Overseas Basketball Salaries: Honduras Basketball League [Players Survey]
Honduras Basketball Salaries Summary:
MONTHLY SALARY RANGES: Below $500USD - $1500USD
MOST COMMONLY REPORTED MONTHLY SALARY: $500USD - $999USD (45%)
LOWEST REPORTED MONTHLY SALARY: Below $500USD (30%)
HIGHEST REPORTED MONTHLY SALARY: Between $1000USD - $1500USD (25%)
SALARY RANKING IN CENTRAL AMERICA PRO BASKETBALL: No.6
NUMBER OF PLAYERS SURVEYED: 20
In Honduras the most common professional basketball salary is between $500 - $999USD per month with 45% of import players reporting their income in this range.
One very important thing to take into consideration though is how few import basketball players are actually contracted each year in Honduras.
Instead in the past five years, the emphasis has been placed on the Central American Championships.
HONDURAS MONTHLY BASKETBALL SALARIES (PLAYERS SURVEY)
HONDURAS PRO BASKETBALL salaries: LIGA MAYOR
In Honduras the main professional basketball league is known as Liga Mayor.
No, there isn’t a single pro team in this league that cashes out players as is the case with Real Esteli and Nicaragua.
In fact:
There are barely any teams that can even afford to pay for an import player.
So if you make were looking for bigger pay day rather than experience then I suggest heading over to our overseas salaries global index chart that details over 100 basketball league salaries.
Otherwise, let’s get back to Honduras.
There are 6 teams in Liga Mayor:
ICEVIC TEGUCIGALPA
BANCO ATLANTIDA
NACIONAL DE INGENIEROS - TEGUCIGALPA
NACIONAL DE INGENIEROS ELECTROMECANICA (2ND TEAM)
TITAN/PANTERAS
JURASICOS
Of those, Honduran insiders (players, coaches and league associates) tell me that the highest - and only - paying clubs are:
Iceveic Tegucigalpa
Banco Atlantida
Nacional de Ingenieros - Tegugccigalpa
This makes complete sense as well when considering 2 things.
Icevic and Ingenieros both sit at the top of the standings year after year.
Photo credit: Latinbasket.com
2. Banco Atlantida has represented Honduras in the past two Central American Club Champions (COCABA) - an event that takes a decent chunk of cash as the best teams in Central America compete.
(Here’s a few clips from the latest COCABA championships in 2018…)
But with all that being said, none of these teams will pay much.
Just consider in Honduras, the highest reported salary range came in at between $1000 - $1500.
In comparison, look at where other Central American countries topped out at:
Highest reported salaries amongst Central American countries
Now consider, that despite:
Level of pro experience
Level of college experience
Nationality
….players repeatedly had Honduras as their lowest-paying contract.
Consistency and dependability on a Honduran basketball salary is for all practicality purposes…impossible at the moment.
In fact:
Here is a great report I found by La Reta Basketera (in Spanish).
In it, multiple current players and coaches from Ingenieros talk about the struggles of Honduran professional basketball.
In case you don’t understand Spanish, here’s a summary:
Players are unable to live only on professional basketball wages
Alleged federation corruption has hurt team growth
Alleged federation corruption has hurt player growth
Few financial sponsors have hurt the overall product
Because of all the above, there is little $ for Pro Basketball in Honduras
And things won’t get much better any time soon.
Since 2015, the Honduran basketball federation has allegedly been under investigation for various corruption scandals.
La Liga Mayor then - the main pro league in Honduras - is actually independent and free of the Honduran federation.
Basically, it serves as a space for the best national talent to compete.
But with:
No financial sponsors
No fan support
No strong media publicity/promotion
No formal backing from government organizations/affiliates
…playing in Honduras doesn’t really make sense for import players.
In 2019, outside of Banco Atlantida, not a single team was able to afford an import player.
So while Honduras does technically have a professional league and a 1st division, it is more in the form of a semi-professional league.
If you are a Honduran living abroad or have Honduran citizenship, it might be worth the experience but do not bank on this league to advance your career or pay.
Beware:
Few players are paid
Only a select few teams pay
There is no guarantee an import will be brought at all each season
AVERAGE SALARY PER YEAR PLAYING PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL IN Honduras
La Liga Mayor runs for 2-3 months each year.
So that means if…
The most commonly reported salary range is $500 - $999USD
The middle of that range is $750
Multiply [$750x3] for the number of months in the season
In the end we can conclude…
THE AVERAGE foreign PLAYER’S YEARLY INCOME, IF HE WERE TO PLAY professional basketball ONLY IN Honduras, WOULD BE $2,250USD.
But there is a silver lining:
As mentioned, despite it’s financial shortcomings, Honduras has competed well at the Central American championships - an event that has the winners of each professional league in Central America competing for a spot in the BCLA.
The main reason?
They consistently bring in 3 imports (plus a few American - Hondurans).
In fact:
Despite being nowhere near El Salvador’s LMB league in both:
Pay amount (i.e. how much players receive)
Frequency (i.e. how many players get paid per team)
…Banco Atlantida actually beat El Salvador’s powerhouse from the LMB - Santa Tecla in 2018 at COCABA.
The good news then?
Honduras will actually pay - and bring in import players - when it counts
The bad news?
Usually you have to already be playing in Central America to be considered
Indeed, that has been the case the past 2 COCABA tournaments as Honduras snatched up import players from El Salvador’s LMB league to compete.
By doing this, Honduras’ pro clubs are able to:
Eliminate flight costs (only have to pay playing wages)
Reduce number of days under contract (no pre-season, just get paid for tournament)
Eliminate uncertainty of whether import players are capable of producing (they have already seen it)
For years I’ve written about the importance of location for pro teams in both finances and opportunities.
Honduras proves this theory again.
Check it out here if interested.
In the end:
The best case scenario for playing pro ball in Honduras would be approximately $2,500 per year (if we add in the Central American games + the pro season).
The worst case scenario:
You aren’t paid at all.
Honduras’ BASKETBALL SALARY RANKING IN CENTRAL AMERICA
When it comes down to it, Honduras basketball salaries just can’t compete with other Central American leagues.
As of today, with all the data we’ve gathered on basketball salaries we rank it:
Nicaragua
El Salvador (LMB)
Panama
Belize
El Salvador (LSB)
Guatemala (Liga Metro)
Honduras
With few players being paid in Honduras and the amount being so small, it really is a long-shot for any import player to:
(a.) Even be in Honduras and earning money
(b.) Earn anything of substance consistently
Instead the key date to focus on is November - December.
The Central American Championships can provide a great platform for players and a quick pay day courtesy of a Honduran team.
Honduras Basketball Salaries Recap:
Players can earn anywhere from below $500USD - $1500USD per month
Few Honduran pro basketball teams pay salaries to its players
Honduran pro teams rarely sign foreign players for La Liga Mayor
Honduras pro basketball instead focuses on paying players for the Central American Championships
Honduras’ federation status makes pro basketball salaries a complicated issue
Have any questions about Honduras 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.
READ MORE
