Bet you make more than these pro-athletes. Soccer America is listing the salaries of MLS players circulated by the player’s union. While similar figures have been available in other sports, this is the first time American soccer fans are seeing them. Previously, the players were organized in an association and were suing the league over its single-entity structure wherein the league, not teams, owned a player’s contract.
On the bottom end of the scale, more than 80 players earn less than $50,000 in salary, including Los Angles forward Carlos Ruiz.
NOTE: there are roughly 220 players in MLS.
A sad truth in the States are the paltry, at least compared to NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL players, salaries paid to MLS players. While I’m not advocating multi-million dollar salaries, they can be very low when you factor in that the average career of a pro-soccer player is 15-20 years at the most. Sure, the very talented players can always go to Europe to make more money but a lot of players for one reason or another, talent/qualifications/etc, will spend their entire careers at home.