Gauntlets are hitting the ground like so many falling bombs all around the MLS CBA negotiation battle ground; after week's of silence only broken by announced extensions of the bargaining period, both sides are suddenly lashing out in a final flurry of caustic rhetoric.


At this point, it appears that the Players are willing to strike to get what they want. The League declared emphatically, through mouth piece president Mark Abbott, that free agency is not an option; as I've argued before, it's unlikely that the League will give up the right to restrict player movement that they won in Fraser v. MLS willingly. That means it will take a massive amount of pressure to effect change, and finding an angle on the situation where the Union to have enough weight to create that pressure is near impossible.


The owners have almost nothing to lose by waiting out a strike, aside from the missed momentum that would come from the opening of Red Bull Arena and the debut of the Philadelphia Union. Those are small items in the grand scheme of how the league operates, and though it would be painful, it's doubtful those problems would play any part in the owners' reaction to a strike.


A large segment of the American soccer community, or perhaps simply the most vocal segment, advocate the Players' striking. Even those who can't see the owners completely relenting want labor to take a stand against management to prove a point. Drastic times and drastic measures, and with the 15th year of MLS play upon is, it's time for the training wheels to come off; the owners need to know that changing the system is necessary, even if a labor action now doesn't result in it.


Is this just a matter of resolve, or will the economics be the deciding factors? If it's the former, I believe that Players want to make their stand and are willing to walk out. If it's the latter, I doubt the union's rank and file will hold out long without paychecks, meaning the owners will win convincingly. They have the money and the legal backing, and would gladly sacrifice half a season (or more) of gates if it meant protecting their long term investment. People with money like certainty they count on years into the future.


None of us should be surprised by the sniping going on in the press, nor is the timing particularly interesting. This week is the stretch run, and both sides are playing their hands in the public realm as well as at the bargaining table. All of the cliches apply: "Who will blink first?" is the one that comes to mind immediately.


A strike is the only bullet the Players have. The problem is that the owners might be wearing money-lined Kevlar vests.