MLS Players' Association releases Spring 2026 salary guide

On Tuesday, the MLS Players' Association released its spring salary guide.

The biannual release gives fascinating insight into the world of MLS roster building, providing incredible transparency into the financial realities of MLS.

This data is incredibly useful, and when combined with MLS's roster profiles and GAM snapshots, it's possible to piece together a fairly accurate picture of MLS spending. It's crucial to note, though, that this data only provides a portion of the total amounts clubs spend on their rosters. These numbers do not include significant factors like transfer fees or spending on stadium, training, and academy infrastructure.

Nashville SC

After signing a new contract this winter, Sam Surridge is now Nashville SC's highest-paid player. His club-record 31 goals last year earned him an increase of $2.7 million this offseason, nearly doubling his 2025 salary of $3.2 million.

Hany Mukhtar saw his contract earn a modest increase of $100,000, while new Designated Player Cristian Espinoza is on $2.3 million guaranteed, putting him above the Max TAM range of $1,803,125 that would make him eligible to be bought down.

Jeisson Palacios's new contract sees him move into the Targetted Allocation Money (TAM) range, jumping up $570k to make him the highest-paid non-DP on the roster. All three of Nashville's TAM players – Palacios, Maxwell Woledzi, and Jack Maher – are center backs.

Andy Nájar, Eddi Tagseth, and Alex Muyl also earned sizeable increases to their salaries in 2026, while Dan Lovitz and Joe Willis both saw their salaries decrease.

Chris Ivey's breakdown

• From a Nashville perspective, Surridge's huge jump all but guarantees that he stays in Nashville for a long time. No EFL Championship club is paying that, and any team like Ipswich (who put in several bids for Surridge this summer) or Coventry City, both of whom have promotion already secured, can find more attractive options once promotion is guaranteed.
• Matt Corcoran, like a lot of young players who break through, is a bargain and due for a step up. Even with team options through 2029, I think Mike Jacobs would rely on moneyball-style principles and lock him down even further this winter, or else Europe will come calling next summer.
• Patrick Yazbek is in a similar boat. He is underpaid, given how good he has been. He's under club control through 2028, but he is going to need a big bump or else the sharks will start circling
• I still don't know how Nashville got Maxwell Woledzi so cheap. He legit looks like a top 10 CB. Under $700k in salary and a $1.6 million transfer fee is fantastic business.
• Dan Lovitz is probably out the door after this year. $400k is a lot for what is now effectively a 1(b) left back.
• As much as you don't want to pay $900k for a third-choice center back, I think Nashville hold Jack Maher this summer. I'm not sure what asset you can get for him without retaining a bunch of salary. Plus, if you want to chase a title, it's a great insurance policy in the back. But if you are Nashville, you absolutely wish that expenditure could easily be swapped for a true No. 9 to back up Surridge.
• The salary dump is a yearly reminder that the academy still has a long way to go, as the homegrown signings still haven't made an impact, and several are just taking up roster space until their contracts expire

Major League Soccer

The Messi effect

Inter Miami's Lionel Messi is by far the highest-paid player in the league, with his $28.3 million salary more than doubling LAFC's Heung-min Son's $11.1 million. Messi's salary on its own is more than 28 other clubs spend on their entire roster. His salary, which does not include significant additional income from his revenue-sharing model with Apple TV and Adidas, is roughly the total salary budget of Atlanta United, the third-highest spending team in MLS.

Along with Messi, Miami's Rodrigo De Paul is also in the top three, while the ostracized San Diego FC attacker Chucky Lozano and Atlanta's Miguel Almirón round out the top five.

Sam Surridge is the seventh-highest paid player in the league, ahead of LA Galaxy talisman Riqui Puig, while Hany Mukhtar is the 10th-highest paid player in the league, coming in just in front of Toronto FC's Josh Sargent.

How clubs are spending

Vancouver Whitecaps have invested roughly 43% of their entire roster budget in the TAM range, spending almost as much on those 10 players as the Philadelphia Union spend on their full roster. They're operating a more middle-class roster than high-spenders like Miami or LAFC, and their results on the pitch make a good argument for spreading their spend out over 10 players instead of concentrating it on two or three at the very top end.

The Philadelphia Union, on the other hand, are spending at the very bottom of the barrel. While they do invest heavily on the youth development side of the equation, numbers that aren't reflected here, their highest-paid player and lone DP, Bruno Damiani, makes just $847,600, the second-lowest paid DP in the league. After shipping out core players like Tai Baribo, Jakob Glesnes, and Kai Wagner this winter, they've barely invested in their replacements, and that ambition has been reflected by their place at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

So far in 2026, Atlanta United are the least-efficient spending team, at a rate of $2.79 million per point earned on the table. Miami are close behind them at $2.48 million, while Sporting Kansas City are in third, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the league.

San Jose Earthquakes, the current Supporters' Shield leaders, are the most efficient spenders at $546,000 spent per point, almost $200,000 better than Minnesota United, the next-closest team.

We've built an interactive app where you can explore the full salary dump yourself, compare teams, and see how MLS clubs are allocating their spending across the different roster categories. Check it out here.

MLS Player Salaries

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SixOneFive SoccerSixOneFive Soccer Staff