MLS is "not interested in the unrestricted free agency common throughout the world, nor in the more limited versions" used by other leagues in North America, and "as a result, the league and its players are at an impasse," according to Brian Straus of SI.com. MLS and the MLSPU are in negotiations for a new CBA, and MLSPU Exec Dir Bob Foose said, "We’re extremely far apart on the issues that are most important to the players. We’ll certainly keep at it, but at this point, from where we are, it’s difficult to see the path and how we’re going to get there. Fundamentally, we have a significant disagreement with the league on how the guys who have built and continue to build this league should be treated within the MLS system." Straus reported MLS officials "firmly believe the measured growth and careful, centralized control that have carried it this far remain the keys to a prosperous future." This stance has "frustrated yet emboldened" the players. FC Dallas G and MLSPU Exec Board member Dan Kennedy said, "Free agency is not even part of the conversation for them. It is for us, so that’s where we continue to fall extremely far part in negotiation." Galaxy D and MLSPU Exec Board member Todd Dunivant: "All the players are on the same page. We have to have free agency to sign this deal. ... We’re firmly entrenched in that." Kennedy said, "The one thing the leaders of this league, the core group, understands is that we are willing to strike for this and we feel more united and more educated than ever." Straus noted players "will have the option to strike" beginning Feb. 1, but they "likely won’t that day." The MLS season is set to open March 6, and those six weeks represent "an eternity around the bargaining table" (SI.com, 1/23).
PLAYERS READY TO STRIKE? Sounders D Chad Evans said the players are "absolutely" willing to strike. Evans: "There’s not a lot of movement on their side, and we've been told there won’t be. ... The league isn’t where it was five years ago. We all know that. It’s leaps and bounds from where it was" (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/25).
