MLS - Players Union Agreement

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by AndyMead, Nov 11, 2004.

  1. monster

    monster Member

    Oct 19, 1999
    Hanover, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gotcha. Didn't see the time on MLS and didn't check the timestamp on the release I got.

    Still. Good work. 20 minutes includes the time in transit, etc.
     
  2. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas

    It's always been surprising to me how little our MLS heroes get paid, and how horrible their benefits were. These guys are really playing here because they want an American soccer league to be successful. Let's be honest, raising the minimum wage to 34k is the least they could do. That's not a lot of money, especially if you're living in the DC area for instance. Is raising it really keeping these guys who could be making hundreds of thousands overseas around any longer? I doubt it. Now maybe it gives a guy like Jamil Walker or Nate Jaqua a little more time to develop.

    Did they really have no retirement plan before this? Did their retirement plan include the lottery.
     
  3. cleazer

    cleazer Member+

    May 6, 2003
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wow this is great news for MLS.

    I just had a strange memory right now of 1996 and 1997, when all sorts of people were predicting that the league would fold after 3 or 4 years. We've come so far!
     
  4. Goodsport

    Goodsport Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 18, 1999
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I remember a broadcast on KNBR (the San Francisco Bay Area's main sports-talk radio station) sometime between when the ten inaugural MLS teams were given names in October 1995 and when the first MLS game was played in April 1996, either Ralph Barbierri's or Tom Tolbert's prediction (I can't remember which one of them said this, but whichever one said it, I remember the other one wholeheartedly agreeing with him) for MLS was: "I give this new soccer league two, maybe three, years tops!" :(


    -G
     
  5. Northside Rovers

    Jan 28, 2000
    Austin TX
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    30 years from now, when Don Garber sits atop the MLS Tower in NYC and surveys all all around him like the Eye of Sauron, we will look back on 2004 as the watershed year for MLS.

    Or not - but this is good news for the players at the very least.
     
  6. swedcrip34

    swedcrip34 New Member

    Mar 17, 2004
  7. murtaugh29

    murtaugh29 New Member

    Oct 4, 2004
    roja LOCURA
  8. SABuffalo786

    SABuffalo786 New Member

    May 18, 2002
    Buffalo, New York
    You didn't know that? :)
     
  9. BillQ

    BillQ New Member

    Oct 11, 1999
    Chicago, IL
    Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie will visit each MLS Club as part of the third season of "The Simple Life." :)
     
  10. swedcrip34

    swedcrip34 New Member

    Mar 17, 2004
    please no. that could kill this agreement. could you imagine the rise in medical costs to clean up the players afterwards
     
  11. CHICO13

    CHICO13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 4, 2001
    SECTION 135
    Club:
    The Strongest La Paz
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    I wonder what happened to John Kerr Sr. who's been fighting for the players since day one?
     
  12. ElJefe

    ElJefe Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 16, 1999
    Colorful Colorado
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You forgot the smiley in that question, since I assume that you were being ironic.
     
  13. chayes

    chayes New Member

    Feb 29, 2000
    Raleigh, NC
    Sorry to interrupt the festivities, but what exactly do the owners get out of this?

    I thought collective bargaining was a give and take situation.

    Owners get something they want, players get something they want, both sides shake hands and get a deal they can live with.

    It appears, the players got almost everything they wanted: higher salaries, increased health and retirement benefits.

    But what did the owners get? Increased costs, more losses.

    Do they players have some kind of incriminating pictures of Uncle Phil or something, I mean its not like they have any kind of bargaining position. Go on strike, league folds, owners stop losing money.

    Seriously, if you are Kraft or AEG or Hunt why do you do this deal? Out of generosity? Because it's the right thing to do?

    Owners just don't give labor more money without something in return, what is that something?
     
  14. CHICO13

    CHICO13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 4, 2001
    SECTION 135
    Club:
    The Strongest La Paz
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    No, not really. I know Jr. played for Dallas in the early days of the league but his dad ( a friend of mine) fought for a Union since the early days in "96. He took me out to United Park to help translate for the spanish players. As far as I knew he was still fighting for it. He moved away from near me and over to Maryland so I kind of lost touch with him about a year and a half ago.
     
  15. worldfootballgenius

    New York Red Bulls
    United States
    Jul 9, 2003
    Brooklyn, NY
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Great, know all we need is goal and assist bonuses.
     
  16. obie

    obie New Member

    Nov 18, 1998
    NY, NY
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    They get cost stability and no labor disruptions for five years.
     
  17. sch2383

    sch2383 New Member

    Feb 14, 2003
    Northern Virginia
    Players want to play here, level of play goes up, fan interest goes up, stadiums are built, owners start making a lot of money. You can't look at this in isolation, but in the context of MLS as a whole.
     
  18. swedcrip34

    swedcrip34 New Member

    Mar 17, 2004
    3 letters - NHL
     
  19. jmeissen0

    jmeissen0 New Member

    Mar 31, 2001
    page 1078
    good


    players needed this... bigtime


    great to hear the minimum is going up, they are getting better medical benefits... everything... about ********ing time
     
  20. Wallydrag

    Wallydrag BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 24, 2002
    Oklahoma City
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In addition to the quality of play going down because players keep tripping overthemselves as they try to run and do something about that burning sensation in their crotch at the same time.
     
  21. dice50

    dice50 New Member

    Oct 4, 2000
    Norman, Oklahoma
    Don't mean to rain on everyone's parade but.....if the Metros stadium really fell through than all the positives of this week are negated out by the Metros not moving. This league wont be truly on the "home stretch" till the Metros are playing in their own stadium.
     
  22. Counselor

    Counselor New Member

    Feb 28, 2003
    Seattle, WA
    Agreed, they absolutely need to increase salary minimums for middle- to bottom-end of the totem pole players. Quality of play is often dictated not by the "stars" on the side, but by the average joes who fill out the rest of the roster. When these guys leave the league because they reach an age where the money they can make does not justify the continued risks/costs of playing (i.e. cost to family, risk of starting a real-world career at thirtysomething with no real savings and not much on a business resume), the league loses experienced players who can elevate the level of play with their "soccer wisdom." Otherwise, the process starts over with fresh blood--22 year olds fresh out of college (who can afford 24K/yr for a while) who take a few years to learn how to pe professionals and play smart soccer. Then of course, they get crunched out by the poor salaries for the average joe and we start anew. This, above all else, is what I'd like to see change. Kudos to MLSPU for addressing it--or at least beginning to address it.
     
  23. guamster

    guamster Member+

    Mar 30, 2001
    Winnetka, CA
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Guam
    That's hot.















    Aaargh!!!
     
  24. ElJefe

    ElJefe Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 16, 1999
    Colorful Colorado
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The problem that I have with John Kerr Sr. is embodied in the biblical verse about serving two masters. He might've been working for MLS players in their lawsuit, but his other master was the NFL Players' Association. They were funding the MLSPA lawsuit to get single-entity banned and eliminate the possibility that it would be used in the NFL or in an NFL-run league in the future. The MLSPA and John Kerr Sr. were doing the NFLPA's bidding, and the MLS players were secondary.

    And it's not a huge stretch to think that if the MLSPA lawsuit had been successful, the MLS owners might've closed up shop altogether and MLS players would've been out of work the next day, to either find a place overseas or a lower-paying gig in the A-League or indoor soccer. So much for helping MLS players.

    If everyone with MLSPA were serious about helping MLS players, they would've done what MLSPU did -- actually become a union and collectively bargain with MLS. But that was never the point of the John Kerr's MLSPA. It was all about being a tool for the NFLPA.
     
  25. monster

    monster Member

    Oct 19, 1999
    Hanover, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I do not ask this question with any hint of humor.

    Did they get direct deposit?
     

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