MLSPA Salaries: Fire Shed Payroll As Berhalter Arrives
After years of being one of the highest-spending teams in MLS under owner Joe Mansueto, the Chicago Fire have now dropped to 13th in the spending charts. The departure of Xherdan Shaqiri and his $8.2 million salary over the summer saw the team drop considerably, down from third in the spring.
The data, released twice a year by the MLS Players Association, sheds some light on team spending since it includes base compensation and guaranteed bonuses, but it does not give a full picture of teams’ salary cap situation, as it lacks transfer and loan fees, which also count towards the cap. Players’ accounting impact is also affected by the use of various roster and accounting mechanisms, including the use of Designated Player (DP) and U-22 initiative slots as well as Allocation Money.
Although the Fire were one of seven teams in MLS to decrease their roster spend, the Fire’s dip of more than $7.9 million was considerably higher than any team in the league, with the Fire one of four teams alongside the Colorado Rapids ($1.9 million), Atlanta United ($1.4 million) and the Philadelphia Union ($1.0 million) to see a seven-figure decrease. While the team did shed Shaqiri’s salary, they also brought on Ariel Lassiter and his $250,280 in guaranteed compensation.
The team’s roster spend is set to dip further, at least temporarily, as they have already announced that several players with expiring contracts will be departing from the club, including Rafael Czichos ($1.3m), Allan Arigoni ($472,000), and Fabian Herbers ($421,250). With their departures, the team will shed more than $2.6 million more in compensation as the team enters the offseason, which outgoing head coach Frank Klopas has called “the most crucial” in the club’s history.
Furthermore, there are expected to be several other departures in the coming months that could expand Berhalter’s flexibility even more. Gastón Giménez ($1.63 million), Arnaud Souquet ($699,679), and Carlos Terán ($619,000) are among those who could make way, while others like Victor Bezerra ($116,465), Javi Casas ($94,383), and Bryan Dowd ($71,401) are also set to open roster slots.
Barring the use of the team’s sole buyout, however, any bigger-money departures are dependent on the players finding a new club willing to offer them a lucrative enough deal to entice them away from the money promised to them in their contracts with the Fire.
Factoring in likely departures, more than $6 million could be shed from the payroll, including at least two TAM salaries (Giménez and Souquet). Combined with the Fire’s open DP slots, the moves give Berhalter almost as much roster flexibility as his predecessor, Georg Heitz, had when he joined the club ahead of the 2020 season.
Heitz spent little time signing players and filling all three Designated Player spots before the team’s first game. The flurry of signings – 16 in total – seemed ambitious but also inhibited the team’s ability to make moves when some of the moves went belly-up. Despite the Fire’s poor finish in 2024, Berhalter may feel less of a rush to bring in new players on long-term contracts, given the difficulty in moving on from bad deals in MLS.
Whatever he decides, Berhalter and his new, as-yet-unannounced front office staff have little time to waste, with players due to report to preseason camp in less than 100 days.
Read More:
https://meninred97.com/fire-announce-roster-decisions-for-2025/
https://meninred97.com/fire-have-third-highest-payroll-in-mls/
https://meninred97.com/source-xherdan-shaqiri-chicago-fire-agree-to-mutual-termination/
