MLS Labor Dispute: If a CBA is Being Disputed in the Woods, Does it Make Any Sound?

PROLOGUE:


“We are working hard, collectively, both the MLSPU and the league, to try to reach an agreement that’s going to be good for both players and management. We are working very hard to do that. We are meeting regularly…we met several times last week and we’re meeting again next week. But we are going to get to a point where both players and management are going to have to make some tough decisions. We’ve been doing very well over the last ten years making this league very stable. We need to ensure we have the right kind of deal to continue to develop the game the way we have and clearly the players are going to have to try to decide what kind of deal they will accept to get the type of things they are looking for. At the end of the day, this is still a very young sport. For 50 years, soccer has failed in this country. And here we are, about to have 18 teams, nearly 10 soccer stadiums, all because we’ve had a system that albeit different, is one that allows us to have this ability to continue to operate and grow for another day.”


- Don Garber, MLS Commisioner (January 16th - Minnesota Soccer Insider)


“Wednesday, Major League Soccer and the players’ union meet again for another round of negotiations in their efforts to hammer out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. But MLS clubs aren’t worried about a potential lockout on Feb. 1 — at least that’s what they’re showing publicly. Toronto FC hasn’t issued any warnings to its season-seat holders; Chivas USA reports that its “business as usual” as it heads toward the opening of camp; Philadelphia Union Ceo Nick Sakiewicz said last week that any CBA issues had no impact on its draft strategy, and it continues to ford ahead towards its debut season.
Maybe the reason all is so calm with so little time left is because the MLS Players’ Union has had nothing to say. Before the holidays, executive director Bob Foose would return a call or an e-mail with “no comment.” Now, he doesn’t return messages at all. The MLSPU doesn’t talk to the media about the issues at hand. So everyone is in the dark — and that’s simply brutal. We know free agency, the league’s central control of contracts and guaranteed contracts are the issues. But none of that has come through anyone in the MLSPU office. Yes, established players Landon Donovan and Kasey Keller, both veterans who have earned well during their international careers, have blasted MLS and warned of a lockout — all through FIFpro. Not through their own union, but through a larger global organization. It comes off like a couple of rogue players talking tough while clutching mommy’s skirt. Really. And it’s come to this because their own union has had so little to say. Actually, nothing to say. Donovan is on loan with Everton right now, playing out the spring in the bright lights of the Premiership. And Keller is near the end of a career that’s taken him to England and Germany. Do they speak for the rank-and-file player earning US$80K? No. But it’s time for the union to break its silence. It doesn’t have speak with bombast. but by keeping everyone in the dark, the MLSPU looks like nothing more than a paper tiger. And maybe that’s why no team’s front office seems to be worried.”

- Steven Sandor, QMI Agency, published on January 20th at www.torontosun.com


FORWARD:
Ok, so we (human beings) need rhetoric to help us form arguments to get through the debates that exist in our professions and lives today. But ask yourself this: Do you believe a word that Don Garber is saying? I mean he got the 18 team thing right, but I’m pretty certain that only five MLS clubs own their own stadium. Outside of blogs, I haven’t really seen much in the way of official statements from either MLS or the Player’s Union. Closed-door negotiations feel to the supporters and fans like Dad telling you to trundle off to bed so that he and your mother can discuss an important matter in the drawing room. Thanks for that MLS and Player’s Union.


I think one of the scenarios below is likely to come of the current CBA argument:


1 - LOCKOUT - The MLS owners anticipate a player’s strike and lockout all players.
Predicted result: League fails. Whether replacement players (Remember MLS when it started in 96...oh yeah...it could get that bad) are used, or there is simply no season. I don’t believe MLS can survive a lockout. Supporters and fans lose interest. Game over.

2 - STRIKE - The players, anticipating a lockout from ownership go on strike.
Predicted result: League fails. American fans hate athletes that strike, and will confuse MLS with a totally professional league - something which we know is absolutely untrue. The missed season will destroy what little confidence fans and supporters had of MLS ever developing into a truly competitive league, domestically and internationally. Supporters and fans lose interest. Game over.

3 - CRAPPY DEAL FOR THE PLAYERS...AGAIN.
Predicted result: More of what we’ve been seeing for the last four or five years. Ownership will fail to convince the Union that they are negotiating in good faith, and that they are being truthful about the state of the league’s finances. Much will remain the same, with some sort of token concession made to the players. Maybe supporters and fans lose interest.

4 - CRAPPY DEAL FOR THE PLAYERS WITH THE PROMISE OF SOMETHING BETTER...LATER ON.
Predicted result: See above, but instead of a token concession, maybe something more substantial. No one expects MLS to roll over on Single Entity, but maybe the salary cap will loosen up a bit. Maybe MLS will relax stance and allow Free Transfers at the end of contracts. Maybe the league will grant each club an additional Designated Player slot and/or reduce the amount the DPs count towards the cap. Select any one of these as a concession, but only one of them. The players may be able to use management’s desire for a 5 year CBA commitment as a bargaining chip to get one or maybe two of these things, but probably nothing truly significant in terms of improving the quality of domestic and international results. Maybe everyone makes a whole bunch of money, it couldn’t hurt to try.

5 - NOT SO CRAPPY DEAL FOR THE PLAYERS
Predicted result: Some form of guaranteed contracts for every player. 15-20% salary cap increase, and/or perhaps a promise of some sort of meaningful “if we do well, you do well” sort of arrangement, and some sort of concession regarding moving toward true free agency. Everyone with sense knows that the future of business is giving employees a piece of the business...I can't think of a better motivating factor...can you?

END OF CURRENT SPECULATION FOR TODAY

EPILOGUE:
Single-Entity protected the league in its infancy, but at some point the training wheels have to come off, and allow MLS room to succeed or fail based on what happens when some of the current constraints are lifted. No one with any sense proposes that MLS clubs should do business the same way the top twelve European clubs do, running at massive financial deficits to try to put together unstoppable teams. Having said that, perhaps the clubs are negotiating from a position of surely being able to do a bit better for the players. Trying to out-Stingy-Old-Coot managers of sporting past, such as the New York Yankee’s Branch Rickey. Honestly, it makes MLS look ridiculous, and Mark Abbott (MLS President), Garber, Anchutz, Hunt, Kroenke, and Dietrich Mateschitz look like carbon copies of Scrooge McDuck.

Gentlemen, many businesses are leveraged by a certain amount of debt. I’ve never seen so many men that profited so much from the free market begin to piss and moan about how the free market doesn’t apply to situations where they might lose money. It’s called entrepreneurial risk for a reason. All the owner-investors in MLS understood they were taking a risk, and presumably agreed to be in it for the long haul to create a truly great thing down the line someday.

Gentlemen...when is someday? Let me know when MLS achieves true professionalism (When the salary caps are comparable to the NBA and NHL), and I’ll be happy to order up some season tickets. Make it soon though, you still owe me for turning MetroStars into the New York Soft Drinks. Despicable.

I’m starting to really not like MLS. Too many promises of promise, not enough clear declarations of when or how promise will be achieved. If it’s going to be like this forever with only a few guys at the top getting true pro cash, and the rest a reserve team of hopefuls living on ramen...then I’m not interested and will cultivate my footballing interest in the development of United Soccer Leagues and its clubs.

Until that day comes it might be wise if collegiate, US youth national team, & amateur club players give it a shot overseas if they want a job with a living wage. Give it three years, see what happens. Refusal to sign with MLS might be the only leverage that American players possess, do not concede your allegiance so cheaply.