MLS and Players Union push negotiation deadline

Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between Major League Soccer and the Players Union have been tense. With a deadline of February 1 fast approaching, the two sides have agreed to push the deadline date back 11 days to February 12.

The sad fact is that in order for soccer to really grow in America, MLS has to let go of a lot of the controls they seem insistent upon keeping. Rules such as: MLS owning player contracts as opposed to teams or player allocation instead of free agency. The latter boggles my mind the most. Currently if a player still under contract wants to leave his current team (and that team is willing to let him go) for another team in MLS, he can’t. Not without following MLS’s strict player allocation rules that basically say, you can only go to the team at the top of the allocation order, and if they don’t want you, you’re out of luck.

I’ll admit, that’s a pretty awful explanation of the allocation rules, but frankly, they are so confusing and ridiculous that I want to take the time to learn them. I just want them to go away. They are unnecessary and hinder growth. I know, I know. MLS is scared of going the way of the old NASL and the New York Cosmos, so they don’t want to grow too quickly. But with salary caps in place (which I agree on to an extent), the league doesn’t have to worry about over growth.

Speaking of salary caps, the league’s current $2.3 million is embarrassing. It’s embarrassing that professional players have to settle for $30,000 or potentially even less (as mandated by the league minimum of $20,100). It’s time to double the salary cap MLS, there’s not too much risk  in setting the cap at $5 million.

A $5 million salary cap will also help with MLS’s ever expanding lifestyle. It’s funny how worried they are about over spending on things like players (the most important part of the game) but how quick they are to invite new teams into the league. At some point the talent at the $2.3 million cap level will be saturated and the product on the field will go down in quality.

Here’s some advice to MLS, listen to your employees, and then do your best to be reasonable with them. We as fans don’t watch games and support teams because of how well you have steered the league towards prosperity. We watch because we love the game, we support you because you have the power to help make the game better in this country, so help it, don’t hurt it.