Kasey Keller Expects a “Lockout.” From a fan’s practical perspective, that’s not much different from “Strike”
By: Laurie | December 17th, 2009This breaks my heart but doesn’t surprise me. In his latest blog post, Kasey Keller is predicting a “lockout.”
Yes, that does mean what you think it means.
As players we have been told of a probable lockout date of Feb. 1st. What’s most disappointing to me is, this isn’t a negotiation for a bunch of players wanting 8 million a year instead of 7 million a year. The main points revolve around us being given the same rights under FIFA as the rest of the players around the world. As an MLS player you have to sign away your FIFA rights before you are allowed to sign your contract. We would like a moderate rise in the salary cap, but the major points for the players are: guaranteed contracts, free agency, and the right to negotiate with other MLS teams. These are some of the basic rights the players in all the other leagues around the world have that we have to sign away. With the huge strides MLS has made since the last CBA this seems very reasonable.
This would suck, for so many reasons.
I’ll probably take a closer look at the issues later. For now, I just want to be depressed.
Sigh.
(As I said earlier, my thoughts on the CBA negotiations are here.)
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Comments
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While the prospect of a strike is on some level disappointing regarding my hopes for the next season, I do agree with the players’ position. I also think that with Sounders FC trying to be a club in the image of the great Euro clubs… we should be in full support of the MLS players’ rights.
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Ben, I am mostly in agreement with you here. I am very much for an increased cap, limited free agency and the right of players to negotiate with other MLS teams because it will allow the league to bring in and keep better players.
My reservations are about the things that bring about higher costs without bringing big benefits, like fully-guaranteed contracts. If a player makes $350,000 a year but isn’t contributing to the team midseason, requiring the team to pay that out means that under the salary cap they can’t bring in someone better. (On the other hand, I also don’t think it’s fair that a player gets nothing. Is there a happy medium?)
On the one hand, I am worried about a NASL-style meltdown. On the other, I’m tired of the lazier owners using the NASL as an excuse to keep from devoting resources to making their teams a Seattle- or Toronto-style success while using the excuse that “we’re not a soccer country.”
Let’s hope that both sides are willing to actually BARGAIN. (And that the players get most of what they want.)
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I have to hope this is just posturing. I think/hope that both sides are playing chicken here – Work stoppages are crippling to established leagues, the NHL still hasn’t fully recovered from the ‘04-’05 lockout. I really think that a stoppage would kill MLS dead. As insulated as we can be as ‘true supporters’, we forget that the casual fan actually pays most of the bills (tickets, eyeballs on televisions, merch) and casual fans will give up on the league en masse if we suffer any major labor strife, and most will never come back…
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Technically, a lockout is the inverse of a strike as in it’s the employers preventing the workings from working rather than the employees refusing to work. Given the structure of the league, a NASL-style meltdown is actually not that likely. Also, remember that the franchises share in the profits generated by SUM, so even the franchises that are doing badly in ticket sales are actually pretty well off financially.
Ironically, the league stands to benefit more from the things the players are asking for than the players themselves. A lot of those players wouldn’t be able to get much more money for their services, but opening up the rules would allow teams to sign better players. That will improve quality of play, attract more fans, and put more money into the pockets of the owners.
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DAMMIT! I know the difference between a lockout and a strike! I hate it when I make stupid mistakes like that. (Going in to change my headline now.)
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Speaking of stupid mistakes, the phrase in my comment above should read “the employers preventing the workers from working” not “the employers preventing the workings from working”. “The employers preventing the employees from working” would have been even better.
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