CBA Negotiations

One thing I'd like to see is more player-fan interaction. The owners should be able to get that without too much trouble if they're raising the cap and minimum salary. It was quite noticeable after the 2010 CBA when interaction dropped, there were fewer charity matches, less marketing with the backups, etc.

 

Most of the articles I've read imply that single entity is bound to end at some point and time. Especially since "players of a certain threshold" are able to pick where they play while most others do not. Many articles say that the players could perhaps win a legal fight, but probably won't try since it would take years and probably kill the league.

So I wonder if MLS sees the writing on the wall. I wonder if the CBA will include some kind of a multi-year transition period where the league gradually unwinds single entity.

 

Garber's been talking. Interesting article.

Though with Clark Hunt involved in the negotiations and how cheap he is - Might as well write off the whole season.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/02/27/don-garber-mls-cba-strike-expansion-qatar-technology

 

Makes me feel old.

 

I think the press releases ARE written funny, or rather written to imply, to a fairly ignorant or uninterested fan base, that Seattle signed Dempsey in the same general way that players get signed in other leagues (soccer or otherwise). But that is clearly not how Dempsey was sign and ended up in Seattle. The league called the Sounders and offered him up, with the league paying the transfer fee.

 

I've morphed from "I can't believe this professional athlete is younger than me!" to "I can't believe this professional athlete is older than me!" It's a bunch of crap.

 

A Crew rookie talks about being on league minimum.
http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2015/02/28/columbus-crew-mls-salary-disparity
I did not know they also got subsided housing? I thought that any benefits like that count against they cap. I get the feeling from the article he doesn't like the fact the Crew had first crack at him. He "Retired"LOL, no he didn't nobody else wanted him.

 

I haven't really been tuned in to the chances of a work stoppage, but are the owners likely to lock the players out if a deal isn't reached or are we looking at a strike? I mean, they wouldn't be gearing up for a strike by going through preseason and a lockout would have occured the moment the CBA expired, right?

I think they're gonna put in at least a few weeks under a "good faith" situation.

 

He actually said the homegrown system helped him... I'd guess it would be the others, who could get offers elsewhere, that would really be pissed about it.

 

Sounds like sour grapes. Wil was in the same situation but was offered a much more lucrative contact. Not based on the lock in Homegrown status, but based on skill.

That said, I'd have taken 40k a year at 24 without blinking.

 

Single entity isn't just a policy that can be discarded. it refers to what they are: one cororate entity rather than an association like the NFL.

Major League Soccer LLC is a corporate entity owned by stcokholders who have certain rights. Like operating a team.

To stop being a single entity they would have to dissolve the corporation, liquidate all assets and void all contracts.

The bottom line is that investors have paid huge amounts of money to buy a piece of MLS LLC. They did it because they like the concept and the structure of the league as it is.

Whoever says otherwise is an idiot.

Hilarious.

First of all, Homegrowns do not have to sign with their youth club. They can and do say no and enter the draft. Friedman is implying otherwise and it's quite simply a lie.

Secondly, what does he think his value is, considering that he sucks? He's seriously pissed because Pipa got paid more than him? Seriously? To me, if Friedman got paid much more it's Higuain who ought to complain.

And as pointed out, his real value was demonstrated by the fact that now that he IS a free agent in every sense of the word, nobody will pay him a dime.

So what made him worth more than 36k in 2014 but worth nothing at all now? He was clearly OVER paid.

How many minutes did he play? Oh yes, NONE. Not one. Zip, zero, nada.

What he really got was $36.5K for playing a season with the Dayton Dutch Lions.

He contributed as much to the Crew as you or I did. And he's pissed because he didn't get more? Really?

The base pay is more an intern salary. One hell of a lot of guys would take less in return for a shot at playing professional soccer.

What a jackass.

 

Making the rounds on Twitter from the pundits.

http://www.soccernomics-agency.com/?p=679

Dude didn't get that international spots are restricted. And there isn't american talent enough to warrant filling out rosters with higher paid american college scrubs. The game is only a generation old here. In order to even contemplate changing the league format, the american player must be better.

How are NASL and other lower divisions run? Are they single entity too? Are they a capitalist set up as he describes? If so, won't they then overcome MLS through cowboy management?

 

I know in NASL there is no cap or wage restrictions. Not sure about USL.

 

The game is *far* more than an generation old here. Far more. You do realize that the first person to score a World Cup hat trick was an American, don't you?? Now pro leagues have failed many times and the talent likely isn't there. But the game has been here for a long time.

 

here is how stupid this guy is
"But even if the league might not fold if some teams lose money, many fans seem to worry that their team might, losing access to top level competition. One of the facts that Simon and I were at pains to point out in Soccernomics is that even if teams owners lose money and declare bankruptcy, the football club almost never disappears. In the last thirty years there have been literally hundreds of football business bankruptcies in Europe, but almost none of the clubs have disappeared. The reason is that there is always someone willing to invest to resurrect the team, and often the fans themselves do the job. Ultimately clubs represent communities, and a bankruptcy cannot dissolve a community. It seems ironic that MLS fans don’t see this, since they are in fact some of the best examples of soccer communities in the world.

That guy must not have ever heard the 80's NASL, ASL, the A-League etc. I could go on with all the failed leagues and teams here in the US.

 

Soccernomics is one of the most overrated soccer books over the last ten years.

Which is a shame because Kuper's first book was fantastic.

 

Point taken. I meant the league itself.

 

To "Can't believe I'm older than the head coach..."

 

The European sports model is not the US/Canadian model. While there have been examples of teams that came back (and the Sounders, Whitecaps, and Timbers *are* examples in soccer), it is not the norm. There are folks who still long for the Whalers and Nordiques and Expos (not sure anyone longs for the Thrashers, though). But it is unlikely that there will be teams there again. American sports teams are not clubs in the European sense (though some, like the A's, did start that way). They are franchises. It's a completely different model. Anyone who doesn't get this isn't going to be able to say anything useful.

 

$36,500 is probably the most that anyone has ever got paid for playing with the Dayton Dutch Lions, so should the Dayton Dutch Lion players be the ones complaining for getting paid less than Friedman?

That would make more sense.

I think there's a lot of people that would love to play soccer for $36,500, including in this forum. Think there's a lot of people that rather make 36K playing soccer, than 50k doing a boring job with a lot of bullshit. Friedman obviously didn't have the right attitude and can think about "what if" the rest of his life, could've perhaps played harder to stay on and get paid more? But in reality, he was lucky to ever get signed by Columbus in the first place.

What an opportunity to complain about.

Oscar Moens I think was the highest paid Dutch Lion when I was there at a lofty $900 a month and he probably was 1 billion times more well known and 100,000,000 times more skilled than Friedman. He just wanted a year in America.

Then think about talented USL journeyman like Shintaro Harada getting paid probably $1,500 a month, and looking at Friedman.

Then you once in a while have that one month where no one gets paid.

I guess if you want to complain about a MLS CBA you can always play in the USL.

 

Probably just a preference, but I could not stand his writing style. He was so disorganized a 12 with A.D.D. writes better than that dude, I know a little harsh, I have dislike for his writing pent up for a while now.