Despite a pair of extensions to the negotiation period between Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union, there has been no significant progress regarding the issues central to the two side's differences, leaving the sides far apart in talks for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
According to multiple sources, MLS has yet to budge on issues ranging from free agency to team control in player personnel decisions, making a work stoppage a very real possibility with the 2010 MLS season just a month away.
"We feel the league's not taking us very seriously at all," said Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad, a member of the player's union executive committee. "We're pretty far apart at this stage.
"Earlier in January there were some indications that some progress was going to be made, but right now, I think the negotiations are really in a bad place," Onstad said. "We're a long way from getting this deal done."
Key among the issues being fought over are player free agency and team autonomy in player transactions. The union is rallying around, among other things, the chance for players who aren't wanted by their former clubs to be able to move freely within the league.
That issue has been magnified by the situations of veterans Kevin Hartman and Dave Van Den Bergh, two players currently out of contract who are in limbo because their respective teams are seeking compensation for their rights despite the fact that both teams declined contract options for the player and neither team intends to sign the player.
Veteran defender Adrian Serioux is in a similar situation, but his status is even more troubling because he played out the full four years of his MLS contract and still remains in limbo because Toronto FC is seeking compensation for his rights.
"We just want the same freedoms that players around the world have," Onstad said. "This isn't a case of us fighting over money, that's not the main issue, it's about how we are treated as players and the current CBA just isn't acceptable."
When contacted about the comments from the player's union, MLS stood by its comments from last week.
"The negotiations are ongoing," said MLS spokesman Will Kuhns. "Meetings are scheduled for next week between the league and the union and the deadline on those negotations is February 25. We're hopeful for a mutuall ybeneficial conclusion."
MLS and the Player's Union agreed on an extension to their CBA talks until Feb. 25, but with the sides still far apart and the season just a month away, a delay to the start of the season is looking more and more likely. MLS commissioner Don Garber has already stated that the league does not want to operate under the current CBA, so a league lockout is possible. A player's strike is also a very real possibility.
"All I can say from our standpoint, from the player's standpoint, is that we're ready for a work stoppage," Onstad said. "We're very unified and the guys are adamant that there needs to be major changes in the CBA and right now it's just not on the table, and as far as we're concerned, we don't want to play under those conditions."
You’re allowed to work in the industry, just not the company. It’s more like if you were fired from Nike’s shoe division it’s t-shirt division isn’t allowed to offer you a job.
That said I feel for the players when it comes to wages. I think the league has a moral obligation to bump up the base salary to a livable wage.
Maybe the owners are content to drop this season. This is the great recession and maybe some owners are looking at weak ticket sales and thinking it would be better financially to pause. Plus it’s a WC year so there would be a break anyhow. Plus, a delayed season could provide a chance to sync with the FIFA calendar. I’m not saying I like this position, but I’ve got to wonder if there are some veiled motives in being so unreasonable about getting a deal done.
Do I have this right?? Garber is asking for a new deal worth 3 million a year?? Isn’t that about 500K more then the salary cap per team? Man if this season ends in a strike time for Don to go!
cant obama put everyone at the white house garden sitting at picnic tables and having beers and just talk and agree with each other?
the ownersw need to wake up and create a free agency. every league in this country has a free agency! And they want more guranteed contracts at least to the most experienced players. worst year to have a strike when we r gaining so much momentum
I dread hearing PTI or Jim Rome report on this – “as if ANYONE cares, a work stoppage is looming in our country’s least watched sport” blah, blah blah – Please, both sides get to the table and work it out so that MLS is not the laughing stock of sports radio!!
I agree. The teams I beiieve would also rather ruin a players career than have him sign with another team. This league has also given so many players a chance to play and maybe something more. I believe half the players in the league would no longer be playing soccer if it wasn’t for MLS, but the league does need to back down somewhat with something of the sort here said. Not total free agency but not a situation where players such as Van Der Berg, Hartman and Serioux are stuck not playing even their prior team doesn’t want them anymore. This is such the wrong year for this to happen.
Both sides need to get this settled, and soon. The NHL hasn’t recovered from their work stoppage, and it took rampant cheating in baseball to get it back to where it was before the ’94 strike.
“Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”
Absolutely ridiculous that the owners wouldn’t gran players they won’t resign freedom. Makes no sense. It’s greedy, unfair to the players and is total detached from the way all other leagues around the world work. I’m all for the players going on strike even knowing it means I don’t get to enjoy the games at the new Red Bull Arena.
Ummmm….why are you venting against Garber? He has NOTHING to do with this. It’s the Investor/Operators against the players union. Perhaps its you that should be the one getting his head out of their ass.
(SBI-Actually, you have it backwards. It’s the MLS front office against the union. the investor/operators are kept informed on decisions by the league but it’s the league officials, with Garber as their boss, that are ultimately guiding the labor talks. Now, the question is whether the investor/operators will put pressure on the league to get a deal done.)
I’m all for the rights of players. Be a better flick off to the league if they walked out halfway through the season.
While I’m for the players, I think a walkout would cripple the league and would benefit no one. The players wouldn’t have a league to return to and the owners would lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
Let’s hope they go to a bar, relax, and sign some papers.
Lets all think carefully about the questions concerning a players rights after they are cut or the contract has expired. I am trying to get why the owners won’t budge on this matter. What is the purpose of its?
It only applies within MLS so the players can go to another league therefore it does nothing to create revenue to the league as a whole, and may actually drive the best players to leave the league for good once a contract expires (it sure as hell doesn’t incent them to stay).
Therefore, it seems very insular and that the only benefit is to an individual team not to the entire league. After all any exchange in dollars, draft picks, allocation, is within the league itself.
I can’t imagine that they think it will help control player salary inflation. Due to the cap it can’t create an out of control price war for an out of contract player since everyone has limited $ to spend.
Are they doing it in some way help maintain parity between teams (if so their logic is fd up).
Am I missing something?
In what other job in the world, can you be fired, not paid, and are not free to offer your labor within the industry? MLS is living in an other century. If the players stick together they will win, and as much as I don’t want a stoppage, I hope they do win.
If I were the head of the Players Union, this would be the best possible year to have a strike in terms of bargaining power.
The owners of Seattle, Toronto & LA want to avoid a strike at all costs because of season ticket holders. The Red Bull owners want to avoid a strike at all costs because of their new $200 Million Arena. The Philly owners want to avoid a strike because its their 1st year & they have a new stadium . Plus Don Garber wants to avoid a strike because its a World Cup year, the Beckham debacle is still fresh in everyones mind , the new NASL wants to compete against MLS, Vancouver & Portland are supposed to join the league in 2011, and Garber is asking for a new $3 Million per year salary for himself.
A player making $50,000 a year who already probably has a 2nd job (because everyone is 1 injury away from MLS retirement) has much less to lose than an owner paying $200 Million for a new stadium. If I were the president of the players union its not a question of “Should I strike?” Its a question of “When should I strike?”
The MLS will eventually have to abide to FIFA or become a pariah. How many here have ever heard of FIFPro? The players’ rights in the MLS are in complete violation of FIFA rules. I hope there is a strike.
Garber, get your head out of your ass right now! You are wrong. If a player is out of contact, he should be free to sign ANYWHERE. Out of contract is out of contract.
All joking aside, this would be horrible for the league. No one will pay to watch me play. The league needs to grant players free agency rights. The current situation is an absolute joke.
The owners will have to give in on this. The players can leave and play elsewhere, but the owners are stuck with their teams and stadia.
Other American leagues represent the world-wide pinnacle of their sports, both in quality of play and in the amount of money they bring in, so they’re in a position to exploit their players. But there’s better soccer and more money all over the world, so MLS is in no position to demand what, in the rest of the world, are ridiculous restrictions on player movement.
The salary cap is supposed to be what’s preventing an NASL-like demise for MLS, not all this crap about teams and their rights to players who are out of contract.
MMMMMMM…… maybe I should dust of the old boots. Ill be a scab. I was playing college ball a year ago.
Preliminary Resume:
Age: 22
Position: Left Back
4yr starter on top 25 DII team (3 NCAA Tournaments, 1 Conference Championship).
3 yrs PDL
Goals Scored in College: 0
Assists: 3
Time spent on PDL bench: Alot.
Think anyone will be interested?
Joe Cannon just posted on his facebook page that he might need a new job in a couple of months. What a shame. I’ve been involved in a work stoppage before and nobody wins.
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!! Please make it work. The thought of no soccer in my country is devistating. Please!!!!!
its not that early! they pushed back the deadline!
this is a bad development for sure.. hope the owners move a bit on this and a deal is worked up very soon!
Would Donovan be considered a scab by the players if he extended his loan during a strike? I know it’s a different league, but the galaxy would still be compensated for his playing.
Oh man, I hadn’t thought about that. That would be fantastic. If I had to choose between Donovan staying at Everton and getting to watch the Revs play crappy soccer on a crappy field in a crappy stadium, that’d be a pretty easy choice.
Que cosa?
I’ll never understand how the MLS fails to see progess with the little vision they are able to utilize.
Oh well, time to watch more soccer on TV.
Guys, Guys Guys it’s early they will get something worked out. It’s not as if Scott Boras was representing the players and would have no problem with a lock out
I do not think the league should have true free agency, but out of contract players should be able to sign a provisional contract (the standard 2 to 3 at their previous rate) with MLS. Their club would have X amount of time (30 days?) to sign the player (and trade or whatever) or he goes into the wavier draft. If they are not picked up then the contract is void and their team still owns their rights. Sucks for old overpaid guys coming off big contracts. Teams could still take a risk on a player hoping to renegotiate after the draft.
If a team cuts you, then you should be free to go. Are the teams worried that players will make unreasonable contract demands so they can get out of their contracts to play with another team?
I forgot to add…I think that’s a “win” for him.
I don’t know about no one – according to another writer, Donovan will definitely extend his stay at Everton if there is a work stoppage.
Bingo, sign of a good compromise, everyone leaves unhappy.
Unfortunately I don’t think the league can survive this.
When you don’t make that much money, you have less to lose. In this respect, the current system just galvanizes the players to tough it out.
totally agree, all progress that has been made will be lost. Lock outs hurt the game, and if it happens to “soccer”, the sport will be looked at as a major fail in this country. Look at the NHL, its a only a vestige of what it once was. MLS needs to stop playing chicken, and come to a mutual agreement with the players union. These past few years have been an indication of how big and succesfull this league can be in the future. Getting the CBA signed is imperative for future growth and development of the game in this country. C’MON MLS GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!
The inability to sign where you want after your old team cuts you is about the dumbest and most unfair practice I can think of in sports today. Until the owners concede this point, any work stoppage is entirely their fault.
Maybe Landon can extend his stay with Everton!
They should just go to binding arbitration & get it over with. There, a mutually unsatisfactory deal will be reached & it’ll be over with.
The players are in the better position, particularly the better players who could find work elsewhere, and particularly in a World Cup year. MLS already struggles with attendance and tv viewership and those problems, which are the owners problems, will get far worse if there is a stoppage, lockout, or scab games. MLS has taken a slow and steady approach for a long time, with some success. But that prudent approach was developed largely before top European and South American games were regular appointment viewing on a host of U.S. channels and before it became clear that they were sitting on a sleeping giant of soccer interest. If MLS doesn’t give the players most of what they want, and substantially loosen its self-imposed financial constraints now, it will be another generation before Americans can see even good soccer in a professional league here and another generation before whoever owns these teams then will be able to see any real revenue growth. Forget about big name players coming to MLS post-2010 World Cup. Forget about revenue generation from socccer specific stadiums or the marketing of the Henry’s of the world. Fans who can’t even see decent soccer live in person will gladly sit at home and watch the best soccer live on HDTV and pick up a live game when big name teams do their summer tours. MLS owners, to their credit, have spent a lot of money on stadiums. But they are going to get empty stadiums and rapidly declining brand value if their failure to step up to the plate results in a season that doesn’t start on time.
No one will win by a work stoppage…both the players and the league are at fault here, (in my opinion MLS perhaps is a bit more to blame) and both sides risk damaging the game in this country…
Please guys, stop playing chicken to see who gives in first and work on this collaboratively for the mutual benefit of everyone involved…
That is, they better not go with…
They better go with scab players. I’m not crossing any picket line to see Steve Shak play!
Hate to see the season not get under way in March but I can understand the changes the players want. The fact that a player not wanted by their team is not given the chance to look for another team is crap and then just tossed aside. Hope it gets resolved cause I, like every other fan wants the season to start and will support the players.
I understand it’s a business as well as entertainment for us fans but there should be some standards the players can depend on.
I think that limited free agency should be easy.
I say no to guaranteed contracts for players with less than 4yrs in the league.
I say who cares if you sign with the league or your team,The team can restructure your contract if you play well lookat Chris Pontius.
The players in my eyes think they are entitled to all of these things but they are not, but I think if the league gives in on limited free agency then they will sign.
The situations of Hartman and Van Den Bergh are pretty effing retarded
Screw the guaranteed contracts, that will never happen. But what the hell is wrong with free agency? I don’t see how MLS loses with that
This is awful. I was looking forward to the season.
I can’t imagine the National Team will be happy with the players getting even less games before the Cup…then again…maybe the will train together even longer if there is no season…?
TOTAL DEVASTATION IF THIS HAPPENS!! NOOOOOO!!!!
While I see the players point of view, I don’t see a work stoppage doing anything positive for the league. It’s not like it has a lot of popularity as it is. I still can’t believe how uncompromising the league is on some of these issues. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Also, if there was a work stoppage, would players be free to play elsewhere or are they just stuck at home twidling their thumbs?
Kennesaw Mountain Landis was resurrected and put in charge of MLS. No freedoms for the players.
Get with the game, MLS.
crud!