Sporting KC Roster and Contracts Post-Transfer Window

Sporting Kansas City closed out the transfer window last week with a couple small moves, acquiring Ruben Ramos Jr. (LA Galaxy) and Seymour Reid (NYCFC) on loan for the next year through the Sprint Season.

That means the roster is mostly set (though moves can happen) for the final 11 games of the Major League Soccer season. Basically, the players who are here are all Sporting KC have to turn things even mildly around for the remainder of the season.

That also means, these guys are fighting for their lives. Let’s take a look at who is signed and for how long.

Fully Out of Contract

John Pulskamp, Stephen Afrifa, Justin Reynolds

Pulskamp and Afrifa will be free agents if the team doesn’t re-sign them. Reynolds will have to go through the Re-Entry Draft if he doesn’t get re-signed and wishes to remain in MLS. John is the longest tenured player on the senior roster, joining in February of 2020.

2027 Contract Options Only

Shapi Suleymanov

That’s it. Just Shapi has only a one-year option. This isn’t a prediction article, but I imagine that option isn’t picked up considering his $1,065,028 salary combined with his level of production.

2027 Options and Beyond

Ryan Schewe, Jansen Miller, Wyatt Meyer, Jayden Reid, Ethan Bartlow

Here is where things start to get complicated. With MLS flipping their calendar, there are a whole bunch of guys that can have just a 2027 option triggered (like Shapi above). Some of them have deals that run through 2027-28 (like Meyer, J. Reid, Harris and Bartlow). Those are easy, they have options for the 14-game sprint season and then another option for at least a season beyond that.

Others, like Jansen Miller, have an option through 2028. If they trigger his 2027 option, that will carry him halfway through the 2027-28 season. See the full table below for who is in this situation with contracts that run through 2027 right now (like Jake Davis). They are denoted by not having a hyphenated year in the option column. MLS hasn’t announced how they’ll deal with this and presumably will try to get a new Collective Bargaining Agreement done to solve this problem.

Of the nine players listed above, it’s plausible none could be around next season. However, David Lee may have learned some hard lessons about trying to recruit too many players in one offseason. We’ll take a closer look at those contract options and who is likely to be picked up, as the season gets closer to its conclusion.

The full roster and their situations and options are below.

Sporting KC’s Contracts and Option Years

A more updated version of this roster is always available on the KC Soccer Journal under the contracts drop-down at the top of the page (on desktop) and at the hamburger menu (on mobile). Or here.