It will take one day for David Beckham to earn more money than some Major League Soccer players will take home in all of 2007.
That day is today, when the 32-year-old English midfielder will have his long-awaited introduction as a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. A soccer star of the highest caliber and a mega-celebrity with worldwide appeal, he is the most important signing in MLS’ 12-year history.
He is also its most expensive, at a cost of $32.5 million over five years in salary alone, plus a possible $200 million more in incentives.
Meanwhile, under terms of the collective bargaining agreement signed by MLS and the MLS Players Union prior to the 2005 season, 101 of the league’s 364 current players are designated as “developmental players,” earning $17,700 or as little as $12,900 per year.
It’s an awkward disparity for MLS, and one the league is reluctant to address, declining to comment for this story.
Developmental players from several teams, however, provided The Examiner with assessments of their daily struggles, but only on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of league and player relations.
Lifestyles of the less famous
“What really baffles me is for per diem, we get close to $50 per day, and that’s just to eat with,” said one player who literally plans his budget to the dollar and knows the value of making an18-man travel roster. “So, if we go on a road trip, we get $50 a day. But I don’t understand how they expect us to live off $42 every other day and pay rent and bills on top of that. That presents a problem.”
Beckham may dine at Spago before the weekend is over, but for developmental players — finely tuned athletes who train five times or more per week — the choice is often the cheapest fast food available or pasta for one.
“You can’t really go out to dinner,” said another player. “You can’t really go out, and it’s not like you can take a girl out and meet people like that.”
Getting out of the confines of what is usually a cramped group house or crowded apartment is often a luxury itself.
“Driving I give up because gas prices are quite steep,” said one player. “I ride with kids on the team or I find other means to practice.”
If the destination isn’t training, it’s a coaching session ($250) or a team appearance ($250), supplemental income which can be the difference between being able to pay the bills and having to dip into personal savings, if there are any.
“You kind of just want to be the appearance [guy] for the first season because it’s the only way you’ll survive,” said one player.
All is fair in business and soccer
Despite their hardships, developmental players know it is Beckham who will sell out stadiums, not them.
“He obviously brings credibility to the league,” said one player. “He’s going to do a lot for MLS. Yeah, he’s making as much as I’ll make in a year in one training session, but he’s obviously bringing a lot more to the league than I would or any other player, for that matter.”
MLS is the pinnacle of the sport in the U.S., but still a young business in the global market. Even new television rights packages hardly mean it’s turning a profit and has a windfall of cash to disperse among players.
The current developmental system also has proven success stories, players like D.C. United goalie Troy Perkins ($85,000) and Chicago forward Chris Rolfe ($70,000), who have graduated to senior roster spots.
Although developmental players have accounted for 68 starts, 10 goals and eight assists in 2007, only four have played in more than half of their team’s games.
But the league created a stir in May with assertions by MLS commissioner Don Garber in the New York Times and deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis in the Los Angeles Times that developmental players were apprentices, akin to minor-league baseball players.
“These guys are training with the first team every single day,” said Bob Foose, executive director of the MLS Players Union. “They are part of the first team in every single way, and to the extent that they aren’t able to function as professionals — the way we all hope they would, first and foremost — it has an effect on everything.”
It would take an average of $115,000 per team ($1.5 million league wide) to raise the salaries of every developmental player to the senior roster minimum of $30,000. But the union and league have not had any discussions this summer. The current collective bargaining agreement runs through the end of the 2009 season.
“After being a developmental player for a couple years, I know that if I was making as much money as [David Beckham],” said one player, “I would take a million dollars to make 100 players’ lives easier.”
