Welcome to one of the most interesting weeks of the year, the first release of the MLS Player’s Association Salary Guide for the 2024 season. Each season, the MLSPA releases two salary guides that follow the close of each transfer window. Typically the releases come in May and October, and we now have our May 2024 release.

Note: these salaries might not be 100 percent accurate.

The base salary number represents the player’s yearly contract, while the guaranteed compensation reflects an average of bonuses possible throughout the life of the contract. So, the numbers present in this salary don’t necessarily reflect the actual salary cap hit or Designated Player (DP)/Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) qualifications of the players and also do not include transfer fees (which are taken into account for MLS salary cap compliance). Additionally, U22 Initiative signings and homegrown players earn a salary that is not reflected in their budget charge.

Unlike prior years, MLS has released a roster profile document for the first time which gives us a look at who exactly is a DP, a TAM player, a U22 signing, or a homegrown player. You can find the roster profiles here.

The chart below shows the current state of the Columbus Crew roster as of the date of the salary release (May 16, 2024). New acquisitions are in bold and players with raises are bolded and italicized. Let’s jump in.

Overall, the Crew are spending $13,363,067 in base salary and $15,186,356 in total compensation based on this early season salary release. In total compensation, the figure that matters most to the team ownership, the current salary spend is about $1.2 million LESS than the salary spend at this time last season. It should be noted that the May 2023 salary spend included Eloy Room ($898,000 total compensation), Milos Degenek ($823,500 total compensation), and Luis Diaz ($533,900 total compensation) who would play very little in 2023.

New Acquisitions

The list of new Columbus signings for 2024 is comparatively sparse. That seems to fit Wilfried Nancy’s preference to see what the team needs as the season moves on and add players during the summer transfer window. Further, after winning MLS Cup in 2023 the focus was more on re-signing players than it was on making new additions in the winter. Colombian attacker Marino Hinestroza was the biggest off-season signing for the Black & Gold. Hinestroza is a U22 initiative player who will earn $500,000 in base salary and $574,750 in total compensation. As a U22 player who is 21 years old his budget charge will only count for $200,000 against the salary cap. Goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen was the only other non-MLS/Crew 2 offseason signing. Hagen will bring in $89,716 in base salary and $100,340 in total compensation.

The Crew have signed two players from Crew 2 so far this season, inking Crew Academy grads Cole Mrowka and Taha Habroune to full deals with the first team. Mrowka and Habroune will both earn $71,401 in base salary as homegrown players while Habroune’s total compensation is $83,401 and Mrowka’s total compensation is $91,409. Derrick Jones was the only new free agent brought into the team this offseason. The midfielder earns a base salary of $325,000 and has a total compensation of $347,969.

New Contracts and Pay Increases

While there haven’t been many new additions to the roster, yet, there were some significant raises handed out in this offseason.

Amid rumored interest from a team in Dubai, Mohamed Farsi signed an extension with Columbus that will keep him under contract through 2027 with a team option for 2028. Farsi’s wages jump from a league minimum salary (in 2023 that was a base of $67,360) to a base salary of $350,000 and a total compensation of ($380,000). That is a huge jump for a young player who was a significant part of the Black & Gold’s championship run in 2023.

Ohio-native and positional Swiss Army Knife Sean Zawadzki signed a big offseason extension that bumped his base salary rise from $88,200 to $375,000 and his total compensation rise from $93,200 to $421,875. Steven Moreira’s extension didn’t see him earn as big of a bump but does see him now bring in $800,000 in base salary and $882,000 in total compensation.

Will Sands and Patrick Schulte saw bumps to their own salaries with Sands now earning $125,00 in base salary and $131,250 in total compensation while Schulte will bring in $150,000 in base salary and $160,603 in total compensation.

Two other significant re-signings saw the Crew bring back key-contributors on deals more friendly to the team. Rudy Camacho inked a new deal for $475,000 in base salary and $551,000 in total compensation, almost exactly matching his numbers in 2023. Darlington Nagbe’s new deal saw Columbus’ captain keep his designated player status but drop his salary below the TAM threshold which would allow the Black & Gold to buy down his salary and add another DP should they choose to do so during the summer. Rumors suggested that the Black & Gold attempted to buy down Nagbe’s salary in 2023 to allow them to keep Lucas Zelarayan and add Diego Rossi but Nagbe’s 2023 salary of $1,800,000 was over the max threshold for a TAM buydown. The topline TAM threshold for 2024 sits at $1,683,750 and Nagbe’s new base salary sits at $1.4 million while his total compensation is $1.54 million.

Diego Rossi is not on a new contract but we have a clearer picture of his total compensation, the highest on the team. Rossi’s base salary of $2,675,000 is $50,000 higher than reported in 2023 but his total compensation jumps from $2,677,000 to $3,376,827. Cucho Hernandez’s pay remains the same in 2024 with a base salary of $2.6 million and total compensation of $2.886 million.

Notable Departing Player Salaries

Julian Gressel was the biggest departure from the 2023 MLS Cup champion team but few were surprised to see him move on after Farsi unseated him on the right flank during the playoffs. With the Crew, Gressel earned $884,000 in base salary and $930,406 in total compensation. As a free agent, Gressel signed a deal with Inter Miami that pays him $1,092,069 in both base salary and total compensation. In Columbus, that would be the fourth highest salary on the team. Gressel may be worth that pay but not necessarily in the Nancy system.

Notable League Acquisitions

Emil Forsberg is the highest paid offseason acquisition in MLS this season. The Red Bulls’ DP will earn $5.405 million in base salary and $6,035,625 in total compensation this season. Orlando City’s new striker, Luis Muriel, is the next most significant acquisition with a base salary of $2,832,817 and total compensation of $4,336,150. No other new signings cracked the top 10 in total compensation. Inter Miami’s offseason acquisition of Luis Suarez sees the team pay the Uruguayan striker $1.5 million in both base salary and total compensation, well within the TAM threshold.

Highest Paid Players in MLS

A full season of Leo Messi and Sergio Busquets reveal just how much Miami is committing to the two former Barcelona stars who are also the two of the three highest paid players in MLS. Messi’s base salary sits at $12 million and his total compensation is a stunning $20,446,667 (both the same as last season) while Busquets new DP deal seems him earn a shocking $8,499,996 in base salary and $8,774,996 in total compensation compensation. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne remains in second with a base salary of $7.5 million but a total compensation of $15.4 million.

Overall League Spend

The top five teams in total spend sees two new entrants with Nashville SC and FC Cincinnati jumping up to replace LAFC (who dropped down to 17th) and the LA Galaxy (who dropped down to 8th). 2023 Western Conference champions LAFC dropped from the top five in spending down to 17th in with $15.9 million in total compensation. The team-total compensation numbers reveal that Miami are spending $29.2 million on only two players (Messi and Busquets ). The rest of their roster spend is just $12 million. Toronto’s two-player spend is arguably worse with Insigne and Federico Bernareschi absorbing $21.7 million and leaving $9.7 million for the rest of the team.

1. Inter Miami – $41.7
2. Toronto FC – $31.4
3. Chicago Fire – $25.1
4. Nashville SC – $21.4
5. FC Cincinnati – $18.7

Columbus sits at 21st in spending with a total compensation of $15.1. At this point in the season the seemingly decreased roster spend is more of a coincidence of the the Black & Gold shedding contracts they didn’t want while other teams had some extensions kick in and new player signings (Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar signed a big new DP deal which pays him $5.2 million in total compensation and Walker Zimmerman’s total compensation jumped up to $3.5 million). If the Crew sign a new DP they are likely to jump into the top 10 or 15.