Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
There is a cloud looming over the horizon in Major League Soccer. The 2019 season has already proven to be typical MLS in many ways: wild, unpredictable, and in many cases, bizarre. On the field, the league looks to be healthier than ever as the quality of soccer improves while maintaining that typical MLS parity. But the cloud off in the distance is a fight that will determine MLS’ future in almost every aspect: the upcoming CBA negotiations.
More and more of the issues that will become major flashpoints in CBA talks this winter are becoming big news right now. Union captain Alejandro Bedoya has been talking openly about charter flights, a major issue for players in the league because of the massive travel asks. MLS will now be participating in solidarity payments for the first time ever, which is a huge step for the league’s academy set-up but has ruffled the feathers of the players union. After another disappointing season in CONCACAF Champions League, there’s more talk than ever about removing some of the league’s core business principles such as single entity and the salary cap to get the league to a higher competitive standard. And there’s always expansion on the horizon, especially as the league announced it’s going to 30 teams rather than stopping at 28. Don’t forget that this year’s schedule was compressed to help change the playoff format, which could mean an even earlier start to the season in 2020.
In American professional sports, CBA negotiations are tense, grinding and sadly inevitable. In the power struggle between labor and management, there will always be tension, even at the “candy store” of professional sports. MLS is no different, though the players union hasn’t been quite as strong as their counterparts in the other four major sports. But with the league going through such rapid growth and changes so quickly, the CBA hasn’t been able to keep up. More issues emerge every day that will become major parts of these upcoming negotiations, and the decisions made at the bargaining table will determine the future of the league for decades to come.
What set of owners will win the day? Will it be MLS’ high rollers who want to spend to their hearts content, leaving low spenders in the dust and removing the artificial parity that the league has strived so hard to keep? Or will those owners be able to reel in their higher spending brethren? What role will solidarity payments play in the league’s academies, and will there be more investment in them now because of the recent change? How does the structure of the league change now that expansion has ballooned the league from 20 teams before the last CBA to 30 or perhaps more by the time this new is through?
The power struggle in MLS isn’t just between owners and union, it’s now in the owner’s suite itself. Because there are clear haves and have nots in the room, a divide is emerging that is becoming more and more public between them. Perhaps the only way MLS can attain the status it wants is to join the rest of the world and remove the artificial parity that comes with the salary cap and single entity, but leave many teams behind, probably for good. But all other American major sports leagues come with some artificial parity to keep up interest, and once those structures go away, they’re not coming back. While the league is growing rapidly, many teams are not financially stable, and some of the structures in place help them not only compete but stay afloat. Most teams don’t have the local media and sponsorship deals that their counterparts in baseball, basketball and certainly football do. These schisms come into play when talking about seemingly minor sticking points like charter flights, which is not minor when talking to any players, or solidarity payments, or the playoff structure, or especially expansion. MLS players union hasn’t exactly been strong in its early existence, but is gaining more and more influence and not only that, but perhaps an opening to create major structural change because of that ownership divide. But, there is a divide among players too. There are the high-profile superstars getting paid as such, and a large majority of the lower rung, usually American players who are going to want their share too. They play a larger role in the players association than some of the Vela/Rooney/Zlatan types, and what direction will they take these negotiations in?
Every CBA negotiation comes fraught with challenges, difficulties and controversy, and this one will be no different. But what is different here is the position MLS is in, and the directions they could go in with the decisions made here. The issues mentioned above are just a few of the ones that are going to become major talking points when this season is over.
In many ways, MLS’ future is on the line. What kind of league we see when this CBA is signed is anyone’s guess. But that league will be the league that the world sees in a way the world hasn’t seen MLS before, and that league will be the one that either reaches new heights, or perhaps doesn’t.
While the soccer itself in MLS continues to be more and more unpredictable, the CBA negotiations could be even more so.
