Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union have yet to reach an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the wheels are already in motion for a work stoppage.
The Players Union is preparing its members for a strike on Monday if a new CBA cannot be agreed to in the current negotiations, which are being overseen by a federal mediator. Sources confirmed the strike preparations to SBI on Wednesday. A Monday strike would come four days before the 2010 MLS season is supposed to kick off in Seattle with the Sounders facing expansion side Philadelphia Union.
If this scenario sounds familiar, it is because it is the same scenario I laid out in a Fox Soccer column last month.
There is still hope of avoiding a strike as MLS and the Players Union are currently in Washington D.C. negotiating. If no deal is reached before Monday, a strike will take place, and as I stated in today's Fox Soccer column, a strike would be devastating to a league in danger of losing precious momentum.
Stay tuned for any MLS labor battle news as it becomes available.
I’m sure the marginal players must be terrified of the thought of all those international stars wanting to come to the U.S. to play for <$50,000.
I love how the players continue to claim that it’s not about the money-they just want the same rights as players enjoy in all the other leagues in the world. You want rights? You got ’em. No more restrictions on internationals. Now all the marginal American players have to compete on a level playing field for their jobs. Happy?
You, Sir, are an excellent eugoogoolizer.
Here’s a suggestion: give the players everything they want, but, not until TEN YEARS from now. Get it? They sign it now, and everyone shows up to work under the present terms, but, in ten years, the players get all their rights and pay they’re asking for. What do you guys think about that?
heh, I think it’s safe to assume that you must be making an attempt at irony or something.
Go get ’em, guys!!! And, don’t feel bad. They had PLENTY OF TIME to make you an offer. And, they didn’t. I guess they “can’t hear you.” Well, money talks. There’s one way you can “get their attention.” When it hits their pockets, all of a sudden, they’ll miraculously hear every word you say. GO GET ‘EM, BOYZ!!!! AND DON’T TAKE ONE TOUCH TIL YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!!!!!
The players need to realize that this is only going to hurt the league in the long run. Most people in this country don’t care about the MLS and only a few people want to see the sport grow. I want to see the sport grow and it is, but striking to get guaranteed contracts or free agency rights is stupid. The only people who should get guaranteed contracts are the ones that make past the mid-way part of the season. In the real world there are no guaranteed jobs (obviously due to our President). You guys are the pioneers of the league and unfortunately you will have to take the sacrifices that those who come and play later won’t have to. Once the league is making a profit every year then you can go back to the table and ask for guaranteed contracts and free agency, just not now. At least push back your strike until June when the season is taking a break due to the WC. Don’t hurt your fans for your petty demands. The fact you could end th entire league amazes me. How are the guys who are only making $17K in this league going to survive when you are on strike? They are not! Just don’t strike, go back to the table and negotiate for more time and work at through the season.
I sure hope that the mls doesnt go on strike. It will really hurt american soccer and take away from the upcoming fifa soccer tournament
Scottie – Make that 30,000 STH
Ives, I’ll have to revise my opinion regarding Bob Bradley selecting Heruclez Gomez for the World Cup team. I still think it would be a major gamble but if there’s a strike, I don’t think Bradley will have a choice. Conor Casey and Robbie Findley won’t get in any games if there’s a prolonged strike, and Gomez is playing every day in a league that’s just as good as MLS, if not better.
You don’t think the owners will say the same things in five years? Have you ever followed labor disputes in professional sports at all? It’s always the same: Players want more and the owners claim poverty.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Hard to destroy your value when you don’t have much value to begin with. The owners, on the other hand, could see the whole league collapse. You don’t think that would hurt them a little more? I guess they could use those SSS’s for some bitchin’ motorcross events.
The players have all the leverage. You think New York wants a strike with a new stadium? Philly with a new team and stadium? Seattle with a 25,000 season ticket holders?
Yeah, the poor millionaires owners. I bet they are barely getting by.
If they don’t want to lose money perhaps they should get involved in owning a team in a league that is actually popular?
Definitely think it would be easier to take sides if there was more transparency with the owners’ books. Until I know for sure how much they’re making, it’s impossible for me to say. Just get it done children
anyone on here have the tech know-how to start an online fan’s petition telling the mls owners and players that we, their customers, demand they get their ish together whatever it takes otherwise they’ll be held responsible for once again screwing up league soccer in north america!
While I am well aware of MLS’s shortcomings, it’s the only league I watch with a rooting interest. I watch the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, et because I like soccer, but I don’t care who wins. It’s hard to get excited about a team across the Atlantic I ca’t see live. MLS matters to me. I care if RBNY wins or loses.If MLS goes under because the two sides can’t settle up, it’ll really be a huge disappointment & I will transfer all my passion to my other favorite team, the NY Giants. If these guys can’t get it done, I’m done supporting Div 1 soccer in the US. This will be the 2nd time they’ve failed me (NASL too). How many times am I gonna let them mistreat me? This is the end of the road if they can’t get it together.
Actually, the way the MLS will lose money through free agency is in the loss of the so-called single entity status that keeps them insulated from sherman act anti-trust litigation. Look into it. There is a reason they want to retain all the fittings of single entity, and it is about avoiding anti-trust.
Why hasn’t any “blogger” or media person taken a loot at American Aperal V. NFL currently being reviewed by the US supreme court. The lawsuit is not about free agency per se, but it is about single entity. You can bet your bippy that the Don is watching bc the factors of single entity status may hinge on free agency. Oh, BTW, did you see what the NFL just did regarding free agency. Doesn’t anyone else see something similar going on?
Don’t worry. The players will start our own renegade league during the strike. I will be the Commissioner & every player will be paid $5mm PLUS chocolate pudding AND we’ll have free agency after every game!!!
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll do it.
What can we say about the tragic death of MLS? MLS wasn’t the greatest league, but to many of us it was number one in our hearts. Watching it’s inception we realized that it’s survival wasn’t going to be easy. After it’s first year the attendance dropped year after year after year. Then there was the demise of Miami and Tampa. It looked like MLS just wasn’t to be. Then with a re-organization and a commitment from owners like Lamar Hunt and Philip Anschutz, who were willing to finance most of the league even in the face of continuing losses for as far as the eye could see, and a new commissioner who implemented new rules and policies that learned from past mistakes, the league recovered and even reached the point where, even though it was still losing money, the concerns of it’s collapse slowly faded. Even the soccer haters gave up trying to convince everyone it was hopeless.
The league expanded and grew to fifteen teams, and was going to add even more.
I had no local team to call my own, but this did not stop me from occasionally driving over four hundred miles to see the Galaxy play. Having spent time in Great Britain, where I picked up my love of the sport at the age of eight, I was once a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. When we moved back to the U.S. I was thirteen. There was no love of soccer here at all. It was a joke. Slowly, but surely, Tottenham Hotspur and the English league became a distant memory. I was soon a fan of the Detroit Tigers, and later, the Green Bay Packers.
Then came MLS! It wasn’t much compared with other leagues, and was a little rough around the edges, to say the least, but it was soccer, and suddenly I could be a soccer fan again!
It seems like just yesterday that our MLS journey began.(sniffle) D*mn you impatient and ungrateful players! (Sob)
Now as we move into the darkness, we will just have our memories of what was, and what could have been. Rest in peace MLS. There will never be another like you.
If the players main issues were increasing the minimum salary to $40K & the # of DPs per team & the size of the roster,I’d be behind them 100%.
The fact that the MLSPU’s main issue is free agency which took MLB 100 years to get & the NFL until 1993 to get (& in somewhat limited form to boot) & only benefits a handful of North American players who aren’t good enough to go oversees annoys me. I mean, is Kevin Hartman or Steve Ralston or Allan Gordon worth striking over?
Please. 50-60% guys couldn’t jobs playing elsewhere anywhere. The owners are cheap ..no doubt, but the players have a grossly inflated sense of self-worth.
Let’s see where Mike Magee ends up if there’s a strike. To quote the 1970’s disco tune:
“Car wash..talkin’ ’bout a car wash yeah, come on y’all & sing it with me”
And that’s if he’s lucky.