Rapids Salary Info - August Update

The MLS Players Union has released it list of 2008 salaries. Its not quite up to date, as it doesn't include the last minute signings right before the season started, but its got most of the players.

The Rapids 2008 team salary based on these numbers is just over 2.6 million, which puts them 5th in the league behind LA, Chicago, DC, and RBNY. Those 4 teams have DP's, which raises their 2008 salaries considerably. The 5th team with a DP, Kansas City, signed their's after the list was put together so the DP salary is not included. You'll notice that 2.6 million is higher than the rumored cap of around 2.3 million. This is because Generation Adidas players and other dev players aren't counted agains the cap.

Here's the list of the Colorado salaries. The first number is their base salary, the second number is their guarenteed salary for 2008.

Ballouchy Mehdi M $ 75,000.00 $ 93,000.00
Burciaga Jose D $ 80,000.00 $ 82,500.00
Burpo Preston GK $ 55,116.18 $ 55,116.18
Casey Conor F $ 190,008.00 $ 190,008.00
Clark Colin F $ 33,000.00 $ 33,000.00
Colaluca Nico M $ 70,000.00 $ 103,000.00
Cooke Terry M $ 167,500.00 $ 172,500.00
Coundoul Bouna GK $ 33,000.00 $ 33,000.00
Cummings Omar F $ 33,000.00 $ 33,000.00
Dalby Greg M $ 33,000.00 $ 33,000.00
DiRaimondo John M $ 17,700.00 $ 17,700.00
Erpen Facundo D $ 125,000.00 $ 125,000.00
Gibbs Cory D $ 96,000.00 $ 103,000.00

Gomez Christian M $ 385,000.00 $ 430,000.00
Gomez Hercules F $ 51,817.50 $ 51,817.50
Grazier Brian M $ 12,900.00 $ 12,900.00
Harvey Jordan D $ 17,700.00 $ 17,700.00
Hughes Justin GK $ 12,900.00 $ 12,900.00
Ihemelu Ugo D $ 60,500.00 $ 60,500.00
Keel Stephen D $ 33,000.00 $ 33,000.00
Kimura Kosuke M $ 17,700.00 $ 17,700.00
LaBrocca Nick M $ 12,900.00 $ 12,900.00
Mastroeni Pablo M-D $ 300,000.00 $ 318,000.00
McManus Tom F $ 134,400.00 $ 140,462.50
O'Brien Ciaran M $ 45,000.00 $ 78,750.00
Peterson Jacob F $ 75,000.00 $ 93,750.00
Petke Mike D $ 133,000.00 $ 133,000.00
Ward Tim D $ 44,620.00 $ 54,620.00
Zambrano Cesar M $ 12,900.00 $ 12,900.00

As you can see there are some interesting numbers in that list. Christian Gomez is the 8th highest paid player in MLS, Pablo Mastroeni is the 15th highest paid player. LaBroacca isn't listed, but I would assume he is paid similarly to the other reserves, in the 33K region. Colaluca managed to parlay that Generation Adidas contract into a big payday, making more than first game starters Keel, Clark, and Bouna Time! put together. Kirovski is overpaid given his contribution, while Bouna Time! might be the most underpaid player in MLS.

Our starting 11 last week will make about 925K + LaBroacca in base salary this year. For comparison's sake Landon Donovan alone will make 900K by himself. That 4-0 win looks even better in that light.