MLS Players Union periodically reveals MLS players salaries, representing an unique action in the football world, stating as two of the main arguments the fact that it allows a greater equity between players and rewards those who contribute more to the evolution of Major League Soccer, and the greater bargaining power of players gained through this entity
When the regular phase of the 2013 edition of Major League Soccer is taking place, Football Industry presents the top 20 salaries of the competition as well as the costs with salaries of each club (values ​​to May 1, 2013).
The 20 Highest-Paid 2013 MLS Players
In the table below, we present the 20 players with the highest annual base salaries of MLS in 2013. In this ranking there is a great predominance of players who made the most of their careers in Europe, as are the cases of Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane and Tim Cahill. We also observe a very significant difference between the highest-paid (Robbie Keane, 3.1 million Euros) and the 20th-ranked (Darren O’Dea, 239 000 Euros). In this table, 10 players are forwards, 7 are midfielders, 2 can play as fowards or midfielders, and one is a defender. Seattle Sounders is the most represented club with 3 players.
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Salaries of the 2013 MLS Clubs
When analyzing the clubs participating in the 2013 MLS, one can see a great disparity between the New York Red Bulls and La Galaxy and the other MLS clubs. However, this distance fell between October 2012 and May 2013. The average annual base salary per club is 3.2 million Euros and 110,000 Euros per player.
On the other hand, there is also a large disparity between the highest-paid player of the club and his teammates. This difference is very pronounced especially in the case of LA Galaxy in which 44% of their base salary belongs to Robbie Keane.
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Notes: (1) Data from May 1, 2013, (2) Exchange Rate May 31, 2013: 1 USD = 0.769470 EUR; (3) For the purposes of analysis and simplification we only considered the base salaries of the players.