Dear MLS Executives and Players,
There have been a lot of words and phrases thrown around during this MLS/MLSPU labor dispute. "Long-term sustainability." "FIFA-guaranteed player rights." "Freedom of movement." Your two parties, the Major League Soccer brass, and the Major League soccer players, have been given plenty of media coverage, and more than enough time to get your concerns across.
You know who hasn't had that chance? The fans. The people who actually pay to attend your games. The kind of people who buy season tickets to watch the Red Bulls, and for some inexplicable reason buried deep in a tortured North Jersey psyche, get excited about it. The people whose hard-earned cash keeps your little operation afloat. The people who travel hundred of miles to watch you play in preseason scrimmages, Open Cup ties, and away matches. The kind who buy your $80 shirts, your $7 beers, and thank you for the privilege. The only people who aren't making money in this little equation, and the ones who probably care the most about its success.
I talked to David Flagler, co-founder and former Vice President of the Sons of Ben, the supporters group that played an integral part in bringing Major League Soccer to the Philadelphia region, about what a strike would mean to him. His words echo the feelings of betrayal and helplessness that seem to be pervading the minds of supporters across the league.
"I've invested 3 years of my life into getting a team that seems to be slipping from my grasp. I've wanted this since the league started and I was in sixth grade. The league has so much momentum that it would be suicide to strike now,"
Flagler isn't alone in feeling that the involved parties are doing a disservice to soccer's growth in the US. In the words of Chicago Fire supporter Devin Howard:
"I feel like [a strike] has the potential to completely destroy any headway the sport has made since the beginning of the league. The league's popularity has been growing in the secular market and picking up a little bit of steam in the mainstream. On top of all of this, it's a World Cup year. The year that the sport takes part of the limelight. The year where newspapers put soccer players on the front page."
You players might not get paid much, compared to other pro sports in America or overseas footballers. And I'm in full agreement that the guys who make twenty or thirty grand a year are underpaid. But you know what? So are a lot of other people, and they don't have fifteen thousand people cheering them on when they go to work. A lot of you have college degrees, and could earn a lot more money in the professional world. But you don't, and we all know why. If you were in our positions, you'd gladly play for free, just like the rest of us.
And you, MLS owners and executives. You're allowed a monopoly because sports aren't like most industries. When you bought into MLS, or took a job that now pays you more than the payroll of entire teams, you agreed, knowingly or not, to become stewards of this sport. Your job is to protect and promote the sport for the good of every fan in the stands, every kid with a Landon Donovan poster on his wall, and yes, for all of the players on your rosters now. Allowing a strike is an unforgivable dereliction of that duty. If you wanted to make money, you should have invested in oil companies.
We all know that you'll come to an agreement at some point, and that neither of you will be entirely happy with it. But coming to that agreement in March, however flawed it is, is infinitely preferable to the most advantageous agreement in July.
In the words of every fan in this league, GET IT SORTED!
-Keith
