As of today, two of the top nine picks from the 2014 MLS draft are retired.

On Wednesday, J.J. Koval told Twitter he was retiring to attend dental school. Koval is a Stanford grad and was drafted ninth overall in the 2014 draft by San Jose. He was mostly a bit player for the Quakes in two years, making 39 appearances as a steady if unremarkable holding midfielder before being released before the 2016 season started. After a brief run with USL side Sacramento Republic, Koval, it would seem, simply had enough of soccer.

Looking forward to moving on from soccer and working toward dental school! It’s been an great ride, but excited for what God has next. — JJ Koval (@jjkoval) December 21, 2016

A day later, on Thursday, Steve Neumann joined him. Neumann, like Koval, went all four years and was a highly prized attacking prospect out of Georgetown. New England took him at 4th overall in 2014, just above Koval, and he was more or less consigned to the bench. Neumann did make 36 appearances but was granted just five starts and never scored.

Whether or not Neumann is going to dental school is unclear (fingers crossed). But he’s certainly done with professional soccer.

After a lot of reflection I’ve decided to retire from professional soccer. Thanks to everyone who supported me and made me who I am today — Steve Neumann (@Steve_Neumann5) December 22, 2016

There will certainly be rivers of ink spilled in the digital byways about What This Means in the coming days and weeks. Two makes a trend, and two in two days is a notable occurrence. And in some ways it is a tacit admission that the college system has its utilities still. Ideally it’s a refuge for late bloomers, players who perhaps were not quite good enough to go pro or sign at 18 or 19 and want to straddle the line between a soccer career and a professional life in the Real World.

But the retirements of Koval and Neumann (and the players who would follow them) is ultimately a commentary on money. And namely how little of it MLS has to spend on its bottom tier.

The game will probably not mourn the loss of Koval and Neumann for long. Its citizens will wish them well in their future endeavors and simply go back to the soccer grindstone. Neumann, after all, didn’t have his option picked up by the Revs and Koval was out of MLS entirely. But the economics ultimately drove both to the decision. Both have degrees from respected universities, and the game here is not so wealthy that it can entice players on the fence to stay.

Neumann, as we know thanks to the last MLSPU salary dump, was making $62,500 annually. We’re not privy to USL salary numbers to know what Koval was making, but average players are estimated to earn around $2,000 per month, according to the Washington Post. Given that Neumann was without a club (and thus without a salary), he might’ve been forced into the USL to continue his career. On average, he may well have been looking at an annual somewhere between $24,000 and $30,000.

Asking Stanford and Georgetown grads to live below the poverty line is perhaps not all that sustainable.

Whether Koval or Neumann were “good enough” is largely beside the point (and I’d argue Neumann hardly got a fair shake in New England, but also beside the point). MLS is mostly unable to entice its brick-and-mortar working class players monetarily – the minimum salary is $51,500 – which means even better players who’ve been under-scouted (which is a shockingly large percentage of our American playing populace) are trading on the love of the game and hoping to ride a wave to an enhanced salary. The MLS average salary may be around $250K, but that’s propped up by insanely high DP salaries and obscures the fact that many college-educated players have quite a decision to make.