When you’re doing research for a deep dive story, it’s amazing what you can learn for another story — like this one, for instance.
During our recent perusal of the current MLS collective bargaining agreement — which expires in 13 months, give or take a few days — we’ve realized that the Revolution players have left a rather large amount of bonus money on the field since 2015.
Since the players and investor/operators approved the current CBA, individual match winners receive $7,500 in bonus money per league triumph, which is subsequently divvied up among the players either on a monthly basis or at the end of the season, released at the MLS Players Association’s purview. And with teams playing 34-match fixture slates during each of the last four years, that means a grand total of $255,000 is available for each team per season.
So far, that’s a little over a million smackers in game winner’s bonus money available for the players of each club over the last four years. It’s $1.02 million, if you want precision.
Simple math will tell you just how much the Revs players have both made and left on the field. For example, this past season saw New England win 10 games. Like I said, the math is simple: $75,000 in bonus money for the 10 wins.
But on the flip side, that’s $180,000 in bonus money that was left on the pitch, whether by losing or drawing.
New England’s 13 wins in 2017 yielded an additional $22,500, or $97,500 total, compared to this season. That left $157,500 in bonus money for the taking.
The other two years already played under the current CBA:
2016: 11 wins x $7,500 = $82,500 in bonus money; $172,500 left
2015: 14 wins x $7,500 = $105,000 in bonus money; $150,000 left
But in 2015, the Revolution made the playoffs, which is an additional $20,000 in bonus money to the playoffs. So in 2015, the Revs players made $125,000 in bonus money.
Now, let’s add this up:
$360,000 in game victory bonuses earned in four years
$660,000 in game victory bonuses left on the pitch in four years
But not only that, the Revs haven’t made the playoffs in three seasons (like any of you needed a reminder). That’s an additional $60,000 that didn’t go into the bonus pool. Yet to their credit, they made that bonus up by finishing the 2016 US Open Cup as the runner-up.
A few other bonuses the Revolution have missed out on in the last four seasons:
- Regular season Eastern Conference championship: $35,000; that would have been in lieu of the qualifying for playoffs bonus, not on top of the $20,000.
- Winning the Supporter’s Shield: $130,000 the last two seasons; $55,000 in 2015-16, and in lieu of qualification/conference champion bonuses.
- MLS Cup runner-up: $80,000
- MLS Cup winner: $275,000
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If the supposed “leaked” 2019 playoff schedule that we saw late this week is true, the 2019 regular season will end much earlier than it has since the 2010 season, when the regular season came to its conclusion on Oct. 21.
Leaked? Official material showing the #MLS 2019 playoff schedule and the new play-off system with 7 teams per conference. pic.twitter.com/Sr4HrxZtGY
— MLS Transfer Buzz (@MLStransferbuzz) December 13, 2018
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- Excited for Hartford Athletic’s first season in the United Soccer League Championship division; the home opener at the refurbished Dillon Stadium is set for Saturday, May 4 — the same day as the Kentucky Derby.
- From the I’m Way Too Petty files: The more I think about it, the more I’m kind of hoping that the L.A. Chargers host New England in the Divisional round, seeing as that would force the Pats to play a playoff game… in a soccer stadium. It would mark the first meaningful LA-Boston game at whatever the heck they are going to call the StubHub Center since the MLS Cup Final in 2014.
- Interesting to see that Chicago picked up Marco Urena in the waiver draft this past week. If Urena can re-discover his scoring touch (one goal in 18 appearances for LAFC this season), then the Fire can make some noise in the East in 2019.
- By the way, if only three clubs made selections and 21 clubs elected to pass during the waiver draft, maybe you shouldn’t have a waiver draft. Same with a re-entry draft; the Revolution haven’t picked in the re-entry draft since 2014 (Tristan Bowen, second stage, did not come to terms with New England, never played a minute here). Just a waste of time if a minimal amount of clubs are seeing value in these acquisition mechanisms, if you ask this typist’s humble opinion.
- I think Cincinnati’s on-paper defense, anchored by Kendall Waston (bought for $750,000 in allocation money) and Greg Garza, is better than half the defenses in the Eastern Conference. I also like what FCC has done at attack, with Darren Mattocks and Roland Lamah up top, with Victor Ulloa in the middle.
- Add in the fact that Maxi Urruti is in Montreal (at least for now)… if L’Impact keep him, they would have gotten the former FC Dallas talisman for an absolute song ($75,000 in allocation). And he just adds to an already strong Eastern Conference.
- Vancouver was rather busy, wasn’t it? With loads of cap space cleared, that rebuild can begin in earnest.
- First, former Portland gaffer Caleb Porter was the favorite for the LA Galaxy manager’s job, then he wasn’t; instead, he’s the top candidate for Columbus’ vacancy.
- It will be interesting — at least to me, at any rate — to see what Revs striker Teal Bunbury does after the 2019 season. His dad, Alex Bunbury, is reportedly looking to start a Canadian Premier League side in Montreal in 2020, which would go up against L’Impact. A reminder: TB10 had his option for 2019 picked up by the Revolution, and is expected to be in the mix for the No. 9 role he maintained for most of this season once training camp opens in January. Just something to keep in mind.
- I’m wondering just how many of the players not picked up in the waiver draft or the re-entry draft will consider playing in the CPL rather than the USL.
- Honestly, I’m loving the Revs’ “Elf” re-make vids with Matt Turner as Buddy the Elf, with Andrew Farrell in place of the store manager; Turner's facial expressions in the second one, as he's going up the Gillette Stadium escalator, are priceless. And this is coming from a guy who has never seen the Will Ferrell version… because I’m not a fan of Ferrell’s work.
(Editor's note: Sean Sweeney's opinion on Will Ferrell's exemplary body of work is not shared by anyone else at BSJ ... or probably anyone anywhere. And it may be grounds for termination — especially the part about not seeing Elf. Seriously, who doesn't love Elf?! Or Old School? Or Step Brothers? Laugh a little.)