Overseas Basketball Salaries: Nicaragua Basketball League [Player Survey]
Nicaragua BASKETBALL SALARIES SUMMARY:
Monthly Salary Ranges: Below $500USD - Above $5000USD
Most Common Monthly Salary: $1,501 - $1,999USD (27%)
Lowest Reported Monthly Salary: Below $500 (8%)
Highest Reported Monthly Salary: Above $5000USD (5%)
Salary Ranking in Central America Pro Basketball: No.1
Import Pro Players Surveyed: 50
In Nicaragua, the most common professional basketball salary for import players is between $1,501 - $1,999USD per month with 27% of players reporting their income in this bracket.
Close behind is the $2000 - $2500USD salary range as 25% of players reported their monthly playing income in this bracket.
According to our global overseas basketball salaries data, this makes Nicaragua the highest paying country for men’s professional basketball in Central America.
Nicaragua MONTHLY BASKETBALL SALARIES (PLAYERS SURVEY)
Nicaragua PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE SALAries: La Liga Superior de Baloncesto
As of today, Nicaragua has one main professional basketball league:
La Liga Superior de Baloncesto (LSB)
When thinking salaries in Nicaragua, know this:
REAL ESTELI IS KING
And not by Central American standards.
But legit BIG MONEY.
Real Esteli is a:
2x LSB champion (2018, 2019)
Central American Club Championship (COCABA) Winner (2018)
Became the first Central American club team to win a game at the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) - the toughest competition in pro club basketball in the Americas
Became the first Central American club to advance to the BCLA quarter-finals
As you can imagine, competing against some of the best clubs in the Americas takes some deep pockets.
Just consider the expenses:
Regular flights across the continent for games
Hotel stay before and after games
Attracting high-quality imports
Attracting high-quality coaches
Marketing and presenting the club professionally
….etc.
But the LSB’s salaries are more than just Real Esteli (RE).
In fact, with 52% of reported salaries landing in the $1,501 - $2,501 range, there is considerable evidence to support the idea that a number of teams in the LSB can pay players a decent wage.
In speaking with agents, managers, former coaches and players, I am told that outside of Real Esteli, players should be contacting the following teams if looking for a nice pay day:
Indigenas de Matagalpa
Brumas de Jinotega
UNAN de Leon
How are so many teams able to pay competitive salaries?
The LSB has a few huge factors going in its favor:
No Salary Cap
League is heavily subsidized by the federal government
New State-of-the-Art Stadium “Polideportivo Alexis Arguello” (2017)
There is another side to the coin though.
On the lower end of things, 19% of import players reported receiving a monthly salary below $1000USD.
But with 3 expansion teams in Tigres de Chinandega, Bufalos de Managua and UNAN Leon coming into the LSB in 2020, this can be expected.
In fact, when I was recently negotiating with one of these teams representatives, their final offer fell right into that lower range at $800.
Some Nicaragua professional basketball teams can’t offer much in basketball salaries for overseas players.
A key exception would be UNAN de Leon.
They are an extension of its university affiliate - UNAN Leon - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicargua - allowing for higher wages.
LSB pro basketball teams in Nicaragua can vary in how much they pay in salaries to overseas players.
Photo credit: LSB Facebook page
One final thing to remember:
The LSB is the only professional league in Central America that allows for import-trades mid-season.
So instead of teams having to send players home and sweating over financial details such as:
The round-trip flight costs for the new import
The VISA requirements for the new import
The return-trip flight for the underperforming import being sent home
…they can simply find a suitable trading partner and keep going with their season.
In the end then, every import player - in theory - could be benefitting from this rule indirectly.
ESTIMATED AVERAGE SALARY PER YEAR PLAYING PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL IN nicaragua
One big downside in Nicaragua is that the league is only held once a year.
The LSB runs roughly from July - October/Early November (5 months)
That means players can get a nice payday for a few months but it won’t last the whole year.
Let’s do the math:
The most commonly reported salary range is $1,501 - $1,999USD
The middle of that range is $1750
Multiply [$1750x5] for the number of months in the season
And in the end we can conclude…
THE AVERAGE foreign PLAYER’S YEARLY INCOME, IF HE WERE TO PLAY professional basketball ONLY IN Nicaragua, WOULD BE $8,750USD
Don’t worry:
It can get better.
Key word being can.
Because Nicaragua’s leagues run towards the end of the year, that means players from the winning team are well positioned to stay another month.
Why?
In December there is (usually) a Central American Club Championship - known as COCABA.
Here, the best teams in Central America compete for a berth to play in the highly prestigious Basketball Champions League of the Americas (BCLA).
Real Esteli and Nicaragua won the last one in 2018.
The good part of COCABA is:
Extra money
The winning team from each country does not necessarily have to take its same imports for the tournament
In other words:
If you are having a great season but don’t win the LSB championship, you could still hypothetically get picked by up the winning team from the LSB to play as an import in COCABA.
In fact:
This happened in 2019 as Real Esteli changed many of its imports after having won the championship.
One other way to increase your pay/stay in Nicaragua would be to play in the local national tournament known as the Torneo Carlos Ulloa.
In order for this to work, though, you must hold Nicaraguan citizenship.
nicaragua’s BASKETBALL SALARY RANKING IN CENTRAL AMERICA
If we are to compare the four-best paying basketball countries in Central America when it comes to average salary then it looks like this:
Most Common Salary Reported amongst 4 best-paying central american countries
When it comes to highest reported salary:
Highest reported salary amongst 4 best-paying Central American Countries
With such little difference between El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama, it’s easy to see why roughly 65% of our insiders couldn’t even make an educated guess as to the highest paying country in Central America.
Others assumed it would be Panama simply based on its outstanding level of basketball (ranked No.47 in the FIBA world rankings).
My data still points to Nicaragua having a slight edge.
A few reasons why I think this is:
Real Esteli’s huge budget inflates the league’s overall salary average
With the government heavily subsidizing the league, teams are freed up from usual expenses (no other Central American league has this luxury)
The import-trade rule helps teams reduce costs & focus on higher salaries
With that being said, understand a few things:
These surveys and data cannot be taken with absolute certainty
I cannot account for players answering truthfully with such sensitive information
The sample size isn’t the biggest but it gives us a solid foundation to learn from
Yet after having verified with hundreds of insiders and being deeply involved in this region for years, I am pretty confident in saying that Nicaragua is the No.1 country in Central America when it comes to professional basketball salaries.
Nicaragua Basketball Salaries Recap:
Players can earn anywhere from below $500USD - Above $5000USD on a monthly basis
Nicaragua’s only professional and paying basketball league is the LSB
Real Esteli BC pays the most to its players - both internationals and locals
Expect about 5 months of pay in Nicaragua pro basketball (possibility of 6)
Nicaragua ranks No.1 in Central American pro basketball salaries
Have any questions about Nicaragua basketball salaries?
Drop a comment below and let me know.
Jose Colorado is a five-year professional basketball player helping others achieve their goals of pro basketball through a proven, research-based approach.
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