ESPN Report Shows Carlos Ruiz’s Base Salary Is Over $300,000

The Philadelphia Union’s Guatemalan international striker Carlos Ruiz has a base salary of $306,670, according to a report put out by ESPN.

The ESPN report lists the "best-paid athletes from 182 countries." Each monetary value listed is devoid of any other types of compensation other than the base salary. Ruiz is listed as the highest paid athlete in Guatemala, with his $300,000 plus salary quite high for a country that sports a per capita gross domestic product of only $2,661 (the higher the number the better). 

Ruiz’s salary was speculated to be around $275,000, which would have made him the highest paid Union player other than goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, whose salary is still unknown. Potentially, Ruiz could cost the Union a whole lot more, as base salary is not the same as the larger total of the striker’s guaranteed compensation – which counts against the salary cap.

The article is slightly confusing because it says that it takes, “base salary [numbers] from the most recently completed season or calendar year from each sport.” However, upon further review, numbers for some athletes are from the currently in-progress season, using the example of Yossi Benayoun, whose summer move to Chelsea bumped his salary up to where the list says it is at.