I've noticed a lot of players across the league changing their profile pictures on social media to reflect #IAmMLSPA like Crognale's below #NewProfilePic #IAmMLSPA @MLSPA pic.twitter.com/dIIqPpu6FI— Alex Crognale (@alexcrognale) August 30, 2019 I'm assuming this is just in conjunction with Labor Day. Or, are there bigger issues afoot? When is this CBA up? Are there other discussions like this that I have compeletely missed?
I think they're protesting the fact that Wayne Rooney has to fly United Economy (economy plus upgrades unavailable) and was forced to talk to his seatmate, Craig, from South Bend who sells engineering. The horrors.
This shouldn't be too tough a negotiation. MLS is making more money so it can give the players some of what they want. Higher minimum salaries and more charter flights seem to be the easiest gives.
Depends if the Union is listening to the NFL guys or not. I do find it somewhat amusing that multimillionaires in the NFL are militant union guys some times, as if they were factory workers.
Yeah, but there are a ton of guys in the NFL not in the multimillionaire category who have a 2-5 year shelf life. And they have a higher than average chance of medical issues for the rest of their lives than most people.
No doubt. And many of them have an even shorter career. Just reading about one of them this AM--Garrett Sickels who was a decent Big 10 linebacker--just retired after 3 seasons due to injuries. One NFL game. One. Them I get. But I was talking about the multimillionaire type guys....
Certainly. But the NFL league minimum, rookie salary is about $500K. Even practice roster players make $8K/week. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to shed too many tears for someone who bombs out of the NFL after two years and is $1M+ richer. Oh, and they probably had a college scholarship, too. Boo-hoo.
Maybe I'm dense or overthinking it, but I don't follow. What could the MLSPA be listening to the NFLPA about? To me, these two unions are apples and oranges.
Where do you think some of their ideas came from?? The NFLPA was instrumental in the early days of the MLSPA. Heck the MLSPA was a subsidiary of the NFLPA.... Here's an old article about this.... https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...ls-will-mls-players-wear-the-union-label.html
Are we sure that the existing union is the same MLSPA that was a subsidiary of the NFLPA? According to their website, the MLS Players Union was recognized as the collective bargaining representative in 2003, significantly after the 2001 article you cited. And even if the current org is different than the NFLPA subsidiary, I can see where you're coming from with the history lesson, and of course collective bargaining in all sports leagues is related. I'm just not sure how much NFL and MLS players have in common when it comes to labor and contract disputes.
Yes, the MLSPA is still unofficially connected to the NFLPA (and also the USWNTPA). They all use the same lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler. So they compare notes frequently even though there is no overlap of membership or leadership.
Yeah, the Bengals had rookie RB Rodney Anderson from Oklahoma tear his ACL last night. He missed most of 3 seasons in college with various injuries. But he played well when healthy and got drafted. His pro career likely ended before it began as he was a late draft pick. But he got a free college education and will be on IR this year since he was injured in a game. Even if he's on a split contract (which pays less for IR weeks than regular roster weeks), he'll make a couple hundred grand and start his real career with money in the bank as well as some stories.
It's where a lot of the stuff came about minimizing player appearances, for one... To that point, one thing I always liked about Jimmy Rollins was that he would always take time to sign autographs before a game--including on the road. He didn't have to, but he understood that it helped make a connection with the folks who paid his salary by buying tickets.
I'm certainly no expert on this, but the NFLPA seems to have gotten a lot more serious about negotiating for long-term healthcare coverage for former players, than used to be the case.
Which is a good thing. That's one of the things a union really should be working for. It's not just about today's players, because one day they'll be ex-players--and maybe in need of that provision.
Their main two things they want (NFLPA) Better health Insurance care Allowed to smoke weed and not be tested
Considering the amount of money the NFL Owners make, I have absolutely zero issue with NFL players getting paid their fair share of the profits. If anything, I think that they should not only get paid, but the NFL should be covering 100% of their health care costs for life. Because many of those NFL players aren't going to be around as long as you or I. When you look the way the NFL and NFL Films promote the hard hits and crunching tackles that cause these players to get CTE or become unable to walk because team doctors pumped them full of cortisone to get them back on the field, it makes me uneasy. It's gotten to the point where I don't even really watch American Football anymore, because I can't help but think that those players are destroying themselves for our entertainment. I think it really hit me when Junior Seau took his own life. I can't watch a game without thinking about it every time a player gets hit helmet to helmet.