Sporting KC Can Free Up a Ton of Salary This Offseason

The 2025 Major League Soccer season is far from over. Sporting Kansas City have played 20 games, and they still have 14 to go. That’s still over 41 percent of the season remaining. That doesn’t mean folks shouldn’t have an eye towards the 2026 season and beyond.

One of the people maybe more focused on it than anyone else is Sporting Director, Mike Burns. While he still has the secondary transfer window this season to worry about, which doesn’t open until July 24th, Burns surely is salivating at the potential spending power this offseason.

That financial flexibility is coming from all the expiring contracts that Sporting KC have on the books, in addition to a lot of potential moves they can make by declining contract options on a few other large salaries.

Take a quick look at the roster below, and you can see 17 of 25 players are either out of contract or have options that can be declined. That’s an astounding 68 percent of the roster! Now, obviously, a lot of those players will be around in 2026 and perhaps well beyond.

For example, there is no way Jansen Miller and his incredible bargain contract, aren’t back next year. I’d add John Pulskamp to that list as he comes into his own as the starting keeper.

However, look along the backline and outside of a likely Miller return and recent MLS debutant Ian James and his long-term deal, literally every other defender is out of contract or on an option. Maybe some of them return, but it wouldn’t be surprising for the vast majority of them to leave.

Let’s take a look at what that spending power looks like.

*Andrew Brody is listed at the league minimum, even though his salary is listed higher because Real Salt Lake are paying most of his wages.

Some of these guys will be back, but if they are all gone, that’s $8,629,216 in salary off the books and 15 roster spots! I would say most of the guys on the fence to return are on lower salaries anyways (surely, they pick up Zorhan Bassong).

Unless things change dramatically it seems likely Thommy ($1.6 million), Radoja (~$1.4m), Fernandez (~$1.1m), Leibold ($926k), Shelton ($775k) and Rosero ($530k) are all gone. That’s nearly $6.3 million right there!

Now, just because money is available, doesn’t mean it will be spent well. But of those players, only Joaquin Fernandez is a “Burns signing,” but all indications are that was in the work before Burns even arrived. Burns on the other hand, has a stellar track record signing Dejan Joveljic, Manu Garcia, Santiago Munoz and others. Not to mention drafting Jansen Miller. He’s hitting at a pretty high rate so far. There is no saying that will continue going forward, but the outlook feels positive.

There are 14 games, and maybe playoffs if things go right, for a lot of these guys to earn a spot on the roster for 2026. However, there is no doubt that the 2026 version of Sporting KC will look a lot different than 2025. That could include a new coach on the sideline, but that’s an entirely different story.