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Barely 48 hours before Chicago takes on the LA Galaxy in Carson, MLS and the Major League Soccer Players Association have agreed to a five-year long Collective Bargaining Agreement. Just two days ago, it looked like this deal would never materialize, and the spin being leaked to the media was that a strike was imminent. But that turned out to be a clue that a deal was closer than ever, and that movement either way was inevitable.
Free agency was the biggest sticking point for the MLSPA, and trying to obtain it was a war in itself. The players were never going to get full free agency without causing irreparable damage to themselves and the league, which might have been an entire season lost to court battles and legal wrangling. Getting the owners to not only acknowledge free agency was necessary, but an important first step to getting full free agency (which is no doubt coming) in the future. The 28-8 rule as it’s known now might have angered hardliners on the players side, but it’s a good first step to achieving the ultimate goal.
Giving the owners what they wanted on that side of the deal allowed the players to make huge strides in others, such as raising the salary minimum from around $34-36,000 to $60,000, which is fantastic for MLS rookies and home grown players. Yes, there is a cap as to how much a player can receive in a raise, but raising the minimum salary is again a good first step. The salary cap will also be going up as well, which again helps out everyone not only in the league, but future foreign players coming into MLS.
The CBA only being five years allows the players to push for further freedoms from some of single-entity’s shackles sooner than initially reported, which may mean that the battle in 2020 will be an even fiercer one. And there are still many details of this CBA which the public does not know, and may never know (since MLS is hellbent on blocking transparency), so the full extent of the detail may have been even kinder to the players. But one thing is for sure, everyone knew that games had to be played this weekend.
MLS and its players had way too much to lose if games were cancelled this weekend. The thought of a game with 60,000 people attending it outside of Seattle would have been mind-boggling to throw away. The debuts of so many important players to this league come this weekend, from Sebastian Giovinco, to Kaka and David Villa, with maybe the most important debut being consistent TV broadcast windows. MLS could not afford to throw that away for hyperbole and old premonitions.
If MLS is to become the world’s best soccer league by 2022, this CBA took important steps towards reaching that goal. Both sides know that more changes are coming, but they wisely would both rather play now and deal with those problems later than derail the 20th season’s big opening.
So at long last it’s game on.
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