The median salary for an LA Galaxy player is about six-times that of a somebody on the Crew.
That’s what Sporting Intelligence has published both at their site and in ESPN the magazine, though that may be the least interesting past of their huge data set they’ve collected.
The site has gathered salary data from a myriad of different leagues the world over: “football (soccer variety), basketball, baseball, cricket, gridiron (football variety), ice hockey, Aussie rules football”.
Before we get to more MLS data, here are some of their observations:The NBA remains the best-paid league overall per man, with average annual salaries of £2.65m a year, or £50,883 per player per week on average. The LA Lakers are the highest paying team in the NBA and the Indian Pacers the lowest, and the difference between the two is a ratio of 1.86 to 1.
This is tiny compared the ratio between the best paid and worst paid in Spain: 22.81 to 1. That is why Barcelona and Real Madrid are way head of everyone else in that league. Even the Scottish SPL is no longer as stretched as that (with a ratio of 19.18 to 1 between top and bottom).
Looks like MLS’s six to one isn’t bad at all.
The top 10 highest paid teams in world sport ...
| Rank | (last year) | Team | League | Avg. player pay $ per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (1) | Barcelona | La Liga | $8,680,569 |
| 2 | (2) | Real Madrid | La Liga | $7,796,637 |
| 3 | (10) | Manchester City | EPL | $7,403,754 |
| 4 | (6) | Chelsea | EPL | $6,795,899 |
| 5 | (4) | LA Lakers | NBA | $6,278,088 |
| 6 | (3) | New York Yankees | MLB | $6,186,322 |
| 7 | (14) | Milan | Serie A | $6,104,769 |
| 8 | (12) | Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | $5,907,652 |
| 9 | (13) | Philadelphia Phillies | MLB | $5,817,965 |
| 10 | (7) | Internazionale | Serie A | $5,700,915 |
... and the Major League Soccer data:
| Rank | (last year) | Team | League | Avg. player pay $ per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 219 | (222) | LA Galaxy | MLS | $555,799 |
| 222 | (218) | New York Red Bulls | MLS | $529,126 |
| 228 | (227) | Toronto FC | MLS | $321,959 |
| 251 | (270) | Chivas USA | MLS | $178,644 |
| 253 | (255) | Seattle Sounders | MLS | $173,024 |
| 255 | (250) | Philadelphia Union | MLS | $162,232 |
| 256 | (262) | FC Dallas | MLS | $157,387 |
| 257 | (-) | Vancouver Whitecaps | MLS | $150,092 |
| 258 | (259) | Real Salt Lake | MLS | $149,926 |
| 259 | (-) | Portland Timbers | MLS | $149,515 |
| 260 | (256) | Houston Dynamo | MLS | $147,882 |
| 261 | (226) | Chicago Fire | MLS | $145,521 |
| 262 | (257) | DC United | MLS | $141,307 |
| 263 | (258) | Colorado Rapids | MLS | $127,457 |
| 264 | (253) | New England Revolution | MLS | $125,802 |
| 265 | (260) | San Jose Earthquakes | MLS | $120,802 |
| 266 | (-) | Montreal Impact | MLS | $118,464 |
| 267 | (254) | Sporting Kansas City | MLS | $116,786 |
| 278 | (252) | Columbus Crew | MLS | $89,369 |
Really, Columbus?
But then again, maybe Columbus is onto something (no, not really). Check out the first and third sports above them on the list.
Here’s another way to look at the data:
It all looks nice and friendly until you get to that big three on the right.
One other representation:
Like what Toronto does to that curve? Not that it really matters. The season isn’t old enough to make this chart more than something fun to look at (for those that can harken back to their college stats classes, I kept the R2 value there, though).
Check out these links for more info, and don’t be afraid to give the people some money:
ESPN the Magazine: Highest-paying teams in the world
Sporting Intelligence: REVEALED: The world’s best paid teams, Man City close in on Barca and Real Madrid