MLSPA has officially released their salary guide for the Spring of 2026 with every MLS players base salary and guaranteed compensation. And the numbers tell a story on the relation between spending and performance. While spending can help bring success it is by no means a guarantee that a club will end up near the top of the table. While four of the top six teams in MLS are top ten spenders the other two fall well outside of that. Most notably is San Jose Earthquakes who rank 21st in total spending, but are on top of the Western Conference with 29 points heading into Round 13.
As for Minnesota United it's a bit of a mixed bag as seems to be the case with many things regarding Minnesota sports. The Loons have the fifth most players signed (34) while ranking 12th in spending with a total of $15,552,855. Only two clubs, Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas spend less than Minnesota and have more players signed. Both of those clubs also sit below MNUFC heading into Wednesday's fixtures.
Minnesota is third bottom of the league in designated player spending at $2,651,700, with only Philadelphia Union and CF Montréal spending less on DP players. However both of those clubs only have one DP on their roster while MNUFC has two. But the club sits much better regarding U22, TAM, and Homegrown spending, sitting in the middle of the league.
