How much did Major League Soccer teams spend to earn a league point in 2016? How much of their payroll actually saw time on the pitch instead of languishing on the bench or the rehab table? We consider publicly available data such as base salaries, in-season arrivals and departures, minutes played by every player, and total points won to find out how successful MLS clubs were with plenty or with very little.

1. FRONT-OFFICE EFFICIENCY
How much did Major League Soccer clubs
spend to earn a league point in 2016?
We expose the difference between success
and failure in MLS front offices.
EXPLANATION OF TERMS
PAYROLL
UTILIZATION
PAYROLL COST
PER POINT
Annualized base pay pro-rated by player availability
in squad (not transferred, released, loaned or retired)
Proportion of playing time of team payroll to
maximum possible playing time of team payroll
Payroll multiplied by utilization divided by total
league points
DATA SOURCES
MLS Players Union Salary Data, 2016; Major League Soccer;
ENB Sports Player Database
SOCCERMETRICS RESEARCH 2016
WWW.SOCCERMETRICS.NET @soccermetrics
LA GALAXY $ 163,179
$16,134,529 payroll
52.6% utilization
52 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC $ 82,810
$6,365,567 payroll
50.7% utilization
39 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
CHICAGO FIRE $ 76,336
$4,778,552 payroll
49.5% utilization
31 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
ORLANDO CITY SC $ 151,241
$10,663,203 payroll
58.2% utilization
41 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
COLORADO RAPIDS SC $ 69,707
$7,551,480 payroll
53.5% utilization
58 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
TORONTO FC $ 236,153
$19,457,885 payroll
64.3% utilization
53 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
COLUMBUS CREW SC $ 79,085
$5,430,264 payroll
52.4% utilization
36 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
SPORTING KANSAS CITY
$ 70,208
$6,288,548 payroll
52.5% utilization
47 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
DC UNITED $ 54,772
$4,928,594 payroll
51.1% utilization
46 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES $ 70,615
$6,065,464 payroll
44.2% utilization
38 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
FC DALLAS $ 35,331
$3,728,613 payroll
56.9% utilization
60 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
$ 68,507
$5,205,128 payroll
55.3% utilization
42 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
NEW YORK RED BULLS $ 52,753
$5,143,512 payroll
58.5% utilization
57 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC $ 105,947
$9,992,651 payroll
50.9% utilization
48 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
HOUSTON DYNAMO $ 70,629
$5,185,829 payroll
46.3% utilization
34 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
REAL SALT LAKE $ 73,196
$5,431,531 payroll
62.0% utilization
46 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
IMPACT DE MONTRÉAL $ 70,292
$6,096,683 payroll
51.9% utilization
45 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
PORTLAND TIMBERS $ 88,814
$6,491,694 payroll
60.2% utilization
44 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
PHILADELPHIA UNION $ 55,107
$5,410,982 payroll
42.8% utilization
42 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT
SCCR.MX/2g2xFJD
NEW YORK CITY FC $ 266,343
$20,683,674 payroll
69.5% utilization
54 pointsPAYROLL COST PER POINT