One of the most popular and dominated teams in Major League Soccer league is the New York Red Bulls. The American professional soccer club is based in Harrison, New Jersey. The Red Bulls which compete as a member of the Eastern Conference came 6th in the conference and 12th in the overall league.
The club was established in October 1994 and started playing in the league’s inaugural season in 1996 as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. In 2006, the team was sold to Red Bull GmbH and re-branded as part of the company’s global network of football clubs, leading to the team’s current name.
The club’s nickname is called The Metros and play its home games at the Red Bull Arena since 2010, having previously played at Giants Stadium. The stadium is located in Harrison, New Jersey and has a capacity of 25,000 seats.
The Red Bulls are one of two teams in MLS based in the New York metropolitan region along with New York City FC, which entered the league in 2015. The two sides compete against each other in the Hudson River Derby. The team’s current head coach is former United States international midfielder, Chris Armas.
The Red Bulls have reached the MLS Cup final once in 2008 where they were defeated by the Columbus Crew. The club has won three regular-season Supporters’ Shield titles in 2013, 2015 and 2018, and has also twice reached the final of the U.S. Open Cup in 2003 and 2017, losing on both occasions.
The club’s original name was Empire Soccer Club, which gave birth to the name of the team’s largest supporters’ group, Empire Supporters Club. The team’s original owners were John Kluge and Stuart Subotnick.
The name MetroStars was chosen in reference to Metromedia, the media company founded by Kluge, after Nike’s original suggestion “MetroFlash” was rejected. The owners also considered but rejected buying the rights to the name “Cosmos”.
On March 9, 2006, it was announced that Austrian energy drink conglomerate Red Bull GmbH had purchased the club, and as part of their sponsorship would completely re-brand the franchise, changing the name, colors, and logo, a move which drew mixed reactions. The club name was changed to “Red Bull New York” with the team now referred to as the “New York Red Bulls” by the league and media.
The club signed legendary French forward Thierry Henry as a designated player in July 2010. A month later on August 2, the Red Bulls signed their third designated player, Mexican international defender Rafael Márquez. The signing of Márquez established the Red Bulls as the first MLS team to have three designated players.
With these new additions, the Red Bulls improved further and clinched first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2000. New York also set an MLS record for best one-season improvement, finishing with 51 points after having just 21 points the previous year.
Despite the impressive turnaround, the season again ended in disappointment for the Red Bulls. The Eastern Conference semi-finals saw the Red Bulls fall to the San Jose Earthquakes. Joel Lindpere was named the season’s Most Valuable Player.
Bradley Edward Wright-Phillips is the highest-paid player in New York Red Bulls. The 34-year-old striker earns a base salary of $1,200,000.00.
New York Red Bulls player salaries for 2019, as released by the MLS Players Union, as of June 1, 2019.
| Player | Pos. | Base Salary | Compensation |
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| Bradley Wright-Phillips | F | $1,200,000.00 | $1,380,000.00 |
| Kaku | M-F | $800,000.00 | $800,000.00 |
| Aaron Long | D | $770,000.00 | $800,000.00 |
| Daniel Royer | M-F | $700,000.00 | $768,750.00 |
| Tim Parker | D | $738,200.00 | $752,200.00 |
| Luis Robles | GK | $490,000.00 | $490,000.00 |
| Kemar Lawrence | D | $340,000.00 | $382,750.00 |
| Marc Rzatkowski | M | $300,000.00 | $341,667.00 |
| Andreas Ivan | M-F | $264,000.00 | $330,600.00 |
| Sean Davis | M | $300,000.00 | $327,500.00 |
| Mathias Jorgensen | F | $275,000.00 | $306,250.00 |
| Amro Tarek | D | $150,000.00 | $156,250.00 |
| Ryan Meara | GK | $132,000.00 | $137,000.00 |
| Connor Lade | D | $126,000.00 | $132,750.00 |
| Alex Muyl | M-F | $123,750.00 | $127,750.00 |
| Cristian Casseres | M | $80,000.00 | $118,750.00 |
| Michael Murillo | D | $105,004.00 | $113,754.00 |
| Omir Fernandez | M-F | $80,000.00 | $95,000.00 |
| Derrick Etienne | M-F | $77,063.00 | $82,063.00 |
| Jean-Christophe Koffi | M | $70,250.00 | $76,031.00 |
| Marcus Epps | M-F | $70,250.00 | $74,542.00 |
| Florian Valot | M-F | $70,872.00 | $74,508.00 |
| Vincent Bezecourt | M-F | $70,875.00 | $73,296.00 |
| Evan Louro | GK | $70,250.00 | $70,250.00 |
| Ben Mines | M-F | $57,229.00 | $63,243.00 |
| Kyle Duncan | D | $57,225.00 | $57,225.00 |
| Brian White | F | $57,225.00 | $57,225.00 |
| Tom Barlow | F | $56,250.00 | $56,250.00 |
| Sean Nealis | D | $56,250.00 | $56,250.00 |
