:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/14212159/149795093.0.jpg)
Inspired by our own Aolsh's article on the wage budgets at TempoFreeSoccer, I wrote a script to generate random rosters with current MLS players under a specified budget.
Just enter a target salary and I'll try to put together a reasonable MLS roster using current players under (but near) that budget. Note for purposes of this exercise I'm ignoring DP cap hits, off-budget players, international player limits, etc. Though that may be a good exercise for the future.
To calibrate, the Red Bulls spend around 10 million on salary, the Sounders about 5.4, Chivas about 2.5, and most teams are clustered between 3 and 4. But note that due to the MLS cap the high-spending teams skew their salary heavily towards a handful of DP players, whereas this tool will spread the salary out more evenly.
Some Notes:
- You have to keep the budget in a reasonable range (between 1.5m and 18m) because of the minimum MLS salary and because there aren't enough multi-millionaire players to meet a high budget number.
- I use the positions and salaries provided in the most recent MLS salary dump. If they're wrong, blame the Players' Union.