MLS is Back Tournament winner to collect at least US$300,000 in prize money

Either the Portland Timbers or Orlando City SC will leave the MLS is Back Tournament with US$328,000 in prize money.

The tournament winner earns $300,000 and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. But victories in the group phase were worth $14,000 apiece for all 24 teams involved, with the Timbers and Orlando each recording two wins in round-robin play.

The final goes next Tuesday at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.

The runner-up gets $150,000 while the two semifinal losers — Philadelphia and Minnesota — collect $100,000 each from the $1.1-million purse.

Teams that finished fifth through eighth — the losing quarterfinalists — earn $47,500 apiece. The losing round-of-16 clubs — ninth through 16th — make $20,000 each, according to the league.

The remaining $100,000 was allocated for bonuses to teams’ technical staff.

So the Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps each collected $34,000 in winnings for their efforts in Florida. All three Canadian teams recorded one group phase win before losing in the round of 16.

The prize money structure is similar to that of the league’s regular-season and playoff bonuses under the collective bargaining agreement.

As 2019 MLS Cup champion, the Seattle Sounders won $275,000 while runner-up Toronto earned $80,000. This year that increases to $300,000 and $100,000, respectively.

Regular-season wins, which last year were worth $7,500 per team, are $14,000 per game in 2020 under the new collective bargaining agreement. That prize money is in addition to the $1.1-million tournament purse.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2020.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press