to the salary numbers, it's been the league official media itself. As a preview for the the MLS season, I did an article regarding the new players who were joining the league. I wrote highly about new signings such as Bradley, Edu, Parkhurst, Ishizaki and Nogueira, and if you look how these players have been performing, they are being paid well according the list of 2014 salaries. Meanwhile I had concerns for players such as Mezquida, Bautista, and Paparatto; players who are being paid below the average salary of the league. I was most critical of the Montreal Impact Santiago Gonzalez saying he had no presence on my football radar and low and behold he is only making $50,000 this season, which is only $1500 more than backup Canadian home grown keeper Maxime Crepeau, who probably will not even get a game this season. The salaries reflect my pre-season evaluation and for me at least things begin to make sense. However, for the average MLS fan, when these players were signed the league and teams wrote in-depth articles with quotes on what a pedigree these players have and the influence they will have on the league this season. These were articles that were essentially giving fans false hope and unrealistic evaluations of their team and new signings. Going forward I would suggest instead of salaries made public by the Union, MLS itself should release salaries, as well as potential transfer fees when the player is signed, to give a better representation of what one should expect from the player. As discussed many times before, disclosure by MLS will only benefit the league because people who are following and writing about them only want the best for it. However, being secretive and fudging the truth will only hurt the league, as eventually even basic journalism or analysis will find the truth.