MLS Salaries: Some Folks Just Don't Get It

http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/galaxy/la-sp-soccer8may08,1,1603115.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-soccer-gal

More than a few commentators have blasted MLS as a "low cost league" by pointing out that developmental players on MLS squads can make as little $12,900 a year.

Ah, such short memories.

MLS didn't always pay so little but that's because the developmental player positions did not exist. Teams were limited to 18 players-- their depth was severely challenged on a regular basis. And if MLS teams did have any reserve players, they would have had few chances to play-- the reserve league wasn't even a glimmer in the league's eye. The league brass made the decision, with the full agreement of the players' union, that they were going to expand the rosters-- they made the decision to employ more soccer players-- these players were expected to be marginal players-- they wouldn't have made the old 18 man roster for any MLS teams. As such, they were going to be classified as "developmental" players and be paid quasi-internship wages. Critics of the program didn't balk at the low wages-- instead, they just assumed that any players uncovered by the program would be low-quality and wouldn't have any impact.

But a funny thing happened: some of these developmental players started banging in goals, like Herculez Gomez. Others started on their teams, and soon became league stars, like Bobby Boswell. Then the argument about the developmental players shifted: how could MLS actually be paying starters peanuts? Sure, Boswell and Gomez both renegotiated their deals, but it did take some time-- and not everyone is so lucky. But does this mean that we should pay all developmental players more?

NO.

I don't ever want to see the day when MLS doesn't have a few players on the payroll making $12,000. Let me explain: I'm not opposed to the players negotiating for whatever they can get. If we gave all current developmental players a 100% increase, that would be great, but only if we then expanded rosters to include a few more young players who only make $12k. Why? Because some players are so risky that they are only worth 12k. But, as we've seen with the developmental player program, some of those guys WILL develop into stars. If you eliminate 12k developmental slots on teams, those guys simply won't get picked up at all.

Some folks will say that paying players so little is automatically a black-eye for the league. Hardly: as Ivan Gazidis of MLS points out, developmental player salaries are equivalent to minor league baseball player salaries. Of course, Gazidis neglects to mention that if a minor leaguer gets called to the bigs, he automatically gets paid a Major League salary. Maybe some mechanism like that is the way forward for MLS: if a developmental player plays in a league game, he should be paid a pro-rated share of the senior roster minimum of $30,000. But for godsakes, don't eliminate the "minor league" ballplayers from the MLS pool-- just expand the opportunities in front of them.