The MLS All-Star Game is going to L.A. next season, and for the first time the league's top players "will be matched against a team of all-stars from Mexico's Liga MX," according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. The game is "scheduled to be played July 29 at Banc of California Stadium." A formal announcement will be made at the stadium tomorrow morning. Next summer's match will be just the second MLS All-Star Game in the L.A. area (L.A. TIMES, 11/19).
WISH LIST: In Minneapolis, Jerry Zgoda notes making "charted air travel standard" throughout MLS is one of several issues being discussed in labor negotiations "that will intensify" now that the season is over. The current five-year CBA expires Jan. 31. The MLSPA also "seeks what it calls 'true' free agency, simplified salary-cap mechanisms and rules, compensation that rewards current performance and better travel that improves performance and turns current travel days into practice or regeneration days." MLS players "seek a faster path to free agency than a current system that requires a player be at least 28 with eight years of service." They also "want the system reinvented, without such concepts as TAM (targeted allocation money) and GAM (general allocation money) that confuse fans." MLSPA Exec Dir Bob Foose said that this round of labor talks is "all about a partnership that transforms MLS into what Commissioner Don Garber long has sought: a 'league of choice' in a global game" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/19).
