One of the reasons that very likely factored into Nashville SC’s decision to fire head coach Gary Smith on Thursday: He wasn’t getting nearly enough bang for the buck from his team.
Nashville’s payroll had increased by a whopping 53 percent compared to the figure from last season, rising from approximately $14 million in 2023 (which ranked 18th among Major League Soccer’s 29 teams) to approximately $21.4 million this season (which ranked fourth), per the MLS Players Association salary guide released Thursday.
But the Boys in Gold had gone backward in the standings.
Despite a win on Wednesday, Nashville (3-4-5) heads into Saturday’s home game against Atlanta United FC in 10th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference — a tiebreaker out of ninth place, which is the cutoff line for postseason play.
In 2023, Nashville finished 13-11-10, good enough for seventh place in the conference and a fourth consecutive spot in the playoffs. Smith led the team to a 49-36-52 mark in MLS regular-season games since 2020, Nashville’s first year in the league. The Boys in Gold never finished below seventh place in their division from 2020 through 2023.
Why did Nashville’s payroll increase so significantly this season?
The primary reason was the money paid to its three designated players — central defender Walker Zimmerman, midfielder Hany Mukhtar and forward Sam Surridge:
• Zimmerman, a mainstay of the club since it began MLS play, saw his guaranteed compensation (salary plus guaranteed bonuses) jump from $2.1 million in 2023 to $3.5 million this year. He’s been a powerful presence when on the field, assisting on Nashville’s game-winning goal Wednesday. But injuries have limited Zimmerman to just six of 12 games so far this season, one reason the Boys in Gold have surrendered several leads in losses.
• Mukhtar, the league’s MVP in 2022, saw his guaranteed compensation increase from $3.2 million in 2023 to $5.2 million this year. It’s the seventh-highest figure in MLS. But the 29-year-old, slowed by injuries that have kept him out of two games, has only two goals and four assists in 10 contests. That’s well off his productivity level of the past three seasons, which included his 23-goal, 11-assist performance in 2022.
• Surridge is being paid for his first full season with the team, and he’s making $2.9 million in guaranteed compensation. He was signed last July, well after the 2023 season began in February. Surridge, who has missed two games with injury, leads Nashville with five goals this season, but that figure is tied for only 13th in the league.
Another notable Nashville payroll addition is midfielder Tyler Boyd, acquired in the offseason from the LA Galaxy and making $775,000 this season. Injuries have knocked him out of three games entirely and limited him to five starts, where he has totaled zero goals and two assists.
There were other Nashville pay raises from last year as well, including goalie Joe Willis ($391,000 to $658,000), defender Jack Maher (from $355,000 to $795,000) and forward Jacob Shaffelburg ($195,000 to $395,000).
The bottom line is that Nashville’s $21.4 million payroll this season trails those of only three teams: Inter Miami CF (with superstar Lionel Messi) at $41.6 million, Toronto FC at $31.4 million and the Chicago Fire FC at $25.1 million.
Nashville is one of just four MLS clubs with a payroll over $20 million, and its three designated players — Zimmerman, Mukhtar and Surridge — all rank among the top 20 in guaranteed annual compensation.
Ownership has made it clear it’s willing to open the wallet to better the roster.
But increases in payroll lead to increases in expectation, which — injuries or not — Smith and the team had not met this season.