MLS strikers will try to score goals, not picket

Turns out MLS players won't be carrying signs and singing about Joe Hill afterall. 

As reported here yesterday, the players union had threatened a walkout just before this weekend's opening matches with the issue of free agency being the 800 pound gorilla in the room.  But as Richard Sandomir reports in today's New York Times, the two sides agreed to a five-year deal that allows limited free agency.

It won't be easy for a player to become a free agent in the single-entity league.  He will need to be at least 28 years old with eight years in the league and there would be a cap on his salary if he moved. 

The deal also increases the minimum salary to $60,000 from $36,500, a 60 percent jump.

“The players were very focused on having more freedom of movement and we’ve been able to provide that,” Commissioner Don Garber is quoted as saying. “Everyone wins. Our owners are able to protect their system and players are able to achieve more movement.”

Meanwhile, the Times' Jack Bell gives a team-by-team rundown of the league as it sets to begin its 20th season minus one team from 2014 (Chivas USA) but with two new franchises (New York and Orlando). 

Looking forward to a great season.

MLS at 20: will players revolt?

The present and future of Major League Soccer appear bright as the league prepares to open its 20th season Friday.  On Sunday 60,000 fans are expected as Orlando City hosts New York City F.C.  And this year begins eight-year television deals worth $90 million with ESPN, Fox and Univision.  But among this excitement there are black clouds on the horizon as the players union and the league are at odds over a new collective bargaining agreement.

As reported by Richard Sandomir in today's New York Times, the key issue is free agency, common in other sports in the United States and in international soccer but lacking in the single ownership structure of MLS.

"M.L.S.’s system is antediluvian, born of the league’s odd-duck structure," Sandomir writes. "As a single-entity league, M.L.S. owns all players contracts, which keeps a draconian brake on player movement (and thus compensation). In this way, the system acts like soccer’s version of the much-reviled reserve clause, which tethered a baseball player to his team in perpetuity unless he was traded, sold or released."

The Times article says that a strike could be called as early as tomorrow, which would prevent teams traveling to their opening games on Friday.  The Union is scheduled to host Colorado on Saturday at 4 p.m. in its opener.