Taking stock of the MLS CBA negotiations is difficult, if only because it's almost impossible to determine if what is being said by each side is purely rhetoric or if it's an actual peek at bargaining table mindsets. If it's all rhetoric, then we can have hope as a fan base, knowing that both groups will likely back down from their current stances and find common ground by January 31st. If it's not rhetoric, if both Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union want to stick to their hard lines, it might be a painful next two months.


The players, for their part, have made statements outlining their desire for concessions on the following points, going so far as to involve the international players group FIFPro on point one:

1. Guaranteed contracts
2. Free agency
3. Quality of life items


Management has pushed back hard on the first two, though it appears that they're amedable to working with the players on point three. Of course, quality of life items, meaning larger per diems, allowing charter flights, moving cost reimbursement, etc., aren't going to make headlines, nor decide the ultimate tenor of the new agreement. It's those first two issues, and the accompanying matter of FIFA compliance, that will have each side at the others throats.


For a more detailed look at the FIFA regulations and how they apply to MLS contracts, and possible ways by which the league can get around the compliance question, read Kyle McCarthy's piece at Goal.com. McCarthy delves into the minutiae of the FIFA regs, but sums up by pointing out that none of it matters as long as world football's governing body maintains its stance that it will not intervene.


Unfortunately, the bluster will surely continue, clouding over the matter and giving many MLS fans ulcers until the thing is worked out. With just over two months to go until the current CBA expires, it doesn't appear that the league and the players have made any real progress; when the players, prematurely in my mind, make noise about a strike, and management refuses to address a very real and very legitimate concern about their contracts, feathers are bound to be ruffled.


It's during negotiations like these, between two groups of people with intelligence and the supposed best interest of the game at heart, that we see adults act the most like children. The stubbornness we're seeing now, and the rhetoric flying back and forth, serves to not only create hard feelings at the negotiating table, thereby slowing down the process, it also saps any confidence the fan base has in the deal getting done.


I know that I don't feel very good about the chances of an agreement being reached by the expiration date, and while that doesn't necessarily mean that the 2010 season will be cancelled or delayed, it will certainly damage the leagues standing among soccer fans in the United States.