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With the most recent MLS Players Union salary figures released, the New York Red Bulls no longer find themselves the stingiest team in the league.
The Red Bulls now spend approximately $5,186,000 on player base salaries and a little over $5,829,000 in guaranteed compensation. This puts New York at 14th out of 20 teams in terms of spending, ahead of Philly, Houston, Chicago, Columbus, DC, and Dallas.
2016 saw raises across the board for returning players. Anatole Abang, Sean Davis, Chris Duvall, Connor Lade, Karl Ouimette, Damien Perrinelle, and Sal Zizzo all had small to moderate pay bumps while Shaun Wright-Phillps and Kyle Reynish were the only two players to take pay cuts. Reynish went from $86/90k last year to $62.5/62.5K this year (base, guaranteed). SWP, in turn, went from making $116/147k last year for a half season to $100/107k this year for a full season.
Mike Grella, Sacha Kljestan, Kemar Lawrence, Felipe Martins, Dax McCarty, Luis Robles, Gonzalo Verón, and Bradley Wright-Phillips all saw significant pay bumps after their stellar performances last season on the way to winning the MLS Supporters Shield and battling to a place in the Conference finals. McCarty, Robles, and Verón saw their salaries more than double from last year. Verón's salary change can likely be put down to it being prorated last year as he came to the team in the summer. McCarty and Robles, however, saw their salaries go from $220/262k and $130/151k respectively to $400/500k and $265/267k.
Lloyd Sam and Ronald Zubar were the only players from last year's team to have their salary remain the same.
| Name | Position | 2016 Base Salary (in $) | 2016 Guarenteed Compensation |
| Anatole Abang | Forward | 62,500 | 62,500 |
| Tyler Adams | Midfielder | 65,000 | 81,041.67 |
| Brandon Allen | Foward | 62,500 | 62,500 |
| Gideon Baah | Defender | 230,000 | 278,000 |
| Justin Bilyeu | Defender | 51,500 | 51,500 |
| Aurelien Collin | Defender | 500,000 | 525,000 |
| Sean Davis | Midfielder | 90,000 | 107,000 |
| Chris Duvall | Defender | 63,000 | 63,000 |
| Derrick Etienne | Midfielder | 51,500 | 56,500 |
| Mike Grella | Foward | 155,000 | 155,000 |
| Sacha Kljestan | Midfielder | 550,000 | 687,500 |
| Connor Lade | Defender | 62,500 | 65,312 |
| Kemar Lawrence | Defender | 100,000 | 196,000 |
| Felipe Martins | Midfielder | 250,000 | 280,000 |
| Dax McCarty | Midfielder | 400,000 | 500,000 |
| Ryan Meara | Goalkeeper | 75,246.15 | 76,496.15 |
| Alex Muyl | Forward | 62,500 | 66,500 |
| Karl Ouimette | Defender | 63,000 | 63,000 |
| Damien Perrinelle | Defender | 140,000 | 140,000 |
| Kyle Reynish | Goalkeeper | 62,500 | 62,500 |
| Luis Robles | Goalkeeper | 265,000 | 267,000 |
| Lloyd Sam | Midfielder | 230,000 | 240,000 |
| Gonzalo Verón | Foward | 500,000 | 500,000 |
| Bradley Wright-Phillips | Foward | 650,000 | 710,00 |
| Shaun Wright-Phillips | Midfielder | 100,000 | 107,500 |
| Sal Zizzo | Defender | 105,000 | 105,000 |
| Ronald Zubar | Defender | 240,000 | 320,000 |
All figures are courtesy of the MLS Players Union. The full list of MLS Player salaries can be found here.
The breakdown by position (in base compensation) is as follows:
Goalkeepers (3): $402,700
Defenders (10): $1,555,000
Midfielders (8): $1,736,500
Forwards (6): $1,492,500
Also, it should be noted that according to reports, at least half of Aurelien Collin's salary is being covered by Orlando City.
Interesting omissions from the Players Union salary dump are Zach Carroll, Scott Thomsen, Chris Thorsheim, and Mael Corboz, who were all signed this offseason by the Red Bulls, but were later cut. In past years, players in this situation have appeared for the first salary dump, but not later ones.