As I mentioned yesterday, MLS and the Players Union have begun formal negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA is set to expire at the end of January next year.
Top of mind for MLS observers, the new CBA will be a crucial determiner of the league's direction over the five or so years.
I have a thousand questions regarding the negotiations, the relationship between the players and the league, as well as the actual CBA itself. In the interest of time, however, I've decided to boil them down into what I view as the three most pressing.
1. What effect will the economy have on the negotiations?
Typically, management will always use whatever leverage it possesses to ensure favorable terms. I'm no labor expert, but it would seem a given that MLS will point to the economy in an effort to keep its commitment to the players as small as possible. When the first CBA was negotiated (2003-04), the economy was booming but the league itself was still struggling for profitability. While more teams are individually profitable now, the economy has hit a major bump and financial outlooks appear more bleak. It will be interesting to see what kind of balance can be struck with those two factors trending in opposite directions; will the league hold firm that the economy should dictate only small concessions on its part, or will the union successfully argue that over the life of the new agreement, the league is sure to see more money coming in (that should therefore be rightly shared with the players at larger sums)?
2. What are the players' top priorities?
As fans, we often complain that the league struggles with decent mid-level talent because minimum salaries are simply too low; while there's no way of knowing, I hope that issue is at the top of the union's to-do list. Other concerns, like the overall compensation due to the players year on year, will likely be the major focus. The players said all the right things back in '04, acknowledging that they view themselves as partners with the league and were therefore reasonable in their demands. But with the salary cap staying relatively static, it may be incumbent upon them to step up the pressure.
3. Who holds the cards?
I expect that the negotiations will go relatively smoothly, if only for one reason: the players don't appear to have much in terms of leverage. While MLS in undoubtedly growing, it still has a long way to go to reach the next level; the players will surely scour the books, but I expect a reasonable agreement will be reached without major changes. Don't expect the league to give up contract control, don't expect minimum salaries to increase dramatically, and don't expect many concessions on the part of the league that aren't somehow in their best interests. I'm hopeful for small victories, like an increase in the minimum number of senior roster spots the league is contracted to maintain (18 in the last CBA), reasonable increases in minimum salaries, and heartening increases in the total salary pool from year to year.
I'm taking a look at the current CBA in an effort to better understand what we might expect, but I'm no labor lawyer. If any of you out there have experience in these types of negotiations, please share you insights or email me if you'd like to write something for the blog on what the new CBA might look like. Either way, expect a post on the old CBA versus the new one at some point in the near future.
What questions do you have as the sides head to the negotiating table?
