Struggling Athletes: A Look at Minor League Pay

While most people tune in to watch major league sports on television and plan trips around visits to major league sports venues, for game-day fun most people visit minor league arenas, ballparks, stadiums, and ice rinks. When a trip to a major city is out of the question, Americans can still get their game-day fix by watching local minor-league teams compete, often for low salaries. In the aftermath of an Arena Football League (AFL) owner firing his entire Pittsburgh Power team just before its game against the Orlando Predators, a look at the salaries and pay scales of minor-league athletes:

Football

Chris Chase at the Shutdown Corner reports that AFL players typically received $400 per game and the AFL Player’s Association recently requested a 200 percent raise, which would have tripled salaries to $1200 per game. AFL owners offered a $100 raise, bringing minor league football players a wage of $500 per game. With 18 games per AFL season, rank-and-file players can bring home as much (or as little) as $9000.

Baseball

Garrett Broshuis at baseballamerica.com writes that, as of 2010, first-year minor league baseball players on Triple-A teams, which are organizations that feed into Major League baseball franchises, earn a minimum of $32,500 per year. Triple-A teams are the top of the minor leagues, however, and salaries decrease substantially with each lower league.

The National Sports and Entertainment Law Society lists monthly starting salaries for minor league baseball players as of 2010:

First-year Triple-A players get $2,150 per month.

First-year Double-A players get $1,500 per month.

First-year Single-A players on full season contracts get $1,050 per month.

First-year Single-A players on short-season contracts get $850 per month.

Basketball

The website ehow.com reports that, according to National Public Radio in 2007, salaries in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) D-league, or Development league, averaged between $12,000 and $24,000 per year. The American Basketball Association (ABA) paid around $10,000 per year.

According to gazette.net, the minor league Premier Basketball League (PBL) paid players between $300 and $700 per week as of 2008.

Hockey

According to the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, the American Hockey League (AHL), which feeds into the major league National Hockey League (NHL), starts salaries at $40,500 for the 2012-2013 season. Players “on loan” to the AHL from “lesser leagues” start at $32,500 per year.

Smaller leagues, such as the North American Hockey League (NAHL), pay for hotels and meals, as well as most equipment, but require players to cover all personal expenses.

Soccer

The Washington Post reports that, as of 2007, salaries for Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States were lower than many minor league salaries in other sports, with 91 out of 356 players earning less than $18,000 a year. The average annual salary in the MLS was about $115,000 in 2007, but fell to only around $80,000 if salaries for foreign stars like David Beckham were not included.