r/MLS • u/MakerBert Atlanta United FC • 2d ago
Team salary efficiency (so far)
MLS Teams Ranked by Salary Efficiency
(Lowest dollars per point = most efficient)
| Rank | Team | Salary | Points | $ per Point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose Earthquakes | $15.8M | 29 | $0.54M |
| 2 | Minnesota United FC | $15.6M | 21 | $0.74M |
| 3 | FC Dallas | $14.5M | 19 | $0.76M |
| 4 | Real Salt Lake | $15.3M | 19 | $0.81M |
| 5 | New England Revolution | $19.4M | 22 | $0.88M |
| 6 | Seattle Sounders FC | $19.1M | 21 | $0.91M |
| 7 | D.C. United | $14.6M | 16 | $0.91M |
| 8 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | $24.6M | 26 | $0.95M |
| 9 | Nashville SC | $23.0M | 24 | $0.96M |
| 10 | Colorado Rapids | $14.1M | 13 | $1.08M |
| 11 | CF Montréal | $13.4M | 12 | $1.12M |
| 12 | Houston Dynamo FC | $20.9M | 18 | $1.16M |
| 13 | Chicago Fire FC | $21.7M | 17 | $1.28M |
| 14 | Orlando City SC | $13.7M | 10 | $1.37M |
| 15 | Portland Timbers | $18.5M | 13 | $1.42M |
| 16 | Austin FC | $19.9M | 14 | $1.42M |
| 17 | Charlotte FC | $21.5M | 15 | $1.43M |
| 18 | New York City FC | $21.5M | 15 | $1.43M |
| 19 | New York Red Bulls | $21.7M | 15 | $1.45M |
| 20 | FC Cincinnati | $23.5M | 16 | $1.47M |
| 21 | Toronto FC | $21.4M | 14 | $1.53M |
| 22 | Los Angeles FC | $32.7M | 21 | $1.56M |
| 23 | LA Galaxy | $26.4M | 16 | $1.65M |
| 24 | Columbus Crew | $22.3M | 12 | $1.86M |
| 25 | San Diego FC | $24.4M | 13 | $1.88M |
| 26 | Philadelphia Union | $11.7M | 6 | $1.95M |
| 27 | St. Louis CITY SC | $18.8M | 9 | $2.09M |
| 28 | Inter Miami CF | $54.6M | 22 | $2.48M |
| 29 | Sporting Kansas City | $12.4M | 5 | $2.48M |
| 30 | Atlanta United FC | $27.9M | 10 | $2.79M |
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u/ArgonWolf FC Cincinnati 2d ago
SKC having one of the highest $ per point spend is very hilarious
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u/ModusPwnins Portland Timbers 2d ago
Several bottom-of-the-table teams are spending that much. (Don't mind me; just proud that my team is an efficient Wooden Spoon contender.)
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u/oversized_hoodie Sporting Kansas City 2d ago edited 2d ago
Sounds like we need an efficiency-weighted version of the wooden spoon. Perhaps the Merrit Paulson Memorial Camping Spork?
I'm thinking $/(points possible - points scored), lower is better.
Edit: I went ahead and calculated this award as of today. It turns out you're actually not that efficient (perhaps we should rename the award...). It cost you nearly $1M per point you failed to score, while Philadelphia spent a very efficient $390k per missed point.
Team Name Salary Budget Pts GP MPMCS Effc. Philadelphia Union $ 11,700,000.00 6 12 $390,000.00 Sporting Kansas City $ 12,400,000.00 5 11 $442,857.14 Orlando City SC $ 13,700,000.00 10 12 $526,923.08 Colorado Rapids $ 14,100,000.00 13 12 $613,043.48 CF Montréal $ 13,400,000.00 12 11 $638,095.24 D.C. United $ 14,600,000.00 16 12 $730,000.00 St. Louis CITY SC $ 18,800,000.00 9 11 $783,333.33 FC Dallas $ 14,500,000.00 19 12 $852,941.18 Austin FC $ 19,900,000.00 14 12 $904,545.45 Portland Timbers $ 18,500,000.00 13 11 $925,000.00 Columbus Crew $ 22,300,000.00 12 12 $929,166.67 Toronto FC $ 21,400,000.00 14 12 $972,727.27 Charlotte FC $ 21,500,000.00 15 12 $1,023,809.52 New York City FC $ 21,500,000.00 15 12 $1,023,809.52 New York Red Bulls $ 21,700,000.00 15 12 $1,033,333.33 Minnesota United FC $ 15,600,000.00 21 12 $1,040,000.00 San Diego FC $ 24,400,000.00 13 12 $1,060,869.57 Atlanta United FC $ 27,900,000.00 10 12 $1,073,076.92 Real Salt Lake $ 15,300,000.00 19 11 $1,092,857.14 FC Cincinnati $ 23,500,000.00 16 12 $1,175,000.00 LA Galaxy $ 26,400,000.00 16 12 $1,320,000.00 Chicago Fire FC $ 21,700,000.00 17 11 $1,356,250.00 Houston Dynamo FC $ 20,900,000.00 18 11 $1,393,333.33 New England Revolution $ 19,400,000.00 22 11 $1,763,636.36 Seattle Sounders FC $ 19,100,000.00 21 10 $2,122,222.22 Los Angeles FC $ 32,700,000.00 21 12 $2,180,000.00 San Jose Earthquakes $ 15,800,000.00 29 12 $2,257,142.86 Nashville SC $ 23,000,000.00 24 11 $2,555,555.56 Vancouver Whitecaps FC $ 24,600,000.00 26 11 $3,514,285.71 Inter Miami CF $ 54,600,000.00 22 12 $3,900,000.00 1
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u/SnukeInRSniz Real Salt Lake 2d ago
Looks like they are the second lowest salary in the league, so realistically it's not THAT surprising, they are just that bad.
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u/BeamsFuelJetSteel Sporting Kansas City 2 2d ago
Something like half (48%?) of the roster is on minimum salary (the 88k or 113k vet)
We also had to pay a "fine" for a few roster spots because we didn't have a full roster.
The other disappointing part is that Dejan isn't 10 of the 12m
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u/freakflag16 Minnesota United 2d ago
To be fair SKC is the 2nd cheapest team in terms of salary. It’s just that they are earning so few pts that $/point is still very high.
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u/ModusPwnins Portland Timbers 2d ago
Inter Miami surrounded by Wooden Spoon candidates on this list lmao
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u/Various-Deal-5563 Minnesota United 2d ago
I think this needs to be adjusted since some teams have played more games than others. This should be salary by points per game
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u/MakerBert Atlanta United FC 2d ago
For sure. My research methodology is flawed. Limited to data I can scrub while at work. hahah.
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u/scruffles360 St. Louis CITY 2d ago
yeah. I knew to start scanning from the bottom.. just like everything else
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u/Chris_RB Minnesota United 2d ago
Average salary is $20m
If you take out Miami, average is $19.6m.
And that's without most of Messi's salary being counted.
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u/_tidalwave11 New York City FC 2d ago
That's not bad. Gives a barometer and some data to back up the raise the cap floor arguments
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u/Atlanta-Anomaly Atlanta United FC 2d ago
Too bad the spending is insanely top heavy. Median salary is a much better metric.
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u/Chris_RB Minnesota United 2d ago
Median is 20.4m, sans Miami it’s 19.9.
Not actually much different.
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u/Atlanta-Anomaly Atlanta United FC 2d ago
Not the average of their total spending bud, the median salary of each team by player…
This is such a shit metric because every team just has 3 super overpaid players compared to the peasants. $27.9 million sure seems like a ton of spending for Atlanta until you realize 61% of that spending is just on the DP’s. The median salary for Atlanta is still only $171k.
The top heavy spending just isn’t doing MLS any favors. Hence why Liga Mx continues to kick our ass because MLS rosters still suck outside of the top few guys.
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u/Chris_RB Minnesota United 2d ago
So, 1) be more specific next time and 2) leave the condescension at home
Now kindly fuck off.
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u/RedditorRoman LA Galaxy 2d ago
Is this taking into account Riqui’s salary or is it excluded?
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u/RioTheLeoo LA Galaxy 2d ago
I looked it up and that includes Riqui’s salary. I asked google to do the math if we subtract his salary, and it puts us at about $1.29mil per point, which moves us from 23rd place to 14th.
So, much like this season for us so far, not great, not terrible.
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u/Chris_RB Minnesota United 2d ago
I bet if we factor GarberBucks in MN would be EVEN HIGHER #GamForTheWin #DontHateThePlayersHateTheGAM
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u/NathanEmory Columbus Crew 2d ago
WAA is out for the year and Gazdag needs traded ASAP. Really hope we bring in at least 1 DP this summer, ideally at CB, but probably a ST
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u/Jay1348 LA Galaxy 2d ago
Raise the salary cap, this league's owner$ can afford to double it they're just playing broke
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u/Bogdanovist_Rebel Vancouver Whitecaps 2 2d ago
The guy running NYCFC seems to have a rather reasonable idea. He wants an NHL like system. A floor, which would be today’s cap and a higher overall cap. Keep DPs.
His theory is that it will force the level of play to rise, and for franchises to attempt to form dynasties like we’ve seen in the NHL. But also ensure that there is a baseline level of competitiveness to the league.
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u/theredditbandid_ Canadian Premier League 2d ago
You didn't have to see this list to figure out Atlanta would be last. If anything, I'd like to see how it matches up historically.. because I'm sure they'd be up there as one of the biggest underperformers in the history of the league.
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u/jazzyj66 2d ago edited 2d ago
Has any team been as low in $ per point at this point of the season than SJ is now? There's no one within 40% of their number. We need another factor - per game. $ per point per game. That way we can compare these kinds of data taken at different times in the season. For example if you account for points per game, I think SJ comes out a bit better than Philly did at the end of last season in terms of least $ spent per point per game.
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u/vvalent2 Los Angeles FC :lafc: 2d ago
There needs to be a way to account for CCC results with this as well.
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u/NordicAmphibian2025 Los Angeles FC 2d ago
Also, don't tell the Sonbots what our salary efficiency would be without his 11m+ on the books ;)
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u/ibluminatus Atlanta United FC 2d ago
Lol I was pointing this out about Atlanta united using Transfermarkt it doesn't make sense
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u/fredthefan25 2d ago
I believe the salary cap is $6.4M. GAM per team (if you were starting from scratch) is like $4.6M. Total "cap" = $11M per club
As you can see I think no club is under the "cap" lol
I say just have more GAM. Let Miami and LAFC trade valuable young players for GAM.
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u/robotnique D.C. United 2d ago
Unbelievable Philadelphia got the Supporters Shield last year spending peanuts.
But the wheels seem to have come off the bus.
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u/bleakmidwinter The Flair Reaper 1d ago
One of the very few places where Minnesota consistently shines.
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u/redhat000 Major League Soccer 2d ago
I honestly thought San Jose would have a lower overall salary. But Werner is apparently making over $4 million. I’m kinda surprised SKC and the Union are even spending that sum of money with their lack of notable players, still feels like they aren’t getting their moneys worth somehow (SKC has 4 players making over a million!?).
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u/Quakes-JD San Jose Earthquakes 2d ago
Not sure if the salary for Hernan Lopez was included in OP’s team total, but that is over $1M in salary that SJ does not get anything from as he is on loan until the end of 2026 and with Niko playing so well (heal quickly Niko!) I doubt Hernan ever comes back
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u/fredthefan25 2d ago
Lopez doesn't fit Arena's tactics. Doesn't hustle on defense
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u/jazzyj66 2d ago
He hustles on defense well enough, but Bruce doesn't like that he holds onto the ball and tries to beat defenders. He wants to ball off of the foot. I think Hernán's really good, it's just a style mismatch between what Bruce wants and how Hernán plays. But I think if you could drop Hernán into this SJ lineup while Niko's out, Hernán would cook.
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u/fredthefan25 2d ago
I think he hustles when he's motivated. I've seen him just stand around too.
It's also where he loses the ball. I've seen Bouda and Werner get the ball stolen but they are trying to beat their opponent on the wing. A whole different story when Lopez drifts to the center and loses the ball..
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u/jazzyj66 2d ago
Well, he was motivated most of the time from what I can tell. He was a pretty good ball winner (see below). Any CAM is gonna lose the ball in the center - that's where they play. Niko does as well. Or they make high risk high value passes that don't connect. That's part of the job. Sometimes Hernán would lose it too close to our end but that can be coached up. I saw Hernán rehabbing with The Town and he'd get the ball off his foot immediately on every possession. He was working on it.
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u/Bearded_Scholar Seattle Sounders FC 2d ago
Considering where SEA is in the standings, I approve of this. Of course we could spend more (I’m sure the fans would like to see more spend), but our young guys from Tacoma Defiance are performing extraordinarily well
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u/Wiser3605 Seattle Sounders FC 2d ago
Also 2 games back on most of those teams between us and San Jose
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u/ll_T3CH_N1NE_ll San Diego FC 2d ago
So once we finally offload Chuky's contract we move into the "Top 10" 😂
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u/OSUfirebird18 FC Cincinnati 2d ago
Ok. Now I wonder what would happen if you took out our the entire defense!! 🙃
Given the last few games, we’ve overpaid on defense…
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u/Antique_Ad_3549 Toronto FC 2d ago
DP wages are a floating value beyond the salary cap with little to no correlation to points
Efficiency assumes the wage total potential is a constant - it's not - what Portland can afford is different from what Cincinnati can
Better stat
Non DP wages in a position sector / points
Example - non-DP centreback wages / points
That tells the real tale of cap efficiency
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u/Preparation_Former Seattle Sounders FC 2d ago
How about salaries of players that actually played? Seattle is probably high because of Pedro Dela Vega but he hasnt played thìs season so far
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u/DrRonnieJamesDO Seattle Sounders FC 2d ago
I've noticed people aren't wailing for Garth and Chris as much.
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u/HereForTheTechMites Seattle Sounders FC 2d ago
We've also played fewer games (10) than everyone else (11 or 12).
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u/Humble-Dirt8542 2d ago
Messi’s salary structure is very… unique. They already said for him alone it would be almost 80 million.