2015 MLS Salaries Released

With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement now ratified by the players, the MLS Players' Union has released the 2015 salaries for players. The annual to bi-annual event where fans argue over who is over paid, who is underpaid, who is a steal and marvel at the discrepancy in salaries from Kaka to the likes of Amadou Dia. Based off the base salaries, Sporting KC sits with the 10th highest salary in the league at $5,209,250. About a quarter of the price that the likes of Toronto and LA.

Here's Sporting's list of salaries. The first number is the base salary, the second is the guaranteed compensation.

Abdul-Salaam, Saad - D - $60,000.00 - $73,750.00
Anibaba, Jalil - D - $120,000.00 - $150,000.00
Anor, Bernardo - M - $135,000.00 - $135,000.00
Besler, Matt - D - $650,000.00 - $683,250.00
Carrasco, Servando - M - $80,750.00 - $85,375.00
de Jong, Marcel - D - $180,000.00 - $191,500.00
Dia, Amadou - D - $50,000.00 - $50,000.00
Dwyer, Dom - F - $400,000.00 - $518,750.00
Ellis, Kevin - D - $60,000.00 - $63,150.00
Espinoza, Roger - M - $750,000.00 - $750,000.00
Feilhaber, Benny - M - $350,000.00 - $362,187.50
Hallisey, Connor - M - $60,000.00 - $73,750.00
Kempin, Jonathan - GK - $85,000.00 - $92,083.33
Lopez, Mikey - M - $100,000.00 - $172,000.00
Medranda, Jimmy - M - $60,000.00 - $60,000.00
Melia, Tim - GK - $80,000.00 - $84,203.33
Mustivar, Soni - M - $250,000.00 - $250,000.00
Myers, Chance - D-M - $170,000.00 - $195,000.00
Nagamura, Paulo - M - $230,000.00 - $230,000.00
Nemeth, Krisztian - F - $250,000.00 - $250,000.00
Opara , Ike - D - $115,000.00 - $121,250.00
Palmer-Brown, Erik - D - $60,000.00 - $60,500.00
Peterson, Jacob - F - $123,500.00 - $130,375.00
Sinovic, Seth - M-D - $140,000.00 - $146,750.00
Zusi, Graham - F-M - $650,000.00 - $682,102.27


Some of the things that stand out.

Espinoza is the team's highest paid player with a base salary of $750,000. He's not a designated player though as the team is apparently paying down his salary with allocation funds. With the new Targeted Allocation Money, one could wonder if KC could look to use that to pay down Espinoza and use their current allocation money on other things.

Four players that started on the back line in KC's last game against Vancouver, three of them (Abdul-Salaam, Dia, and Ellis) make a combined $170,000 in base salary.

Mustivar and Nemeth are both making $250,000 per year. In the capped league that is MLS, that's probably fair for both the contribution of the players and the business the team did bringing them in.

Dwyer's new deal that he signed this offseason is a very good piece of business for him, he went from earning $80,000 according to last year's numbers, to $400,000 this year, a little under the designated player limit.

With their contributions this season you can easily argue that Ellis and Melia have been two of the best bargains in the league this year. Ellis making $60,000 has stepped up in the absence of Opara and really became a key contributor for the team. While Melia makes $80,000 and has become extremely important in KC's move up the league standings.

In terms of players that are overpaid, the biggest is probably Nagamura. While the Brazilian offers a lot when he's on the field, the problem is that he just hasn't been on the field that much recently. He's played just 398 minutes of a potential 1,530 KC has played in league play this year. At $230,000 that's not nearly enough of a contribution.

Similar comments can be made about Anor's $135,000 salary with only 188 minutes of contribution.

We unfortunately don't learn the salary Luis Marin was set to make with the club due to his mutual agreement to terminate his contract.

Updated MLS Player Salaries

The MLS Players' Union today released their updated salaries for the 2014 season. The union usually does this two to three times a year. This year the second release was later in the season than most people expected it to be released.

With it there are some updates to Sporting KC's salaries from earlier in the year.

The biggest changes are for KC's two new designated players, Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. Both saw their base salaries jump to $600,000. Besler jumped from $200,000, Zusi from $365,000. Besler has the largest guaranteed compensation at $633,250 while Zusi is right behind him at $631,388.89.

Sporting's three new signings are also on the list. The lowest of which is midfielder, Michael Kafari making $36,504. Ahead of him is Honduran midfielder, Jorge Claros making $90,000. The highest of KC's midseason acquisitions was Swiss-Filipino midfielder, Martin Steuble who is making $120,000. It bit surprising considering the roles of the two players so far that Steuble is making more than Claros.

With the new salaries, Sporting KC now has the 11th highest payroll in MLS, moving up two spots from where they were when the first salaries came out this year. And according to the numbers, Besler is the 21st highest paid player in the league, Zusi the 22nd.

Sporting Player Salaries Released

The MLS Players Union has released the first set of salaries for the 2014 season. As always these are probably a good base, but these probably are not the 100% number for many of the players. You have to remember that some salaries get paid down with allocation money, or retention funds (which KC used last year on both Matt Besler and Graham Zusi). Also remember that a player is a designated player if the transfer fee paid makes them a DP. So Claudio Bieler could either be paid down with allocation money, or his Designated Player status comes from a transfer fee that KC paid.

Zusi comes in as the highest paid player on Kansas City, with a base of $365,000, with Benny Feilhaber second at $325,000, and Aurelien Collin in third at $275,000. Bieler is fourth at $225,000, Paulo Nagamura is fifth at $220,000 and Besler is sixth at $200,000. After Besler comes one of KC's new signings, Toni Dovale, who sits at $180,000.

KC's other new signings are on the lower end. Andy Gruenebaum is making $85,000 which is a drop from his $92,200 he made last year with Columbus. KC's other acquisition from within MLS, Sal Zizzo, saw his salary increase, but only slight, from $76,781 to $77,000. The other new acquisitions this year are near the low end of the salary scale, Igor Juliao is making $48,500, while the two players that were drafted in the 2014 MLS draft, Alex Martinez and Victor Munoz (by DC) make $36,504.

When it comes to the players that stayed with KC, there was plenty of movement. The biggest move was Chance Myers, who with his new contract increased from $105,000 to $165,000. After Myers the biggest mover was starting goalkeeper, Eric Kronberg, who made a big jump himself of over $43,000 to $120,000. Oriol Rosell jumped up $40,000 himself, and Seth Sinovic made a jump of $35,000. The biggest drop, Nagamura, whose salary went down $40,000 this year.


Here is the full list.

Player - Base Salary - Guaranteed Compensation
Matt Besler - $200,000 - $200,000
Claudio Bieler - $225,000 - $225,000
Aurelien Collin - $275,000 - $281,250
Toni Dovale - $180,000 - $185,000
Christian Duke - $36,500 - $36,500
Dom Dwyer - $80,000 - $92,500
Kevin Ellis - $48,825 - $49,575
Benny Feilhaber - $325,000 - $337,187.50
Andy Gruenebaum - $85,000 - $85,000
Peterson Joseph - $51,150 - $51,150
Igor Juliao - $48,500 - $48,500
Jon Kempin - $70,000 - $77,083.33
Eric Kronberg - $120,000 - $120,000
Mikey Lopez - $85,000 - $157,000
Alex Martinez - $36,504 - $36,504
Jimmy Medranda - $48,504 - $48,504
Victor Munoz - $36,504 - $36,504
Chance Myers - $160,000 - $185,000
Paulo Nagamura - $220,000 - $220,000
Lawrence Olum - $48,825 - $48,825
Ike Opara - $97,500 - $103,705
Erik Palmer-Brown - $48,500 - $49,000
Jacob Peterson - $110,000 - $114,833.33
Oriol Rosell - $150,000 - $158,750
Soony Saad - $51,150 - $51,150
CJ Sapong - $95,000 - $112,000
Seth Sinovic - $125,000 - $131,750
Sal Zizzo - $77,000 - $91,045.71
Graham Zusi - $365,000 - $398,250

New Players Salaries

The MLS Players Union has released updated salaries for the MLS players. Included in the list are all the players that were signed since the transfer window closed and the roster deadline.  For Kansas City there are three additions to the list. Jimmy Medranda and Brendan Ruiz, the two players signed on the day the MLS transfer window closed, and Federico Bessone, who the team signed on the roster freeze date are included.

Medranda and Ruiz are both making the league minimum, $32,125 both base and guaranteed compensation. Bessone, is not making a ton more, he is on $46,500 a year under both categories as well.

Updated Salaries

Today the MLS Players Union released updated players salaries. When it comes to Sporting KC, there were only two changes to the salaries from the ones that were released earlier in the year. The first was the addition of Erik Palmer-Brown to the list.  Sporting KC's new home grown player is making $35,125 as a base salary and $35,625 in guaranteed compensation.

The big one though is Graham Zusi and his new contract. Zusi's new contract sees him get a big jump in pay. .His base salary goes from $140,000 in the release earlier this year to $350,000 now. Guaranteed compensation goes from $173,812.50 to $383,250. Zusi is now the teams highest paid player according to the players union release. Although it lists Sporting designated player, Claudio Bieler's salary as only $200,000.

Salaries and 2013 Preseason

Today, the MLS players union released another update to the player salaries again.  Only one new addition on the list for Sporting KC, the addition of former Barcelona B player, Oriol Rosell.  The Spaniard is making $90,000 for his base salary and $98,750 in guaranteed compensation, the salary is prorated since he didn't sign until midseason.

In other salary news, Scott Angevine, who had been under contract to Sporting for a short time is on the list as a pool keeper, making $33,756, along with Steve Spangler, who trained with Sporting is making $33,750.  Former player, Luke Sassano isn't listed under Sporting's salaries any more, but he is at the bottom of the October list without a team since he's now in the NASL with Carolina.

2013 preseason back in Florida

Buried at the bottom of an article from Steven Goff today is the news on where at least a portion of KC's 2013 preseason will be.  Sporting has apparently agreed to return to Orlando again this year with 5 other MLS clubs (one of which is DC).  They'll once again participate in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer classic, scheduled to take place from February 9th through the 23rd.

Updated Salaries

The MLS Players' Union released updated player salaries today. Five players have been added to the list for Kansas City while 3 players are gone from the list. One other player has seen their salary increase.

Added to KC's salary list are Daneil Cyrus, Jeferson, Joseph Peterson, Soony Saad, and Seth Sinovic. Jeferson, KC's third ever designated player is the highest paid of the 5, with a $429,996 base salary ($484,996 guaranteed) that is prorated for the rest of this season, as are the other salaries. Cyrus and Joseph are both making $42,000 in base, although Cyrus makes $44,991.56 in guaranteed money. Saad and Sinovic both bring up the end of the scale, making $32,604. For the amount of playing time that Sinovic has played this season, he's an absolutely steal for the league minimum. Once again it just begs the question of why the Revolution waived a guy that's become an important part of the team.

Gone from the list are Stephane Auvray ($170,000.00 base, $208,125.00 guaranteed), Mike Jones ($32,604.00 base and guaranteed) and Nikos Kounenakis ( $110,004.00 base $120,004.00 guaranteed) who was a surprise to be on the list to begin with. The other interesting thing is that Ryan Smith, whose season is over, and his $140,000 base salary is still on KC's list.

Luke Sassano is the one player to see an in-season pay raise this year, increasing his salary from $42,000 to $51,600 base, $55,025 guaranteed. This game from Sassano's short term deal being extended by Sporting KC earlier this year.

With only a few games left in the season, it's interesting to look at who is underpaid/overpaid at this point. The two most obvious underpaid players on the team are CJ Sapong and Graham Zusi who both make $42,000. Zusi seems set to get a raise, possibly a new contract with one year left to go on his current deal. Sapong could also possibly see himself get a new deal with his play this season. As mentioned above Sinovic is another player that is playing well above his pay scale. Matt Besler is another that is underpaid currently making under $60,000 guaranteed.

On the other end of the spectrum, Shavar Thomas is the prototypical overpaid player on KC's roster, getting paid $160,000, that's $53,333 a game for his 3 appearances this season, or $4,571.43 per minute for his 35 minutes. One would hope that Philadelphia is still covering a portion of his salary. While Julio Cesar has done much better than I think anyone thought he would earlier this season, I'm not positive that he's worth his $210,000 base salary. That's not to say Cesar hasn't been good, I just don't think he's been THAT good.

Deeper Look at Salaries

I just got beaten in posting this by Gooch over at the Star who basically posted some of the same information. But I spent enough time working on this I'm going to post anyway.

Over the weekend, the MLS Players' Union put out the salaries for players through May 1st. When the list was released there were certainly a few questions about the list. Some of my original questions were based on the roster set up for the team. I've had some time to go through the roster rules again and I have a bit better understanding, but I still have some questions.

One of the questions is wondering how much cap space KC still has available for potential summer purchases to help SKC should they need it. This is based off of how many of the players are “Salary Budget Players” as the MLS rules call them. KC can have up to 20 of these players on their roster. The other 10 roster spots are “Off-Budget Players.” From looking at the roster and the salaries I see 17 players that are “Salary Budget Players” and 6 players that are “Off-Budget Players.” There are still 3 more players that I'm not sure of where they fit.

Just looking at the salaries of the 17 players, KC is using $2,407,918 of the $2,675,000 salary cap. That includes the $110,004 for Nikos Kounenakis. That would leave around $267,000 in cap space. But I think at least one of the 4 questionable players (Korede Aiyegbusi, Luke Sassano, CJ Sapong, and Graham Zusi) is on the “Salary Budget Players” list. This is because KC would be charged a fee for not filling at least 18 of those roster spots. All three make $42,000, so KC would have around $225,000 of cap space if all the numbers on the players union list are correct.

But that leads to another question, Omar Bravo's salary. Gooch at The Full 90 is trying to look into it, but has not been able to get a response from the players' union. The union's list says that Bravo's salary is only $120,000, which doesn't make sense as a designated player. Designated players cap hit is supposed to be $385,000. Now the cap hit can be lower if a transfer fee is used to bring the player to the league. But all the information back in August seemed to point to Bravo being a free agent, which would mean he should likely have a salary of $385,000. If Bravo is making the DP salary, then KC only has about $2,000. That's before factoring in one of the 4 questionable players.

With all four players making over that amount though, it would seem to point to KC being over the cap. But there are other things that likely knock KC below the cap again. 1) KC still has allocation money that they could use to pay down the salary to get people in under the cap hit. 2) Philadelphia could still be covering a portion of Shavar Thomas' salary. Last year when KC traded for Thomas, the Union covered a portion of his salary. It's possible that the Union is still covering a portion of Thomas' salary making it possible for KC to fit one of the other guys in under the cap.

If Bravo is on the designated player level, then KC doesn't really have much of any cap space left at all. So with that information, I would be more inclined to believe the listing on the players' union website. Which is still surprising.

Here is how I believe the players are divided up on Salary Budget vs Off-Budget

Salary Budget players

Davy Arnaud
Stephane Auvray
Matt Besler
Omar Bravo
Julio Cesar
Aurelien Collin
Birahim Diop
Roger Espinoza
Michael Harrington
Kei Kamara
Eric Kronberg
Chance Myers
Jimmy Nielsen
Craig Rocastle
Ryan Smith
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas

Off-Budget

Teal Bunbury
Kevin Ellis
Mike Jones/Seth Sinovic
Jon Kempin
Scott Lorenz
Konrad Warzycha

Unsure (1 is on the Salary Budget the other three are on the Off-Budget list)

Korede Aiyegbusi
CJ Sapong
Luke Sassano
Graham Zusi

Sporting KC Salaries Out

The MLS Player's Union has released player salaries for this year, as of May 1. There are certainly come surprises on KC's list. Here is the list, at the end I'll have my thoughts on the salaries. For those wondering why there are two numbers, the first number is the player's base salary, meaning what counts against the cap. The second number includes any signing and guaranteed bonuses, annualized (meaning the bonus divided out over the length of the contract). Here is the list.

Club Last Name First Name Pos 2011 Base Salary 2011 Guaranteed Compensation
KC Aiyegbusi Olukorede D $ 42,000.00 $ 42,000.00
KC Arnaud Davy M $ 250,000.00 $ 258,750.00
KC Auvray Stephane M $ 170,000.00 $ 208,125.00
KC Besler Matt D $ 58,410.00 $ 69,660.00
KC Bravo Omar F $ 120,000.00 $ 170,000.00
KC Bunbury Teal F $ 85,000.00 $ 183,000.00
KC Cesar Julio D $ 210,000.00 $ 213,750.00
KC Collin Aurelien D $ 185,004.00 $ 191,254.00
KC Diop Ibrahim M $ 60,000.00 $ 64,250.00
KC Ellis Kevin D $ 32,604.00 $ 33,354.00
KC Espinoza Roger M $ 100,000.00 $ 133,750.00
KC Harrington Michael M-D $ 110,000.00 $ 136,833.33
KC Jones Mychel D $ 32,604.00 $ 32,604.00
KC Kamara Kei F $ 200,000.00 $ 202,500.00
KC Kempin Jonathan GK $ 42,000.00 $ 49,083.33
KC Kounenakis Nick D $ 110,004.00 $ 120,004.00
KC Kronberg Eric GK $ 62,500.00 $ 62,500.00
KC Lorenz Scott D $ 32,604.00 $ 32,604.00
KC Myers Chance D-M $ 72,000.00 $ 87,666.67
KC Nielsen Jimmy GK $ 200,000.00 $ 241,666.67
KC Rocastle Craig M $ 110,000.00 $ 116,062.50
KC Sapong Charles F $ 42,000.00 $ 42,000.00
KC Sassano Luke M-D $ 42,000.00 $ 42,000.00
KC Smith Ryan M-F $ 140,000.00 $ 144,375.00
KC Stojcev Milos M $ 90,000.00 $ 99,000.00
KC Thomas Shavar D $ 160,000.00 $ 174,375.00
KC Warzycha Konrad M $ 32,604.00 $ 32,604.00
KC Zusi Graham F-M $ 42,000.00 $ 42,000.00

Thoughts. Omar Bravo's salary appears to be a misprint based off of the way that all the other designated players in the league read on the list. All the rest that are paid over $1,000,000 have the 7 figures there. So I'm thinking it's likely that there is a zero missing off of Bravo's salary and he's getting closer to $1,200,000. The listing of him counting $120,000 against the cap is likely wrong. It's the standard $385,000 for a DP.

We're still paying Nikos Kounenakis? According to the salary list we are. Either that's a misprint, or KC gave a 2 year guaranteed contract to a player who made the bench only 2 or 3 times during his time here and never played in a game. Yeah, rumor is he had some kind of medical condition, possibly a stroke, but the move seems to reinforce a lot of people's thoughts that it was a desperation move for a defender.

Julio Cesar is our third highest paid player? Seriously? After Davy Arnaud, who's making a quarter million, and Bravo's $385,000 cap hit, the Brazilian defender who has really failed to impress is the team's next highest paid player at $210,000.

Based on my understanding of the roster rules, I've removed Teal Bunbury (GA), Jon Kempin (HG), and the four players making under $40,000 (Kevin Ellis, Mike Jones, Scott Lorenz, and Konrad Warzycha) from the team's total salary. Counting Bravo's cap hit as $385,000, KC is currently using around $2,840,918 of their salary cap this year. The salary cap for players 1 through 20 is $2,675,000, so there is other stuff going on not mentioned that gets us down below the cap. Either way it appears unlikely that we have as much cap space as we may have thought...

Are we paying all of Shavar Thomas' salary this year? Last year when we traded for him from Philadelphia, the Union picked up a large portion of his salary. I wonder if they're doing the same this year. If so that knocks the cap hit down a little bit.

2010 Wizards Salaries

Today the MLS Players' Union released this year's player salaries which means it's time to take a look at who is over paid, under paid, and just about right. First, here's the Wizards players' salaries.

KC Aiyegbusi Olukorede D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00
KC Arnaud Davy M $ 220,000.00 $ 228,750.00
KC Auvray Stephane M $ 140,000.00 $ 148,125.00
KC Beasley Jamar M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00
KC Besler Matt D $ 50,600.00 $ 61,850.00
KC Bunbury Teal F $ 65,000.00 $ 163,000.00
KC Chhetri Sunil F $ 100,008.00 $ 110,008.00
KC Conrad Jimmy D $ 232,750.00 $ 244,000.00
KC Diop Ibrahim M $ 57,000.00 $ 58,250.00
KC Escobar Pablo D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00
KC Espinoza Roger M $ 75,000.00 $ 108,750.00
KC Harrington Michael M-D $ 78,516.00 $ 97,266.00
KC Hercegfalvi Zoltan F $ 168,000.00 $ 168,000.00
KC Hirsig Santiago M $ 75,000.00 $ 75,000.00
KC Hohlbein Aaron D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00
KC Jewsbury Jack D $ 145,000.00 $ 154,125.00
KC Kamara Kei F $ 180,000.00 $ 182,500.00
KC Kronberg Eric GK $ 56,000.00 $ 56,000.00
KC Leathers Jonathan D $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00
KC Myers Chance D-M $ 70,000.00 $ 142,000.00
KC Nielsen Jimmy GK $ 100,000.00 $ 141,666.67
KC Rocastle Craig M $ 96,000.00 $ 102,062.50
KC Smith Ryan M-F $ 125,000.00 $ 129,375.00
KC Wolff Josh F $ 220,004.00 $ 220,004.00
KC Zusi Graham F-M $ 40,000.00 $ 40,000.00

The first amount is the players' base salary, which counts against the cap. The second is the players' guaranteed compensation salary, which is basically their base salary plus their guaranteed bonuses annualized. For a better break down, read the information on the players' union website.

Here's a bit of a break down.
Jimmy Nielsen is making $100,000 base salary, that's compared to Kevin Hartman's $70,000 at Dallas currently. My understanding that Hartman's contract negotiations were not as much about money as it was about length of contact. Still it's hard to argue with the move now anyways as Nielsen has proven himself to be more than capable of replacing Hartman.

Some of the other players who are earning their money are Ryan Smith and Stephane Auvray. Although both are making over $100K, they're definitely earning it for their play this season. Some lower level pay earners that are playing above their pay level are Pablo Escobar and Graham Zusi. Escobar has had some up and down moments, but has definitely been worth his $40,000 a year with some solid performances against the likes of Seattle, LA, and Columbus. Zusi has contributed plenty in the absence of Auvray and has done a good job, improving each time he's gotten on the field.

As for some players that aren't exactly earning their salary. The biggest one that comes to mind is Josh Wolff who is making just over $220,000. Wolff has one goal and one assist this season and has been frustrating to most fans when he's out the field. Another one making more than I think many fans think he should is Craig Rocastle who is making close to $100,000. Rocastle could already have 3 red cards this season if different referees were in the game. It just seems like quite a bit for a player who was playing in the 5th division in England before coming to KC. Sunil Chhetri is another one that would appear to be over paid, as he's only played 45 minutes for the Wizards in a US Open Cup qualifier and has yet to make the bench for the first team, even when they were struggling to score goals.

Overall, adding up the base salary of all the players on the roster (not counting Teal Bunbury, Roger Espinoza, and Chance Myers who are roster exempt as Generation Adidas players) and the Wizards are using about $2,283,878 of the $2,550,000 cap. That leaves the Wizards with about $266,000 of cap space left. Not enough at the moment to bring a DP, but with allocation money, and the potential extra space from a waived player to make roster room and there's space for a designated player.

CBA DONE!

New 5 year agreement has been announced today by the league in a teleconference. The new CBA will give the players more money, improved quality of life for players, greater players' rights, and greater ability to move. For the first time ever, the majority of the players will have guaranteed contracts. For those that didn't know, Jimmy Conrad was on the Players Union's executive board. There will be some form of "reentry draft" for players who are out of contract and not picked up by their team. It sounds like it may be similar to the old MLB free agent reentry draft. The guaranteed contracts will be based mainly on the length of time in the league. A full release is coming later today. Bring on the season!

MLS CBA Agreement Appears Close

MLS and the MLS Players Union have announced that they will be hosting a joint conference call today at noon central time. They will be discussing the collective bargaining agreement. If word from the AP is true, it sounds like it will be very good news. The AP is reporting that MLS and the MLSPU are close to a new 5 year CBA. This will avoid a strike that was set to start Tuesday morning at midnight to keep Philadelphia Union players from getting on a flight to Seattle for the season opener on Thursday night. One think that could have had a big effect (last paragraph in that article) on the negotiations is the fact that the league has stated health care benefits will be cut off for the players on March 31st if there is a strike. Certainly not something the players, would have wanted to happen.

While we won't know the final details of the agreement for a little while most likely, one has to wonder how a resolution was reached on the big issue of the discussions, free agency. The players had stated previously that they wanted freedom of movement within the league. In the past few days, the owners have started to come out and speak on the topic as well saying the league would not be getting free agency and a strike could very well kill the league. The past two days the two sides have been meeting for long hours in DC with a mediator. Wizards player union representatives Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff have been in DC for the negotiations. It will be interesting how these two sides that appeared so far apart reached an agreement on the free agency issue.

MLSnet is carrying the audio from the conference call. Andy Williams of Real Salt Lake has tweeted the deal is done.

No Strike...... Yet

There was no new extension to the CBA negotiations between MLS and the Players' Union today as the dead line is at midnight tonight. Still, without a deal being reached, there will be no strike, at least not yet. The League has already stated that they wouldn't be locking the players out, but they restated that again today saying; "We have told the union that the league does not plan to lock out the players and we are prepared to begin the season under the current CBA while we continue to bargain to reach agreement on a new CBA."

The Players' Union has responded to the lack of a new deal as well saying; "We have advised our players to keep working for the time being, but as of Friday they will be doing so without a CBA." In the same statement the MLSPU says that they are still working to make changes to the way MLS does things.

I still don't know how much change the MLSPU will get, the owners seem dead set against giving into the union's biggest demand, free agency. Former Wizards goalkeeper, Kevin Hartman has become one of the poster boys for this with the Wizards moving on from him, but still holding his rights since they offered him a contract. Although some of the players quotes are a little out there. For instance, Chris Klein's quote that Hartman is "out of options," which simply isn't true. Unlike the NFL, MLB, or other leagues, there are plenty of other leagues players can go to to play, including ones in the US. Hartman could pull a Steve Ralston and play in the USSF division 2, Hartman could likely get a similar contract as Ralston did.

The Elephant in the Room

I've been ignoring the big gigantic elephant in the room regarding the MLS collective bargaining agreement for a little while now, hoping that if I ignored it it'd work itself out and go away. But it hasn't gone away, and it's time for me to pull my head out of the sand and realize this is a very big issue. The twice extended labor talks between the league and the MLS Players' Union are coming close to their deadline of February 25th and it appears the two sides are still far apart on one key point, free agency. Apparently the latest set of talks have broken down as neither side wants to budge on the issue. The owners are dead set against allowing it, while the players don't appear willing to settle without it. The Wizards player union rep, Jimmy Conrad is quoted at length in an ESPN piece about the issue saying that unless things change, a work stoppage appears inevitable.

Each side is now trying to win the battle in the media it would appear, as in response to the players' comments, the league has come back with counter claims to what the union says is going on in the meetings. There are a lot of quotes from MLS President Mark Abbott about the negotiations in that article and what they are trying to do. Based on what the league is saying, it appears that if there is a work stoppage, it will be from a players' strike, not a lock out. That's based on the news that the league is willing to start the season under the rules of the expired CBA (which the league can do based on the rules of the current CBA that state the terms remain in effect from year to year unless the other side is notified in writing 60 days prior to the expiration or renewal of the agreement. (page 9)). What that means for the players, is that they'll have to be the ones that walk out, and in doing so they will likely keep themselves from being able to play in other leagues as they'd still be under contract to MLS.

That could really hurt players like Jimmy Conrad, Roger Espinoza, Chad Marshall, Robbie Findley, and multiple other players who have hopes of making their countries World Cup team for this summer's tournament in South Africa. A work stoppage could kill any of the players' chances of making the cup, and certainly something that weights on some of those players' minds.

Right now it would appear that the league is the one holding the better cards after the statement that they're willing to work under the old CBA, but the union has come back again with another response to the league's statements. With more of this out in the media now, this looks like it could start to get really ugly as each side tries to win the media war. From what I've read by fans, there seems to be a fairly even split on which side people support, but all definitely don't want a work stoppage. The next 4 days will be very interesting.

MLS/Players Union Update

After tomorrow's expansion draft, the main focus for MLS will turn to the league's collective bargaining agreement which is set to expire in January. A little bit of news on the issue has come out in the past day. Today FIFPro asked FIFA to step into the potential labor dispute because MLS doesn't follow FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. FIFPro has a long list of complaints against the league; there are players without a guaranteed contract, player contracts are routinely terminated by the league, MLS acts as a cartel, there is no freedom of movement for any MLS player, and virtually any player can be transferred to another club in the league without his consent.

The players' union and FIFPro were dealt a blow later in the day, though, as Grant Wahl with Sports Illustrated received word from FIFA that it will not interfere in the collective bargaining negotiations. FIFA's statement in part said, "FIFA understands that this domestic issue is being resolved in accordance with U.S. labor laws and does not involve the U.S. Soccer Federation. FIFA will not interfere in the process. We have been assured that FIFA's regulations have been and will be respected."

This is definitely an important issue to watch as the next few weeks go by.

Could there be a Strike?

Could the 2010 MLS season be in a little bit of danger next season? It seems like it could be a possibility, as the current collective bargaining agreement is up in January. According to former Wizard, Nick Garcia in the Toronto Sun (yes I know the Sun is a tabloid), players have been told to put money back for this year just in case.

Anyone that's paid attention to MLS can see that it seems like the players are getting a bit of a raw deal. There are multiple players on every team's roster that struggles to make it. Many take second jobs and coach youth teams in their cities to make extra money. They also have to room with 2-3 other roommates some times to help make ends meet, especially in cities like LA where the cost of living is higher (remember the exerts about Alan Gordon in The Beckham Experiment). There are other issues on the table, including guaranteed contracts for the players. This is something that every fan of not just the Wizards, but MLS will need to pay attention to in the coming weeks and months. Garcia's thought is that a deal won't be reached until around the time the MLS season starts.