Tryouts Over + USL Salary Picture

The tryouts have ended. Based on what the club have been posting, it looks like 700 people signed up and came on the first day of tryouts. That group got cut down to about 50 who returned for the second day of tryouts.

It looks like most USL teams actually conduct tryouts like this pretty regularly. So this isn't an expansion specific process.

Based on some in-depth research I have conducted (I googled "how many players are signed from tryouts USL"), it looks like at this level, there might be 2-3 players out of that group that actually sign on to the team. That's kind of cool, when you think about it, a couple of guys who just showed up to play some soccer, without agents or anything to contact the club, will get a chance to get paid to play soccer in Las Vegas.

As I was thinking about all this, I started to think about where the Lights would get all of the other players to fill their roster. And, perhaps more interestingly, what level of player will they be signing?

The USL doesn't publicize the teams' revenues or the players' salaries like MLS does, so we're kind of just guessing here based on threads I've seen about other USL teams.

Based on that, it looks like the USL doesn't have a minimum salary. And it looks like at other clubs, people have posted figures such as getting offered "up to" $2000 a month. Obviously mileage may vary, and the well-supported teams with deep-pocketed owners like Miami, Cincinnati, and Sacramento probably can afford to pay higher salaries than that (though I'm sure it is similar to MLS in that a few players make a lot more money than the rest).

So at the end of the day, my guess is that a large chunk of the Lights roster will be not so much "professional" players as "semi-professional" players - i.e. they are probably going to need jobs during the offseason to support themselves. I guess that makes sense, since that is what a lot of minor-leaguers in other U.S. sports like baseball and hockey have to do to pay the bills.

I guess what I am trying to say is this: don't be too surprised if the Lights don't go out and sign a Drogba-type player. What they will be probably be looking for are: college graduates who got overlooked by MLS; MLS and USL players who have been cut by their teams; and USL players who are looking to get a move from their current club.

All that said, I don't want to be doom-and-gloom or anything like that. There are some good quality players who don't quite make the cut at those levels, and I think the product on the field will still be entertaining even if you wouldn't recognize the names off the top of your head. At the end of the day, this is still the highest level of soccer that has ever been in this valley, so I'm looking forward to it.