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A convo between a buddy and I regarding the Kristian Dyer Article, a “from college to the pros” blog post and this subject overall…

You probably saw the actual article. Thought it was pretty interesting,

What American College Players Have To Look Forward To…

I want to call my readers’ attention to this article by Kristian Dyer on ESPNsoccernet. Odds are, you are an avid soccer reader and saw it before my blog, but that is neither here nor there.

Kristian brings up the MLS developmental contract situation for us all to ponder further, however this time there is a real example in Jay Needham. I’m glad Dyer checked in with Needham, I was wondering how life was treating him in USL. Sounds like things are going well and he is earning a good, living wage.

That is what I really take away from Dyer’s story. MLS needs to figure out how to pay these kids a living wage so that they don’t feel the need to work multiple jobs taking them away from improving at soccer. That is what the developmental contract is all about, right? How is MLS justifying forcing its young players to get second jobs and not focus 100% on the sport they’re employed to play? That doesn’t add up.

Here is what does add up. The 2007 developmental salary is $12,900 for the lowest and $17,700 for the second tier. We all agree, peanuts. What is holding the league back from making the minimum salary $35,000/year regardless of status? At most that is an increase of $22,100/player. If the entire developmental team was made up of $12,900 players then that is an increase to the salary cap of $221,000 per team (not all developmental players on a team are making the min, so the increase could be less.)

Is $221,000 going to break a team’s bank? No. To take it further, let’s see who earned that much on their own in 2007:

Fred in DC: $222,008

Chris Armas in Chicago: $225,000

Pat Noonan in New England: $227,500

Jeff Cunningham in Toronto: $232,500

Richard Mulrooney in Houston: $233,200

Greg Vanney in DC: $236,667

Ante Razov in CA: $248,750

Ronnie O’Brien in Toronto: $258,750

Eddie Pope in SLC: $265,000

Jamie Moreno in DC: $275,000

Amando Guevera in ????: $291,250

Luciano Emilio in DC: $293,125

Pablo Mastroeni in Colorado: $298,000

Carl Robinson in Toronto: $315,000

Taylor Twellman in NE: $350,008

Clint Mathis in NY: $410,000

Carlos Ruiz in Dallas: $435,000

Freddy Adu in SLC (before Portugal): $550,000

Eddie Johnson in KC: $875,000

Landon Donovan in LA: $900,000

Claudio Reyna in NY: $1,250,008

Juan Pablo Angel in NY: $1,593,750

Blanco in Chicago: $2,666,778

Beckham in LA: $6,500,000

The question in my eyes becomes: Are 10 potential league players worth one Fred, one Chris Armas, one Eddie Pope? If you are trying to improve the sport in the US then the answer had better be yes! I’m not trying to make a comparison between one star and 10 potential stars. And most of the guys earning $12,900 aren’t breaking down the door to a starting spot, but what if they’re busting their hump at a day job and not producing on the field because they are working two jobs? The salary is actually doing them a disservice.

At the start of the season there were 56 guys making $12,900 and 36 making $17,700. That has no doubt changed as some players have been promoted to senior players and some have left the league. Upgrading all of those players to a good coming out of college salary of $35,000 would cost the league $1,860,400. Somewhere inbetween Blanco and Angel. That is $1,860,400 for 92 players to be able to concentrate only on soccer, 100% of the time. As teams sign sponsorship deals, increase the cost of season tickets, charge more for parking and food, they should be able to find that as loose change. MLS needs to remember that it is here to grow the sport and improve American soccer players. It needs to continue to invest in player growth, and that will continue to be hampered while these low salaries are payed to 26% of the league’s employees.

My reply:

Valid argument, no doubt about it (Needham is a quality player too). It is an issue that needs to continue to be addressed and MLS knows this. It is constantly being monitored by Ivan Gazidis (the MLS COO pretty much). However, as with most things, you can’t simply look at numbers; and in the actual Kristian Dyer article he brings up the “prefaces” that are necessary to the overwhelming statistical figures which clearly state something is wrong. MLS is in uncharted waters. The last time a pro league was in the states it crumbled because it was fiscally irresponsible and greatly overextended itself. Dyer points this out in saying:

“The league has earned a reputation as being thrifty and rightfully so. As a growing body, MLS is wise to use its single-entity status to check growth and carefully expand, both in terms of size and fiscal responsibilities.”

And while its not fair (yet) to compare our youth development programs to those of European or south American nations who have not only been doing this for the better part of a century (compared to the 11 year old MLS) but also are billion dollar organizations under there own cap.

And as for the domestic comps of other sports; MLS’ figures aren’t too far off, as Dyer quotes Gazidis in defending the developmental program:

“The salaries are comparable to those in minor league baseball or the NBA development league and are at levels that were proposed to us by the MLS Players’ Union in the context of our collective bargaining and agreed to by us.”

With that said, I agree with the writer that something needs to be done. And I think Ivan Gazidis will tell you the same thing because at the end of the day (as Dyer points out):

“If MLS can’t sign a player like Needham — a collegiate standout who wanted to play in the league — to a contract that allows him both an affordable wage and the ability to concentrate solely on his soccer career, something is wrong. And no matter how many superstars sign with MLS, the standard of play will suffer.”

So again, as with many things, there needs to be a happy medium, a balance, moderation. The issue needs to be addressed and the salaries need to get better, but at the same time the health (financial health especially) of the league must be maintained first and foremost. I think you’ll see this issue get better in the next few years. MLS has made it no secret that one of their main priorities is the development of home-grown talent and they are fully aware of the “Jay Needhams” out there and the issues surrounding the current developmental league. With the infusion of capital that seems to be on the horizon as the league takes some big steps in these next few years, look for this topic to be one of the first addressed.

With that said, I think its good that these articles are being written as it is imperative that the current situation be improved upon; but let us not forget the big picture and those who have gone before us (NASL).

His response:

We are bankers…what do we look at besides numbers? All jokes aside, I think MLS has done a great job of being intelligent and conservative enough to grow the league even when it meant taking a few steps back to take a leap forward. The curious thing to me is merely timing. This is such a low risk (capex compared to what they are starting to spend on these star players) move for them with huge potential to develop some future stars and I think in the worst case to raise the floor of talent in MLS (not sure if that wording makes sense). In other words why not spend less that a couple hundred K to raise the overall quality of play in the league and to have a more polished product for when the world spotlight goes on after you start signing superstars.

From a domestic comp perspective I think this would be more like practice squad NFL players (although my perception is that among the developmental players there are more players who have the ability to be more than just future reserves on the next level). The min they get paid $80k a year although teams have started to offer more in order to incentivize players to sign with them and they also can get signing bonuses. On the minor league baseball level, it is unfair to compare salaries when a player picked in a comparable round will receive a couple hundred grand as a signing bonus. Don’t know much about the NBA D-League but I think it is better to comp the developmental players to D-league players who are designated by NBA teams as opposed to D-league free agents (think they have NBA contracts or at least get paid more).

I think this will change in the very near future but it’s just interesting that it hasn’t happened yet given the low risk profile. I guess you kind of have to turn back the clock to a year or two years ago and fiscal conservativism on this level made more sense. Since then the league has grown so quickly that not all aspects have caught up with it.

My reply:

Well said. I agree. As you pointed out, MLS has taken such strides (light years almost) in recent years that not all of the aspects of the league are caught up yet; understandable considering where they were 5 years ago, completing a two-team contraction and tightening their fiscal policies even more to make sure they stayed afloat (the league has gone from 3 owners of 10 teams in 2002 to 11 owners of 14 teams today). A well-structured youth developmental league was a luxury they couldn’t afford to be dealing with at the time due to more necessary issues. Kind of like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (if you will), you have to tend to the foundation first.

As far as your comments on the domestic comps, great points, I agree, there is certainly a case there.

And again, as you said: with where the league stands now though, I think it is something that they can finally afford to deal with and improve upon. In fact, I think we would both agree that it is something they probably can’t afford not to deal with. MLS board of governors meeting is held in November. Hopefully it is one of the first items on the agenda.

“What you have got in the States is that a lot of kids are playing football in the States and there is nowhere to go,” he said. “The best American players go to Europe very early, like Brad Friedel (at Blackburn), (Brian) McBride and (Clint) Dempsey at Fulham. That situation doesn’t help the American game.” – Alex Ferguson

Hey Asshole!! Yeah, you Ferguson, What do these players have in common? They all plyed in MLS with some unknown keeper named Tim something?. Oh, and Mcbride and Friedel leaving early!!!?? I know you are getting up there in age but you should be below thirty as in Mcbride’s case befor making your move. Arrogant, Arrogant fucking Brits!! If it wasn’t for 1966 I would put them in the same class as Poland!!
thank you and sorry