Here are Major League Soccer's team payrolls for this season, in chart that Jeremiah at Sounder at Heart put together.
Total Median <$100K
| New York | 15.7m | 97k | 13 |
| Los Angeles | 11m | 99k | 12 |
| Chicago | 5.7m | 100k | 13 |
| Toronto | 5.2m | 93k | 12 |
| Kansas City | 2.9m | 110k | 15 |
| Dallas | 2.9m | 80k | 14 |
| Columbus | 2.9m | 112k | 12 |
| DC | 2.9m | 81k | 11 |
| Seattle | 2.9m | 73k | 9 |
| New England | 2.9m | 71k | 9 |
| Philadelphia | 2.7m | 119k | 13 |
| Colorado | 2.7m | 80k | 10 |
| Salt Lake | 2.6m | 90k | 12 |
| San Jose | 2.5m | 95k | 11 |
| Houston | 2.5m | 96k | 11 |
| Chivas USA | 2.5m | 68k | 7 |
When you take a look at the current payrolls for Major League Soccer's 16 teams you will see a huge difference in pay from #1 to #16. In most major league sports, the team who spends the most is usually the team who wins the most. In the MLS, that is not always the case.
Look for instance at the New York Red Bulls. They are tops among everyone else in payroll but they sit at #2 in the Eastern Conference and #5 overall with 31 points in 20 games. But, do you think that they have been playing better since the Henry/Marquez jump? The Red Bulls record was 8-6-2 before signing their two other Designated Players (DPs) and they have gone 1-1-2 in MLS play since then.
Now let's take a quick look at Real Salt Lake! The Executives in RSL's office have done significantly more with less. They are the second lowest payroll in the league and they are currently #2 in the Western Conference and MLS overall with 39 points in 21 games.
Just think about this for a minute...
RSL is leading the league in almost every category to include least amount of dollars spent on players. That is a unbelievable figure!
Let me hear everyone's thoughts on payrolls in the MLS!
I'm off my soapbox for now!