WAYNE, Pa. -- Fresh off a typical preseason training session on Wednesday at YSC Sports, Union player representative Danny Cruz delivered a stern message.
He announced that MLS players are ready to strike.
“We are 100 percent behind a work stoppage in order to get what we believe that we deserve,” Cruz said. “We stand firm behind that as a union, as a group, we are unified and we will continue to be unified.”
The current MLS collective bargaining agreement ends on Jan. 31, and with it comes a battle between MLS and the MLS Players Union. The two sides have already dug in on issues such as free agency (which is the primary battlefield), higher base salaries for young players and closing the MLS player wage gap.
For example in 2014, the LA Galaxy had two players make more than $4 million per season, while 12 players made under $50,000. Some of the league’s highest-paid players like Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley have come out in favor of free agency.
“Those guys are big for us as well with the negotiations,” said Cruz of well-paid players like Bradley. “They believe in this process and they believe in those younger guys that make a lot less than they do. We’re as unified as we’ve ever been.
“We believe the money needs to be spread throughout the team. Right now, it’s very top heavy and the guys at the bottom are just that; they aren’t making what we think they should be making. That, along with free agency, those are two key [points] that we fundamentally disagree with the league on.”
The players are also pointing to the fact that MLS recently signed a lucrative eight-year TV rights deal with ESPN, Fox and Univision worth $90 million per year, according to Sports Business Journal.
“Anytime a deal like that is signed it’s something that the players see,” Cruz said. “It’s a lot of money. We just want it to be spread out among everybody. Those deals are only good for the league, it’s continuing to help us grow and that’s how we see it -- we want to help the league grow, we don’t want to go into a work stoppage, that’s not our goal here. But we do believe we deserve a fair deal and we’re going to do everything we can as a union to get that deal.”
The league is also expanding rapidly. New York City FC and Orlando City SC join MLS this season with a franchise in Atlanta and Los Angeles set to join in 2017. The goal for MLS is to expand to 24 teams by 2020 with each new franchise buying into the league for upwards of $70 million.
“We’re fighting for the things we believe we deserve and I don’t think we’re asking for things that are completely outrageous,” Cruz said. “I think our entire group, we’re unified in that. We all believe that and that has been voiced throughout every single meeting we had, in our locker room certainly and every other locker room throughout the league."
That fundamental disagreement could end in a delay of the 2015 season should the MLSPU decide to strike. The season is set to begin on March 6, with the Union’s first game falling on March 7.
“We met with the league on January 20th, they gave us all their counter proposals to what we had sent them, and the easiest thing to tell you guys is that we are very far apart,” Cruz said. “We disagree with the league on what the future is for it and how we can best get there. Right now we remain far apart. The players are unified and we are far apart on the main issues, and right now it’s not looking good.”