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Players in Major League Soccer are not happy with MLS salaries, according to a recent survey conducted by ESPNFC.
The survey, taken by 123 active MLS players under the guise of anonymity, asked questions about the league on whole, the USMNT, and more, and one of the largest themes to arise from the answers is a dissatisfaction with salaries.
To the question, “are MLS players being paid fairly,” 84% responded “no,” 8% responded “yes,” and a further 8% responded “not sure.”
When asked what is one thing they would change about the MLS if they were commissioner for a day, 44% responded “salaries.” That 44% was more than double the next most frequent responses of “Other” (19%) and "Free Agency" (17%).
While the survey never explicitly asked if players think they should get paid more, it is hard to imagine 88% of players looking at their paychecks and thinking to themselves, “No, this is unfair, it’s too much.”
The MLS players union releases the salaries of all of MLS players every year, and looking at the 2015 release, it is easy to see why so many players think that the pay structure is unfair.
There seems to be a majority of players in the $50,000-$60,000 range, a less populated tier of players in the $100,000-$300,000 range and then the designated players (the players whose salaries aren’t counted against their teams’ salary caps by the league) at the $1,000,000 to $7,000,000 range.
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For instance, designated player Kaka made over $7 million in base compensation in 2015. That is around $3 million more than the combined base compensations of the other 30 players on Orlando City’s pay roll.
Yes, Kaka sells shirts and puts butts in seats, but is he really worth that much more than the rest of the team?
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