Player Salaries Revealed

The MLSPA revealed player salaries last week and there’s a ton to unpack. BIG surprise who’s at the top… Messi. In fact, Messi is the 15th highest paid player in MLS history and he’s been in the league for ~5 months. But that’s not all. Messi makes more than the entire payroll of 25 MLS teams. Oh… and this is just his salary. It doesn’t include his equity in the club or corporate deals with Apple and Adidas that were a part of the package to lure Messi to the states.

More Salary Stats:

• 16 players earn at least $3M

• The average salary is $543k

• The median salary is $282k

• 4 of the top 5 salary spending teams didn’t make the playoffs

• 8 of the bottom 9 salary spending teams made the playoffs

MLS Attendance Records

MLS has broken it’s attendance record for the 9th consecutive year(ignoring the pandemic year)! Overall MLS attendance is soaring past last years final number, and by almost a million tickets. Cough Cough Messi affect…

As the MLS continues to break attendance records, fewer then 700 fans were in attendance to watch Steve Gerard's Al-Ettifaq take on Al-Riyadh in the Saudi Pro League. Saudi league striker Cristiano Ronaldo said this just a few months ago “The Saudi League is better than the MLS”.

Maybe Messi took that personally and decided it was time to show his greatness stateside.

Here are 5 other stats showing the rapid MLS growth:

• Season ticket sales up 9% across the league

• Average Attendance per game up 5% across the league

• 7 clubs on pace for their attendance records

• MLSstore.com sales up double digit percentages year over year

• MLS TikTok and IG accounts grew by over 2 million followers each

End of Season Award Picks

Feel free to reply and tear us a new one with these picks. There are too many good options to choose from.

• 👑 MVP - Lucho Acosto (CIN)

• ⚽️ Coach of the Year - Pat Noonan (CIN)

• 🆕 Newcomer - Giorgos Giakoumakis (ATL)

• 👶 Young Player - Thiago Almada (ATL)

• 🧤Goalkeeper - Roman Burki (STL)

• 💪 Defender - Yeimar Pastor (SEA)

• 📈 Comeback Player - Keaton Parks (NYC)

The Rosario, Argentina man is the best player on the best team in the MLS. He’s one of the most creative number 10’s in the league and had his best scoring season ever (how the f*ck did DC United let him go). My only hesitation here is that 7 of his 17 goals came from the spot but he’s near the top in assists and goal-creating actions as well. And that’s a whole lotta green in his scouting report 👇️ 

America’s Big Moment in Italy

Juventus beat AC Milan 1-0 in a Serie A league game on Sunday. This is the first time four Americans have started and faced off in a Serie A game (& quite possibly the European game of the week), further showing the progress and influence American players are having in top leagues. For Milan, Pulisic and Musah started while Juventus started Mckennie and Weah. Unfortunately for us, Pulisic was subbed off in the first half after Thiaw got red card and they needed to add a defender.

Gregg Berhalter was in attendance at the San Siro for this showdown. While Tim Weah did provide the game winning assist, this moment below was what every American was talking about.

Goal of the Week

An absolute stunna from the the rookie 🚀 

Tweet of the Week

Hate to admit it but he’s right.

Quick Hits

• St. Louis SC gets the second most points for an inaugural season in MLS history (Link)

• MLS fans are dunking on San Diego FC’s new logo 😂 (Link)

• Douglas Costa and LA Galaxy part ways (Link)

• Mexican soccer halftime entertainment is hilarious (Link)

• Michael Bradley will join his Dad as an assistant coach in Norway (Link)

• NY RedBulls have the longest active playoff streak in mens pro sports leagues in North America (Link)

That’s it, see ya next week ✌️