Major League Soccer salaries

The Major League Soccer Players Union took a bold step Friday that puts it in line with the rest of the professional sports leagues in the United States. In the 12-year history of MLS, player salaries were never made public — even though they were inevitably leaked to the media.

Friday, player salaries were posted on the MLS Players Union Web site, www.mlsplayers.org. The link can be found under the resources tab.

According to the site, "the decision was made to facilitate the accurate reporting of this information and to help educate the public regarding player compensation."

Salaries are broken into two categories. The base salary is just that, a base salary that counts toward the salary cap. The second includes all signing and guaranteed bonuses divided over the term of the contract. The second salary does not include performance bonuses.

It's interesting to note that Jason Kreis had a base salary of $160,000 before he retired. That gives RSL a lot of salary cap space to go out and sign a replacement player.

    
            

        	
		
        
                
Top 10 Players			'07 Base Salary	'07 Guaranteed Compensation
    
            

        	
		
        
                
David Beckham, L.A.		$5,500,000	$6,500,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago	$2,492,316	$2,666,778
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Juan Pablo Angel, New York	$1,500,000	$1,593,750
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Claudio Reyna, New York		$1,000,008	$1,250,008
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Landon Donovan, L.A.		$900,000	$900,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Eddie Johnson, Kansas City	$750,000	$875,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Carlos Ruiz, Dallas		$325,000	$435,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Taylor Twellman, N. England	$325,008	$350,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Freddy Adu, RSL			$300,000	$550,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Carl Robinson, Toronto		$300,000	$315,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Real Salt Lake Players		'07 Base Salary	'07 Guaranteed Compensation
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Freddy Adu			$300,000	$550,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Mehdi Ballouchy			$70,000		$88,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Nikolas Besagno			$75,000		$111,500
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Kyle Brown			$17,700		$17,700
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Chris Brown			$70,000		$70,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Jeff Cunningham			$220,000	$232,500
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Steven Curfman			$12,900		$12,900
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Kenny Cutler			$30,000		$30,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Willis Forko			$30,000		$30,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Atiba Harris			$30,000		$30,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Duke Hashimoto			$17,700		$17,700
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Christian Jimenez		$33,075		$43,075
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Dustin Kirby			$12,900		$12,900
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Chris Klein			$180,000	$187,250
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Chris Lancos			$30,000		$30,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Eddie Pope			$265,000	$265,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Kyle Reynish			$12,900		$12,900
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Nick Rimando			$64,125		$68,468
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Jeff Rowland			$17,700		$17,700
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Chris Seitz			$55,000		$90,500
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Jack Stewart			$41,081		$48,581
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Carey Talley			$118,248	$118,248
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Luis Tejada			$105,000	$105,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Daniel Torres			$90,000		$100,000
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Jamie Watson			$45,100		$50,100
    
            

        	
		
        
                
Andy Williams			$70,008		$70,008