The long and drawn-out negotiations between Toronto FC and the Chicago Fire for the rights to Brian McBride have reached a stalemate, and MLS is ready to step into the fray if it has to.
MLS commissioner Don Garber admitted on Wednesday that if the Fire and Toronto can’t come to anagreement on a deal that MLS will step in to help broker a deal. Just what sort of deal remains to be seen.
"The league, at some point, has to determine whether we get involved," Garber said of the McBride allocation situation.
"We’ll manage through it, like everything else with us," Garber said. "They always come down to the wire and we generally have gotten them resolved.
"The league doesn’t want to get involved and our hope is that we won’t get involved," Garber said. "We hope that the market and common sense prevails."
Garber called McBride’s situation a "special situation" and believes that McBride should wind up with Chicago. He was clear to state that he would like to see Chicago and Toronto be reasonable in negotiations.
While it had been believed that MLS might get involved in this situation, Garber’s comments on Wednesday were the first public statements made by the league on the situation.
"Hopefully both (Toronto) and Chicago will realize that it’s in their mutual best interests, and the interest of our fans, to have Brian (McBride) in the league and to have Toronto get some benefit by being in the spot that they were in."
What do you think of this development? Should the league be getting involved? Should MLS stay out of it? What should Chicago give up? What should Toronto accept?
Share your thoughts below.