Messi's $28.3M Salary Tops MLS — Bigger Than 28 Rosters

New MLS salary rankings show just how far Lionel Messi stands above the rest of the league: his $28.3 million in guaranteed compensation for 2026 is more than the entire payroll of 28 of the other 29 MLS clubs.

One player, 4.5% of an entire league's pay

Lionel Messi leads Major League Soccer with $28.3 million in guaranteed compensation for 2026, according to figures released by the MLS Players Association. That single salary accounts for 4.5% of all guaranteed compensation paid across the league, and it lifts the league-wide average by roughly $30,000 all on its own.

The gap to the rest of the league is staggering. Messi and the other nine highest-paid players together account for 15.2% of the league's guaranteed compensation, even though they represent just 1.1% of the 911 players analysed. In other words, a tiny handful of stars takes home nearly a sixth of all the money, and Messi alone takes home close to a third of that star group's share.

His new deal is a huge jump from his first MLS contract. When Messi joined Inter Miami in July 2023, he signed on a $12 million base salary with annualised guaranteed compensation of about $20.4 million. Last October he agreed a three-year contract running through the 2028 season, and the new terms more than doubled his base salary to $25 million, pushing his guaranteed compensation to $28.3 million.

Messi earns more than 28 whole rosters

The most eye-catching finding in the salary rankings is not the gap between Messi and the next player, but the gap between Messi and entire clubs. His $28.3 million is greater than the total payroll of 28 of the other 29 MLS teams. Only LAFC, whose roster costs $32.6 million, spends more on its whole squad than Inter Miami spends on one man.

Atlanta United's entire payroll is $27.9 million and the LA Galaxy's is $26.4 million, which means Messi individually out-earns both of those full rosters. At the other end of the scale, the Philadelphia Union run the league's lowest payroll at $11.7 million, less than half of Messi's salary.

Behind Messi, LAFC winger Son Heung-min is the league's second-highest earner at $11.1 million in guaranteed compensation. Messi's Inter Miami and Argentina teammate Rodrigo De Paul is third at $9.7 million, followed by San Diego FC's Hirving Lozano at $9.3 million and Atlanta United's Miguel Almiron at $7.9 million. Messi earns more than two and a half times as much as Son, and nearly three times as much as De Paul.

Messi is 52% of Inter Miami's payroll

Inter Miami have the highest overall payroll in MLS for 2026 at $54.6 million in guaranteed compensation. Strip Messi out of that number and the total falls to $26.2 million, which means the Argentine accounts for 52% of his own club's wage bill.

Even without Messi, Miami would still sit near the top of the spending table, but they would no longer lead it. LAFC's $32.6 million payroll, Atlanta United's $27.9 million and the LA Galaxy's $26.4 million would all sit above a Messi-less Miami. The figures underline how much of Miami's spending power is concentrated in a single player.

Miami's payroll has climbed from $46.8 million at the start of last season to $54.6 million now. LAFC have also spent heavily, raising their payroll from $22.4 million to $32.7 million, while Toronto cut back sharply, from $34.1 million to $21.4 million. Total league compensation across MLS reached $631 million, with the average guaranteed compensation of $688,816 up 8.9% on last October's figure.

What the average MLS player actually earns

The headline average of roughly $686,000 in guaranteed compensation does not describe what most MLS players take home. Only 256 of the 911 players analysed, or 28.1%, earn more than the average. The mean is pulled upward by Messi and a small group of fellow stars, which makes it a misleading guide to a typical career in the league.

The median salary tells a clearer story. The typical MLS player earns around $350,000 in guaranteed compensation, with half the league above that line and half below it. At the bottom of the scale, the league's reserve minimum salary for 2026 is $88,025, and the senior minimum sits at $113,400. Just 59 players earn the reserve minimum in guaranteed compensation, while another 94 earn it as a base salary with other payments lifting their guaranteed figure.

The league is run under a salary budget, but the Designated Player rules let clubs pay a few stars far more than the budget allows. That is the mechanism that makes Messi's deal possible, and it explains why the gap between the top and the middle of MLS is so wide. The league features everyone from young reserves on minimum deals to global superstars, and the salary data captures that entire spread.

The $28.3M is only part of Messi's real earnings

As large as the $28.3 million figure looks, it is only the MLS-contract portion of Messi's income. His Inter Miami deal also includes a future ownership stake in the club, and he has separate revenue-sharing arrangements with Apple TV and Fanatics tied to streaming subscriptions and merchandise sales. None of that income appears in the Players Association salary guide.

Forbes estimated in May that Messi makes around $140 million per year in total, split roughly evenly between $70 million from on-field earnings and $70 million from off-field income. Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas has previously indicated the club pays Messi around $70 million to $80 million per year once the full package is counted.

The salary guide figures cover the MLS contract only, including marketing bonuses and agents' fees, but they exclude performance bonuses and compensation from separate agreements with the club or its affiliates. That is why the gap between the official $28.3 million and the Forbes estimate is so wide, and why Messi's true value to Inter Miami is far larger than any single line in the salary rankings.

What the numbers mean for Messi and MLS

On the pitch, Messi has more than justified the investment. He led Inter Miami to their first MLS Cup title, won back-to-back league MVP awards, and led MLS with 29 regular-season goals last season. He has scored 59 goals in 64 regular-season games for Miami, and he arrived back from his Argentina farewell in October to fire a brace against D.C. United.

For MLS, the salary data shows a league being pulled in two directions at once. The star economy keeps growing, with 133 players now earning $1 million or more, up from 131 at the start of last season and just 91 at the start of 2022. Yet the typical player still earns a fraction of the headline figures, and the next collective bargaining agreement, due when the current deal expires in 2028, is expected to shape how that balance evolves.

For Argentina supporters, the numbers are a reminder of the scale of the stage Messi now performs on. Weeks after an emotional farewell at the Monumental, where he closed his international career against Benin, the salary rankings confirm his standing as the biggest financial force in North American football, and one of the highest-paid athletes on the planet.

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