Messi's Compensation Makes Inter Miami In The Top Position Of The MLS Club Salary List

Lionel Messi received major annual compensation at Inter Miami (Instagram/@leomessi).

JAKARTA - Lionel Messi's additional annual compensation makes Inter Miami take the lead again on the MLS (Major League Soccer) team salary list.

This year, the MLS team's average salary rose 9.7 percent according to the latest MLS player salary data released by the MLS Players Association (MLSPA) on Thursday, October 24, 2024.

Messi, who is under contract until the end of 2025, has guaranteed annual compensation of USD 20.4 million.

Previously, co-owner of Inter Miami, Jorge Mas, said that Messi's total compensation, which included cuts to the league's Apple TV deal, was in the range of 50 million to 60 million US dollars.

Messi's total compensation is even more than the entire salary of 22 other MLS teams.

Miami won Supporters' Shield for the first time this year and set a MLS record for the most points in the regular season with 74 points.

The achievement came after Messi scored a hat-trick in 11 minutes to inspire Inter Miami to win 6-2 over New England Revolution on Sunday, October 20, 2024.

The team's total points were partly assisted by a record expenditure of 41.7 million US dollars. This amount is more than double the amount spent by 23 of the 29 league teams.

The average expenditure per team is 18.41 million US dollars, with the media reaching 16.68 million US dollars.

However, large expenses do not guarantee success. Of the 10 teams with the highest expenditures, four teams failed to enter the MLS Cup playoffs.

The top five salary winners were filled by Lorenzo Insigne from Toronto FC with 15.4 million US dollars, Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami) with 8.77 million US dollars, Sebastian Driussi (Austin FC) with 6.7 million US dollars, and Federico Bernardeschi (Toronto) with 6.3 million 2024.

French World Cup winner Olivier Giroud has a total annual compensation of US$3.7 million based on the contract he signed to join the LAFC in July 2024.

The data was updated as of September 13, 2024. The salary data is calculated per year for players who join during the summer transfer market.

The average salary guaranteed for all MLS players includes active players, retired players and still have debts, and a pair of players from the team that will develop next year, the San Diego FC, continues to increase every year.

That figure rose to 596,226 US dollars, an increase of 9.7 percent from the September 2023 figure of 543,207 US dollars.

Player salaries on the lowest wage scale continue to increase as the average league salary guaranteed is 308,375 US dollars, up 9.3 percent from last year's figure of 282,125 US dollars.

MLS and MLSPA are in the fourth year of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) agreed in February 2021. CBA is valid until the end of the 2027 season.

In terms of team salaries based on guaranteed basic compensation, Toronto FC is in second place after Inter Miami with 31.81 million US dollars, followed by LAFC (22.08 million US dollars), LA Galaxy (21.96 million US dollars), and Nashville SC (21.86 million US dollars).

CF Montreal has a low salary of 11.43 million US dollars, followed by Philadelphia Union ($13.81 million US dollars), Colorado Rapids ($13.44 million), San Jose Earthquakes ($14.63 million), and Minnesota United ($14.77 million).

Meanwhile, there were several other well-known players who joined MLS during the summer transfer window.

Call it Houston striker Ezequiel Ponce (with a total compensation of 2.8 million US dollars), St. midfielder Louis, Marcel Hartel ($2.2 million), and Atlanta midfielder Alexey Miranchuk ($ 3.7 million).

Then, there are also Salt Lake midfielders, Diogo Gon Maritime Affairs (1.8 million US dollars), LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Reus (1.2 million US dollars), Minnesota striker Kelvin Yeboah (1.2 million US dollars), and New York Red Bulls midfielder Felipe Carballo Ares (1.2 million US dollars).

Finally, Cincinnati defender Chidozie Awaziem (1.2 million US dollars) and Austin winger Osman Bukari (1 million US dollars) also joined MLS this summer.

Total Expenditures Of MLS Teams