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LA Galaxy players on MLS CBA negotiations

By on March 2, 2015

T-minus 5 days, T-minus 4 days, fifty-nine hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds… for all that American Major League Soccer can do to prepare for its twentieth season, the elephant — the MLS CBA negotiation — remains in the room like a time bomb slowly ticking away. There are now less than five days left until the kickoff of MLS 2015 — or not.  That is, if the CBA negotiations, a deal made every four years between the MLS Players’ Union and the league, don’t work out, a players strike and the first work stoppage in the history of the league could take place, and the season won’t start.

The main issue is Free Agency in MLS, of which there is no form out at all in the league’s single-entity system. The Players’ Union is pushing hard for it to exist, and are willing to strike over the issue, per many of the representatives of the Union and players around the league. MLS, however, remain unwilling to give up any ground, at least that is the view from the outside. A strike gets more likely by the day unless one side should concede ground; at the moment, the league has the upper hand at the bargaining table.

Negotiations in DC, at the offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, reportedly ran twelve hours on Sunday and may continue tomorrow as well. Progress, though, is good, and speaking after the LA Galaxy’s preseason loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, Union representative Todd Dunivant admitted at least some has been made.

As for the mindset of the players, he said: “It’s an interesting mindset, I guess. Obviously when we’re on the field it’s all business and everyone’s getting ready for the season. The CBA is obviously looming over the whole situation. Both sides will get to the table tomorrow and get to work and we’ll see what happens.

“Well, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Certainly, both sides are motivated, there’s no doubt about that; both sides know the stakes. There’s no doubt that this is going to be a big week for everybody and for soccer in this country. I think both sides are excited to get back to the table.

“We’re ready to do whatever it takes. We obviously have our principals and we have what we’re fighting for and the league – you heard the Commissioners comments, they certainly want a deal as well. It’s going to be an interesting week.

“We’re still talking. Last time it was a similar situation where it went down to the wire and I don’t think anyone expected anything differently; we’ve got a long way to go and a lot of work to do and both sides know that going into the week.”

Galaxy and US Men’s National Team center-back Omar Gonzalez said despite the CBA Negotiations overshadowing, the Galaxy cannot change their preparation for their scheduled opener with Chicago Fire on Friday: “We just have to act as if we are going to play on Friday. We have representatives that are in New York…so they’re going to do there job and speak for the rest of us. We have to be here and be present and be mindful that we want to start the season off right, and we can’t be worried about if we are going to play or not. That call will come from one of those guys (Dunivant or representative, Dan Gargan) and we’ll take if from there, but as of right now we’ve got to focus on Chicago.”

Photo credit: Noah Salzman on Wikipedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.