What 916 salaries, 490 draft picks, and 6 years of career data reveal about the pathway families fund.
MLS players on 2026 spring rosters
Median guaranteed compensation (2026)
Draft picks still active after 5+ years
Of surviving picks earn at or below reserve minimum ($113K)
Patrick Schulte is the best case in this dataset. Drafted #12 overall in 2022 out of Saint Louis University, he starts in goal for the Columbus Crew at $1,032,083 a year — the only one of 94 surviving 2020–2025 draft picks earning over $1M. He came up through a fee-paying youth club, like the families this site surveys. Everything below him on the salary guide is what the pathway more typically pays.
Designated Players (73 players, up to 3 per club) are excluded — their compensation is set by international transfer markets, not the domestic pathway. These charts show the 843 non-DP roster players: what the league actually pays the players most families are trying to produce. Source: MLSPA Spring 2026 Salary Guide. Figures are Annualized Average Guaranteed Compensation.
of non-DP players earn under $150K/yr.
Non-DP median salary. The full-roster median ($352K) is inflated by 73 DPs who are priced by the global transfer market.
League minimum. 59 players (7%) earn exactly this — the floor for all senior and supplemental roster spots.
The MLS SuperDraft is 61% American, but the draft is not how MLS builds its rosters. Of the top 100 transfer deals in MLS history, 92.6% of total spend went to non-American players. Argentina accounts for more transfer investment than Mexico, Brazil, and the US combined.
Of MLS roster spots are held by foreign nationals (Transfermarkt full-roster data, 2026).
Transfer spend on Argentine players alone — top 100 MLS transfers. 29 deals, avg €7.2M each.
Of total top-100 transfer spend went to American players. 6 players, €57.6M of €782M total.
External transfer arrivals — players signed from outside MLS in 2025/26, including loans (Transfermarkt). The dominant route.
SuperDraft picks (490 across 2020–2025). A pick is negotiating rights, not a contract — most never earn an MLS paycheck (see below).
Homegrown signings from MLS academies — clubs typically sign 1–3 per year from their own free academy programs.
The SuperDraft is dominated by domestic college players — a narrow slice of MLS talent. Stars like Messi (Argentina), Son (South Korea), Lozano (Mexico), and Denkey (Togo) never touched the draft. MLS builds its best squads through the transfer window, not the pipeline that American youth families are funding.
697 MLS SuperDraft picks across 11 cohorts (2010–2020) tracked against MLSPA salary guides from 2015–2026. The chart below starts at 100% — every player on draft day. Each subsequent point shows what percentage was still collecting an MLS paycheck at that year's September salary guide release.
Average share of draft picks still earning MLS pay 5 years after being drafted — across 11 cohorts.
Round 1 picks still in MLS at Year 5 — the only group with meaningful long-term survival. All other rounds average under 15%.
Median salary of surviving draft picks who made it to 2026. Just $25K above the league minimum of $88,025.
| Player | Draft | Pick | Club | Position | Drafted From | Developed At | 2026 Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Schulte | 2022 R1 | #12 | Columbus Crew | Goalkeeper | Saint Louis Univ. | St. Louis Scott Gallagher | $1,032,083 |
| Joey Maher | 2024 R2 | #30 | Nashville SC | Center-back | Indiana | St. Louis FC Academy | $995,467 |
| Jack Maher | 2020 R1 | #2 | Nashville SC | Center-back | Indiana | St. Louis Scott Gallagher | $995,467 |
| Henry Kessler | 2020 R1 | #6 | Charlotte FC | Center-back | Virginia | NY Red Bulls Academy | $965,525 |
| Duncan McGuire | 2023 R1 | #6 | Orlando City SC | Center Forward | Creighton | Elkhorn SC | $921,000 |
| Maximilian Arfsten | 2023 R1 | #14 | Columbus Crew | Left Wing | UC Davis | California Odyssey | $895,000 |
| Daniel Pereira | 2021 R1 | #1 | Austin FC | Central Midfield | Virginia Tech | Virginia Blue Ridge Star | $793,750 |
| Jackson Ragen | 2021 R2 | #33 | Seattle Sounders FC | Center-back | Michigan | Seattle Sounders Academy | $635,000 |
| Lucas Bartlett | 2022 R1 | #6 | DC United | Center-back | St. John's | Sporting Blue Valley | $585,625 |
| Daniel Munie | 2023 R1 | #10 | San Jose Earthquakes | Center-back | Indiana | St. Louis Scott Gallagher | $574,000 |
Note: Only 1 of 94 active picks earns over $1M (Patrick Schulte). 9 of the top 10 are R1 picks — 8 of those 9 are defenders or goalkeepers. The one R2 pick (Joey Maher, #30) is a Nashville SC Homegrown player.
MLS NEXT markets itself as the top developmental league in North America — the direct pathway to professional soccer. Families at independent MLS NEXT clubs pay $5,000–$15,000/year believing they are buying access to that pipeline. The data tells a more complicated story.
Which is why Patrick Schulte matters. He is what winning this lottery looks like: drafted, surviving, a starter, a million-dollar salary. There is exactly one of him in six draft classes. The median survivor earns $113,400 — and the median pick is gone.
Data sources: MLSPA Spring 2026 Salary Guide (916 players, as of April 16, 2026), MLS SuperDraft records 2020–2025 (490 picks), MLS Designated Player roster May 2026 (73 DPs, 30 clubs), 2025–26 MLS NEXT Homegrown Division official member list (152 clubs), Transfermarkt top-100 MLS transfers and 2025/26 season arrivals (532 total, 345 external), active roster cross-reference June 2026.