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<TABLE style="WIDTH: 641px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleContainerHeadline colSpan=2><DIV class=HeadlineContent>Today is Friday, January 12, 2007
Originally published Sunday, August 20, 2006
Updated Wednesday, August 23, 2006 </DIV><DIV class=HeadlineContent></DIV></TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleContainerLeftCol><DIV class=summaryParagraph>Some argue that Major League Soccer's salary structure divides its players into haves and poverty-level have-nots.</DIV><SPAN class=ByLine>By Bob Holtzman</SPAN>
<SPAN class=writingCredit>Daily Breeze</SPAN>
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Boys and girls would surround Arturo Torres in awe and ask him what it's like to play Major League Soccer.
And Torres would fake a smile and lie. <TABLE class=MiddleAd border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=MiddleAd>
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"Little kids would ask me, 'Are you rich?' And I'd just say, 'Yeah, you see that car over there? That Hummer, it's mine. I've got a millionaire's house out on Palos Verdes.'
"They had no idea I was making $12,000 a year, man."
Torres, who starred at Banning High and Loyola Marymount, didn't suffer from having a bad agent or from being the last player selected in the draft. He was taken by the Galaxy in the second round in 2003. If anything, Torres was your average rookie in MLS.
What Torres had fallen into was the league's two-tiered pay scale, which some argue makes second-class citizens out of professional athletes. But those who run the league, which has never made money in its 11-year existence, believe this is the best way to survive the difficult, formative years of a professional league.
MLS rosters are split into two groups -- the 18-player senior roster and a 10-player developmental roster for those under the age of 24. There are no differences in responsibilities, but there are significant differences in pay.
The additional roster spots give more players an opportunity at a low cost for the league, which pays all player salaries. The senior roster minimum is $28,000, while players signed to standard developmental contracts make $11,700 or $16,500, or $5.635 or $7.933 an hour.
It's minor-league pay for Major League Soccer players. Unlike the NBA's D-League or independent league baseball, the MLS season is year-round. That leaves many young MLS players scraping to get by to live their dream.
"I'm doing something a lot of people would die to be doing right now," said Galaxy rookie defender Kyle Veris, who is making $16,500. "If I have to sacrifice a little bit of extra money to get something I don't really need, that's something I have to do."
Cheap labor
Veris isn't the only one making the sacrifice. Of the 322 players signed to MLS contracts this season, 76 make less than $20,000, according to a list of league salaries obtained by the Daily Breeze. The national poverty threshold for a single adult is $9,800.
"Developmental contracts are terrible deals for the players who signed them," said Bob Foose, the executive director of the MLS Players' Association.
Not everyone agrees.
"This may sound Scrooge-esque, but as far as the sacrifice they're making, nobody is hol
Originally published Sunday, August 20, 2006
Updated Wednesday, August 23, 2006 </DIV><DIV class=HeadlineContent></DIV></TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleContainerLeftCol><DIV class=summaryParagraph>Some argue that Major League Soccer's salary structure divides its players into haves and poverty-level have-nots.</DIV><SPAN class=ByLine>By Bob Holtzman</SPAN>
<SPAN class=writingCredit>Daily Breeze</SPAN>
<DIV class=TextbodySmall2>
Boys and girls would surround Arturo Torres in awe and ask him what it's like to play Major League Soccer.
And Torres would fake a smile and lie. <TABLE class=MiddleAd border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=MiddleAd>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=bottom align=middle><SCRIPT language=JavaScript></SCRIPT>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"Little kids would ask me, 'Are you rich?' And I'd just say, 'Yeah, you see that car over there? That Hummer, it's mine. I've got a millionaire's house out on Palos Verdes.'
"They had no idea I was making $12,000 a year, man."
Torres, who starred at Banning High and Loyola Marymount, didn't suffer from having a bad agent or from being the last player selected in the draft. He was taken by the Galaxy in the second round in 2003. If anything, Torres was your average rookie in MLS.
What Torres had fallen into was the league's two-tiered pay scale, which some argue makes second-class citizens out of professional athletes. But those who run the league, which has never made money in its 11-year existence, believe this is the best way to survive the difficult, formative years of a professional league.
MLS rosters are split into two groups -- the 18-player senior roster and a 10-player developmental roster for those under the age of 24. There are no differences in responsibilities, but there are significant differences in pay.
The additional roster spots give more players an opportunity at a low cost for the league, which pays all player salaries. The senior roster minimum is $28,000, while players signed to standard developmental contracts make $11,700 or $16,500, or $5.635 or $7.933 an hour.
It's minor-league pay for Major League Soccer players. Unlike the NBA's D-League or independent league baseball, the MLS season is year-round. That leaves many young MLS players scraping to get by to live their dream.
"I'm doing something a lot of people would die to be doing right now," said Galaxy rookie defender Kyle Veris, who is making $16,500. "If I have to sacrifice a little bit of extra money to get something I don't really need, that's something I have to do."
Cheap labor
Veris isn't the only one making the sacrifice. Of the 322 players signed to MLS contracts this season, 76 make less than $20,000, according to a list of league salaries obtained by the Daily Breeze. The national poverty threshold for a single adult is $9,800.
"Developmental contracts are terrible deals for the players who signed them," said Bob Foose, the executive director of the MLS Players' Association.
Not everyone agrees.
"This may sound Scrooge-esque, but as far as the sacrifice they're making, nobody is hol
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