Something's Gotta Give: MLS Salary Structure Needs Work

For all the praise that Major League Soccer has received following the introduction of a certain English superstar to their league, you would think something's got to give.

It has nothing to do with the newly energized interest in soccer or how attendance is booming at an all-time high, although these are things that American soccer fans can be proud of.

It has more to do with David Beckham and Andrea Lombardo. Or Claudio Reyna and Jeff Parke.

You might be thinking what exactly the above-mentioned names have in common. Or even further yet, be wondering who the hell Andrea Lombardo or Jeff Parke are. To answer your question, outside of the fact that they all play their club football in Major League Soccer, they really have nothing in common.

David Beckham is perhaps off shooting underwear photo shoots across America and Claudio Reyna is most likely living comfortably in New York as he finishes off his career in his native country.

It’s sure great to be a soccer player in America when you have the comfort after you’ve made "X" amount of dollars after a certain number of years. Of course, it’s easy to judge that when you know that David Beckham is making $6.5 million guaranteed a year while Reyna is making $1.265 million which is also guaranteed.

As for the other two I mentioned?

Well, they're a lot like you and me.

Of course, we often picture professional athletes swimming in their massive backyards with two maids ready to clean their $2 million mansion at any time, but for Lombardo or Parke, that’s hardly the case.

They’re just trying to make it through the day as a professional soccer player, both on and off the pitch, and they might be lucky if they can get a cab to that daily session of practice on a daily basis.

Maybe they might have already resorted to the classic man-powered two wheeled vehicle (that's a bike, if you didn't realize yet) in order to get to training and, to be honest, you'll never really see them pulling up in a luxury SUV in the stadium parking lot prior to a match.

Because after all, life isn’t so easy when you’re making the same kind of money as the manager at your local neighborhood McDonald's or Starbucks.

Jeff Parke has had the good fortune of making $58,737 this season despite having played 108 games for the Red Bulls in his four years in MLS. Coming straight out of college to play for New York, one would think his service to the club would be acknowledged with a higher salary.

Then again, there’s not all that much the New York management can do about it with a $2.3 million salary cap.

In Lombardo's case, he made $12,000 from his first season with Toronto FC despite contributing to the club as a "developmental player." While his salary has been bumped up to $33,000 for this year, one has to really wonder about the embarrassing gap between the richest and poorest players in the league.

While Beckham’s outrageous $6.5 million is standing head and shoulders above any other player in MLS, there are players making what Lombardo and Parke are making, believe it or not, in some cases even less.

46 players earn the league minimum (like Lombardo) with $33,000 while young developmental players are making anywhere from $12,900 to $17,000. The league average of salary has risen 12% but even with that the range between the rich and poor is still eye dropping.

It gets worse when you find out that nobody on Toronto FC is making more than the ball player making minimum wage at $380K in the MLB. Perhaps with the introduction of Laurent Robert this has changed but only Carl Robinson’s wage comes remotely close to the minimum.

Now, I’m not by any means saying that you’ll be confusing Lombardo’s name with Fernando Torres anytime soon but there’s a limit in terms of where we draw the line.

For a league that’s more than capable of shelling out the dough to exciting new foreign players, MLS has some work to do when it comes to providing for their own domestic talents.

Which brings about the need for a higher salary cap and greater compensation for the kids that might not be making enough when they come out of college. Some are even suggesting raising the salary cap to $4 million and raising the minimum wage drastically to meet the needs of a quickly developing league.

However, while MLS Commissioner Don Garber still acknowledges the problems with his current wage structure, he insists that it will take time before teams can really start to be competitive with the foreign leagues.

"The league is doing better, but don't forget that there has been massive amounts of money invested in this league to get to this point," Garber said.

"One good year does not a future make. We've got to ensure that we've got a good year this year and ensure that some of the teams we have that have struggled at the gate are able to pick it up."

Until then, Major League Soccer will still struggle to keep their home grown talent satisfied playing in America’s premier soccer league.

With their elite stars going off to other European countries and their unsung heroes being shunned with ridiculous wages, MLS has quite a dilemma on its hands.

There will eventually be a time when someone like Jozy Altidore or Maurice Edu attract interest from clubs that are willing to offer a lot more promise and money to play their soccer in other parts of the world.

There were already rumors circulating around Real Madrid’s interest to snap up Jozy Altidore at the U-20 World Cup in Canada last summer. We saw Clint Mathis and Pat Noonan leave on free transfers while Eddie Johnson eventually left as well for Fulham FC, although MLS did receive a decent sum for their elite striker.

As for the players on the bottom half of the spectrum, it's really not up for debate. There needs to be something done to the ridiculously low salaries if MLS is to progress collectively as a league.

Soccer in America really isn't just about David Beckham or Juan Pablo Angel or even the next big American prodigy. It's about the Jeff Parke's or Andrea Lombardo's who are willing to put their financial troubles behind them to chase their dreams as professional soccer players.