Earlier today, the Major League Soccer Players Association released the 2024 fall update to their annual disclosure of the individual compensation for all players in the league including the New York City FC squad: Here are the 2024 NYCFC player salaries.
Not much has changed since we reported the players’s salary back in May, although the club’s overall payroll shrank from $15,977,803 to $14,614,159. New York City added no new players in the summer transfer window, which means there are no new salaries to report. Andres Jason left the club for Danish club Aalborg BK back in June, taking $287,144 off the books. And Talles Magno went to Corinthians in Brazil’s Serie A in August, which removes $1,198,000 in guaranteed salary from the payroll.
New York City FC 2024 Player Salaries | Fall Update
| Player | Pos | 2024 Base Salary | 2024 Total Comp | 2023 Total Comp | Change | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thiago Martins | D | $2,000,000 | $2,462,000 | $2,112,000 | $350,000 | 16.6% |
| 2. | Hannes Wolf | M | $1,400,000 | $1,510,000 | – | – | – |
| 3. | Santiago RodrĂguez | M | $1,200,000 | $1,331,333 | $1,331,333 | $0 | 0.0% |
| 4. | Talles Magno* | M | $950,000 | $1,065,000 | $1,198,000 | -$133,000 | -11.1% |
| 5. | James Sands | M | $1,000,000 | $1,058,333 | $1,058,333 | $0 | 0.0% |
| 6. | Keaton Parks | M | $900,000 | $1,030,000 | $550,000 | $480,000 | 87.3% |
| 7. | Birk Risa | D | $600,000 | $749,750 | $689,750 | $60,000 | 8.7% |
| 8. | Jovan Mijatović | F | $650,000 | $687,500 | – | – | – |
| 9. | Andrés Perea | M | $575,000 | $641,500 | $591,500 | $50,000 | 8.5% |
| 10. | Julián Fernández | F | $564,000 | $628,300 | $604,300 | $24,000 | 4.0% |
| 11. | AgustĂn Ojeda | M | $480,000 | $547,833 | – | – | – |
| 12. | Maxi Moralez | M | $480,000 | $500,000 | $500,000 | $0 | 0.0% |
| 13. | Tayvon Gray | D | $350,000 | $461,500 | $350,000 | $111,500 | 31.9% |
| 14. | Mounsef Bakrar | F | $360,000 | $456,720 | $432,720 | $24,000 | 5.5% |
| 15. | Nicolás Acevedo* | M | $300,000 | $344,800 | $274,800 | $70,000 | 25.5% |
| 16. | Mitja IleniÄŤ | D | $240,000 | $331,700 | $295,700 | $36,000 | 12.2% |
| 17. | Alonso Martinez | F | $300,000 | $328,483 | $278,479 | $50,004 | 18.0% |
| 18. | Strahinja Tanasijević | D | $240,000 | $308,750 | – | – | – |
| 19. | Matt Freese | GK | $250,000 | $270,000 | $180,000 | $90,000 | 50.0% |
| 20. | Thiago* | M | $200,000 | $219,600 | $219,600 | $0 | 0.0% |
| 21. | Kevin O’Toole | D | $175,000 | $195,833 | $85,444 | $110,389 | 129.2% |
| 22. | Luis Barraza | GK | $165,000 | $172,688 | $152,688 | $20,000 | 13.1% |
| 23. | Justin Haak | M | $150,000 | $165,000 | $165,000 | $0 | 0.0% |
| 24. | Maximo Carrizo | M | $89,716 | $123,239 | $111,597 | $11,642 | 10.4% |
| 25. | Christian McFarlane | D | $89,716 | $112,972 | $108,700 | $4,272 | 3.9% |
| 26. | Rio Hope-Gund | D | $89,716 | $89,716 | – | – | – |
| 27. | Jonathan Shore | $71,401 | $83,901 | $79,860 | $4,041 | 5.1% | |
| 28. | Andrew Baiera | D | $71,401 | $77,337 | – | – | – |
| 29. | Zidane Yañez | F | $71,401 | $75,568 | – | – | – |
| 30. | Malachi Jones | F | $71,401 | $71,401 | – | – | – |
| 31. | Tomás Romero | GK | $71,401 | $71,401 | $125,000 | -$53,599 | -42.9% |
| 32. | Alex Rando | GK | $71,401 | $71,401 | – | – | – |
| Total†| $14,614,159 |
*On loan
†Excludes players on loan
Source: Major League Soccer Player’s Association
Hudson River Blue Staff
The MLSPA reported a slight bump in pay for other players. Keaton Parks’s guaranteed compensation rose from $970,000 to $1,030,000, making him the fifth NYCFC active player to make seven figures. And Trayvon Gray’s guaranteed compensation rose from from $400,000 to $461,500, which gives him a year-on-year pay increase of 31.9%.
Here are 5 takeaways.
1. Alonso MartĂnez is the biggest bargain in MLS
When we first covered the 2024 player salaries in May, Mounsef Bakrar was still the striker of choice for head coach Nick Cushing. Alonso MartĂnez had made just three starts at that point, including an unimpressive outing against Atlanta United, and had yet to emerge as one of the most effective goals-scoring machines in the league.
MartĂnez made just $328,483 this year, and if we Money Ball his 16-goal season, we calculate that the club paid just $20,530 per goal. Compare that to Christian Benteke’s $4,687,500 in guaranteed salary: The DC United striker might have won the 2024 Golden Boot with 23 goals, but each one cost the club a hefty $203,804.
Andrew Leigh
2. Matt Freese is a steal
New York City goalkeeper Matt Freese is another bargain at just $270,000 in guaranteed compensation. That puts him at #32 among MLS goalkeepers.
Although there are other underpaid starters in the league: CF MontrĂ©al’s Jonathan Sirius gets just $152,156, while Columbus Crew’s Patrick Schulte makes $134,978.
Oliver Strand
3. Hannes Wolf is getting DP money
This reiterates a point we made back in May, when we wrote that the former Austrian international commands the second-highest salary on the team, ahead of Designated Player Santiago RodrĂguez.
Is he worth it? Maybe in the long run, but this season he was arguably the most inconsistent of the team’s five highest-paid players.
4. Jovan Mijatović has yet to prove his worth
Jovan Mijatović logged just 262 minutes in league play this season, which puts him at #22 on the team. But his $687,500 in guaranteed compensation puts the striker at #8 on the payroll, ahead of regular starters such as Gray and Maxi Moralez.
This is another long-term investment: The 19-year-old is signed through 2028, and his contributions to the team should increase with every year. But it also highlights the value of MartĂnez, who started the season on the margins of the NYCFC attack but who climbed over Bakrar and Mijatović on the depth chart to become the team’s primary choice at striker.
5. New York City maintain a mid-market payroll
The total compensation for NYCFC’s roster puts the team around 18th place in MLS, well behind Inter Miami’s league-leading $41,708,280.
2024 MLS Club Payrolls
| Club | Payroll | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Inter Miami | $41,708,280 |
| 2. | Toronto FC | $31,808,632 |
| 3. | LAFC | $22,085,924 |
| 4. | LA Galaxy | $21,962,879 |
| 5. | Nashville SC | $21,864,490 |
| 6. | FC Cincinnati | $20,950,009 |
| 7. | Houston Dynamo | $20,515,359 |
| 8. | New England | $18,883,233 |
| 9. | New York Red Bulls | $18,083,549 |
| 10. | Austin FC | $17,595,884 |
| 11. | Orlando City | $17,493,932 |
| 12. | Vancouver Whitecaps | $17,414,357 |
| 13. | Chicago Fire | $17,224,012 |
| 14. | Seattle Sounders | $16,680,315 |
| 15. | Columbus Crew | $16,586,339 |
| 16. | DC United | $16,490,439 |
| 17. | Sporting Kansas City | $16,313,140 |
| 18. | New York City FC | $16,243,559 |
| 19. | Real Salt Lake | $16,066,481 |
| 20. | St. Louis City | $15,484,335 |
| 21. | Charlotte FC | $15,474,045 |
| 22. | Portland Timbers | $15,407,617 |
| 23. | Atlanta United | $15,230,938 |
| 24. | Minnesota United | $14,768,315 |
| 25. | San Jose | $14,634,037 |
| 26. | Colorado Rapids | $14,435,426 |
| 27. | FC Dallas | $13,916,277 |
| 28. | Philadelphia Union | $13,813,718 |
| 29. | CF Montréal | $11,438,409 |
We should note that the numbers cited here are for each club’s total payroll, including players out on loan — that’s why New York City comes in at $16,243,559, and not the $14,614,159 figure we use above. Frankly, it would take too much work to go through every player loan in the league in order to calculate the active payroll for each club.
But it gives you a sense of where NYCFC stand in relation to the rest of MLS. The team’s payroll is well behind that of cross-river rivals New York Red Bulls ($18,083,549), who finished the season below them on the table, and FC Cincinnati ($20,950,009), who they will face on Monday in the first game of Round One of the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
It also reveals the clubs that misspent (Toronto FC, New England Revolution), and the ones that overachieved (Colorado Rapids, CF Montréal).
NYCFC’s 13th Place finish in the Supporters’ Shield table doesn’t look so bad when compared to their 18th Place payroll. As for Columbus Crew, whose $16,586,339 payroll places them at 15th Place but whose 66 points put them at 2nd Place in the league, hats off to you.
