Clint Dempsey's annual salary higher than annual wage bill of 15 MLS teams

Clint Dempsey of Seattle Sounders during the game against the Portland Timbers

Seattle Sounders midfielder Clint Dempsey is one of the top earners in the MLS after the league released the information on its player salaries.

The former Fulham player is said to be earning a staggering $6.695 million dollars annually, which is higher than the entire payroll of 15 teams.

The MLS has been growing in stature since signing international icons of the game. And the salary list including every player has been released which uncovered Dempsey as the top earner with Michael Bradley and England veteran Jermain Defoe following him in second and third position respectively.

But Bradley remains the highest paid when it comes to the base price. The former Roma midfielder earns a salary of $6 million.

Liviu Bird of Sports Illustrated uncovered further details which shown a graphical representation of how the salaries continue to rise since the league’s inception in 2007.

Bird said,”A more indicative number is the median, which is up $5,000 from last season. The $80,000 median in 2014 is the highest the league has seen. While the average salary has trended decidedly upward since David Beckham joined the league in 2007, the median has stayed steady.”

The numbers show that there has been a steady growth in income which has attracted the attention of high profile names to play in the US.

The average salary for players used to be $103,715.18 in 2007 with the median resting at $70,000. In 2014, those numbers are now $186,258.90 and $80,000 respectively.

MLS founder/investor Clark Hunt who spoke to Forbes last November said, “Now, there are 19 teams – with another New York City team scheduled to launch in 2015 and one in Orlando in the works. And with Hunt selling his second soccer team, Columbus Crew, for an MLS record $68 million this July, ownership is as dispersed and valuable as ever. Average attendance has surged to 18,600, a more than 35% increase from the 2000 nadir of just over 13,700.”

On Thursday, ESPN Sportscenter tweeted a fact that portrayed the wide disparity between player salaries.

Clint Dempsey will make $6.695 million this season – more than the TOTAL payrolls of 15 out of 19 MLS teams. » http://t.co/a4I4UT8Vre

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 10, 2014