MLS bargain agreement increases wages

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The Major League Soccer (MLS) Collective Bargaining Agreement has improved player’s salaries significantly over the course of the past year, according to the latest reports. Over 30% of players are now earning over US$70,000 a year, an increase of more than 10%from last year. The number of players earning more than US$100,000 increased from forty-six in 2004 to sixty four in 2005. Twenty-seven players are now earning the minimum salary agreed to in the agreement which increased by US$4000 to US$28,000. However, another eighty-five players are earning betweenUS$11,000 and US$16,000 as reserve or developmental players.

The top players earn significantly more, even though it still falls some way short of European standards. Landon Donovan, who recently returned to the MLS after a spell with Bayer Leverkusen of the Bundesliga, is the highest paid, earning $900,000 per year. Manchester United target Eddie Johnson earns $875,000 while teenage

phenomenon Freddy Adu makes $550,000. These figures include base salary, signing bonuses and any other incentives according to the individual players contract. Bob Foose, chief executive of the MLS Players Association, is pleased that compensation is increasing but is more concerned with the difference in salaries

between top earners and developmental players. “I don’t want to see the high-end salaries increase if there is going to be a squeezing of the lower end,’ he said. The salary disparity is evident among teams also.

The LA Galaxy and FC Dallas, home to Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson respectively, have payrolls of just over US$2.5m a year while the New England Revolution spends only US$1.2m on player’s salaries. Foose blames the single entity structure of the league, whereby the league owns all player contracts and pays their

wages, for this difference. He refers to it as a ‘huge drag on the league’ and claims ‘it is time for single entity to go away’. MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis, meanwhile, argues that the single entity structure keeps the league competitive and that payrolls will converge over time.