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A Deep Dive Into MLS and Orlando City’s Payroll Spending

Published

8 years ago

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The Major League Soccer Players’ Association released its fall salary information yesterday and the numbers revealed some interesting trends in regards to teams’ payroll spending. As a general rule, in 2018 you don’t want your team to spend the most money or the least if you’re interested in the club playing postseason soccer.

Let’s take a look at the payroll breakdown:

1.      Toronto FC   $26,559,206.65

2.      LA Galaxy   $17,507,008.30

3.      Chicago Fire   $15,531,522.67

4.      New York City FC   $14,824,390.78

5.      LAFC   $14,134,135.99

6.      Seattle Sounders FC   $13,427,648.33

7.      Montreal Impact   $12,642,036.90

8.      Atlanta United   $11,606,330.49

9.      Sporting Kansas City   $11,554,237.01

10.  Portland Timbers   $10,994,792.96

11.  Colorado Rapids   $9,741,570.96

12.  DC United   $9,689,537.84

13.  FC Dallas   $9,334,556.52

14.  Philadelphia Union   $8,914,581.59

15.  Orlando City SC   $8,873,899.44

16.  Minnesota United   $8,542,121.37

17.  San Jose Earthquakes   $8,308,343.41

18.  Real Salt Lake   $8,132,415.56

19.  Vancouver Whitecaps   $8,107,770.17

20.  New York Red Bulls   $8,064,992.45

21.  Columbus Crew   $7,715,954.14

22.  New England Revolution   $7,471,669.49

23.  Houston Dynamo   $5,896,563.27

24.  FC Cincinnati   $2,057,575.83

*These numbers were compiled from individual salaries by SB Nation’s Jeremiah Oshan. I haven’t checked all of them for accuracy but I did double check that Orlando’s is correct given the data from the MLSPA and I looked at a couple other random teams and found no discrepancies. For these purposes, the total compensation column was used rather than base salary.

How Orlando City Fits in the MLS Spending Picture

The first thing that stands out is this: holy cow is Toronto FC spending a lot of money! To me, the second thing that stood out when I saw the numbers displayed like this is that two of the top three payrolls are out of the playoffs and the No. 2 LA Galaxy are below the line with one game left to play. With a game in hand on Real Salt Lake, it’s possible the Galaxy will win and get in, especially with a home game looming against Houston, but a draw or a loss would eliminate LA and put the top three payrolls in the league on the outside, looking in.

The next thing you notice in this column (or at least for me, as someone following Orlando City) is that the teams below the Lions are not doing well. Of the eight teams below Orlando City’s payroll number (not counting FC Cincinnati, which isn’t fully in the league yet), only one team is safely in the playoffs. Five of the eight are out and two more — Columbus and Real Salt Lake — both could miss the postseason as well.

It’s likely the Crew will get in, with only a home game remaining against Minnesota. Even a draw would see Columbus through. Montreal needs to beat New England and get help from the Loons to knock Columbus out. But we’ve already mentioned that the Galaxy just need a home win against a poor Houston side to leapfrog RSL. So the likelihood is that six of the eight teams below Orlando in payroll will miss the playoffs, while 10 of the 14 teams that spent more will continue playing beyond Sunday and two of those four teams to miss the postseason are Toronto and Chicago, the league’s No. 1 and No. 3 spenders.

D.C. United’s payroll was lower than Orlando’s prior to the secondary transfer window and the team languished near the bottom of the table. However, once the spending increased the team quickly climbed up the Eastern Conference. That’s certainly not the only factor in D.C.’s rise, with the other being a bevy of home games in the second half after spending the early months of the season mostly on the road, but it does follow the spending trend.

The New York Red Bulls are the league’s outlier. Sunday’s Orlando City opponents have been outspent by everyone but Columbus, New England, and Houston, yet are gunning for the Supporters’ Shield this weekend. Excellent player evaluation and an even better academy have served the Red Bulls well.

If the Crew get in, they’ll be a second outlier, as Columbus spends very little. Talent identification, smart spending, and good coaching have gotten the Crew a long way. On the other end of the spectrum, Toronto FC and Chicago are outliers in a negative way. Each spends a lot but didn’t reach the playoffs. With the Reds, that’s due largely to a spring spent chasing the Concacaf Champions League title and a rash of key injuries. It’s also possibly, in part, a hangover from winning a treble just a year ago. The Fire also dealt with some injuries this season but mostly they just played poorly throughout the year. Should the Galaxy stumble on Sunday, they would join the Fire as clear underachievers at the top of the MLS spending ranks.

Orlando City was much higher on the payroll list from 2015 to 2017 but that was mainly due to paying Kaká the league’s highest salary. The team did a better job of more evenly distributing its spending in 2018; however, it is now just 15th of the 23 current MLS teams in payroll and in the range of spending occupied mostly by teams that will miss this year’s postseason.

How Orlando Spent its Money

With the vast overhaul the team did last off-season, and the amount of allocation money used, it is unclear how much flexibility the Lions will have to distribute across their payroll in 2019. There are some tremendous bargains on this team, such as Adam Grinwis ($67,500) and Shane O’Neill ($79,499.92). However, there are also players making far too much money for the amount of minutes they’re getting, like Donny Toia ($125,004), Dillon Powers ($180,000), Stefano Pinho ($183,333.33), and Richie Laryea ($164,000).

Injuries have also been costly, with Jonathan Spector ($636,941.50) limited to just 13 matches in 2018, while the club should also look to be more economical with the roster spot occupied by Cristian Higuita ($581,662.67), who will appear in less than two thirds of the team’s games this season.

Speaking of Higuita, the Lions are spending an extraordinary amount of money on defensive midfielders. If you don’t include Yoshimar Yotún’s salary of $599.996 in that, the club is still spending $2,193,474.80 combined on Higuita, Powers, Uri Rosell, Will Johnson, Carlos Ascues (who could feature in a three-man back line next year instead of defensive midfield), Tony Rocha, and Cam Lindley.

The Lions are spending $3,818,916.62 in the attack (if you consider Yotún there, as he’s played much of the season in the attacking midfield, although it’s not his most natural position). This includes the team’s only two strikers — Pinho and Dom Dwyer — as well as attacking midfielders Sacha Kljestan, Josué Colmán, Yotún (who generally plays deeper, where he’s more comfortable), Laryea, Jose Villareal, and Pierre Da Silva (a bargain buy at $54,504 for a developing young player). Keeping in mind that Dwyer and Kljestan make up more than $2.48 million of that $3.8 million total and another half a million plus is Yotún — a more natural left back/left defensive midfielder — that leaves $735,587.25 on the rest of the attack (Pinho, Laryea, Villareal, Mueller, Colmán, and Da Silva). Four of those players hardly ever play, Mueller’s production (but not his work ethic) has dropped dramatically since the early part of the season, and Colmán has yet to find good enough form to warrant being a lineup regular, appearing in 23 games but starting just 10. This is clearly an area in need of an upgrade and a more even distribution of expenditures.

The back line is somewhat expensive at $2,469,174.62. It has also been hit hard by injuries in 2018. There is a lot of quality on the team in this area but with injuries and international call-ups leading to 25 different back line combinations in 33 matches, you’d hardly know it. Orlando set a new MLS record for goals conceded in a season largely due to so much inconsistency on the back line. For the purpose of counting the back line cost, I did not include Ascues, as I believe he was intended to be a defensive midfielder who can fill in on the back line. (You can add $391,500 to this total for Ascues and subtract it from the defensive midfield, if you like.) That could change next season if James O’Connor sticks with three at the back, since the Peruvian is adept at playing the ball with his feet and he combined well with O’Neill and Lamine Sané the last couple of games.

For our purposes here, I’m counting the guys who are primarily center backs and fullbacks (minus Ascues). So, the total above reflects the combined salaries of Toia, Spector, Sané, O’Neill, RJ Allen, Mohamed El-Munir, PC, Chris Schuler, Scott Sutter, and Amro Tarek. I think the team has done a good job overall spending in this area and there is good quality. It just needs to stay healthy consistently. Perhaps removing Spector and using his salary to improve the depth players at fullback would be the right move here as it would seem unlikely to sustain such an insane rash of injuries at center back again, and Ascues could certainly fill in when needed. Allen’s not a bad depth player but PC and Toia aren’t being used and an upgraded is needed behind El-Munir who has finally started playing better defensively now that he’s being deployed more as a wingback than a fullback.

The goalkeeping is only costing Orlando City $324.833.40 this year. Several teams pay their starting goalkeepers more than the Lions pay all of their keepers combined. Joe Bendik makes more than half of the above total and he’s not been nearly good enough in 2018. Grinwis has been a nice find but it took him all season and a number of poor performances by Bendik and a lack of seizing the job by Earl Edwards, Jr. to get his chance. It’s unclear if Grinwis is the long-term answer the Lions need but if he is, he’ll get a significant raise. This is another position the Lions will need to upgrade this off-season.

To summarize, the Lions should use a better payroll distribution across the attack, upgrade the goalkeeping position, and stay healthy at the back. Jettisoning Spector would save the team a lot of money, but would also result in a loss of leadership and quality, as he’s been the team’s best center back when fit, so that will have to be taken into consideration.

Committing to playing Yotún either in the defensive midfield or the attacking midfield and Ascues either in the midfield or the back line, would also help the club see where it needs to best address payroll this winter. And, finally, O’Connor must decide whether an expensive Designated Player like Kljestan fits within his system or if the money spent on the veteran midfielder can be used more effectively.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

4 weeks ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

1 month ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

4 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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