Major League Soccer's season is scheduled to begin on March 25, but that could be in jeopardy if the players and owners don't strike a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The two sides have agreed to talk up until Thursday, and it's likely to come and go with nothing getting done, according to multiple reports.
Over the weekend, the owners offered to start the season on time under the expired collective bargaining agreement. But the players believe the owners aren't serious and they wouldn't say if they would play under the old deal.
MLS president Mark Abbott said there are no plans to lock out the players, leaving it up to the players to strike.
In a column on ESPN, Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad is quoted saying that the players have "made a huge effort to be reasonable."
"At this point [the owners] they're not even humoring us with something tangible. If
things stay where they are, then it's inevitable that a work stoppage is
going to happen."
Conrad is an executive board member with the MLSPU, and he added that
any talking would have to come from the owners.
"If wedid have a meeting I don't think our side would be doing too much
talking. We'd probably just hear them out, and then that would be it.
We've defended our side and explained ourselves and had meetings to
clarify our positions."
The ESPN column also highlights one of the major issues that the union
wants changed, which has a notable Kansas City tie.
The Kansas
City Wizards have told goalkeeper Kevin
Hartman that he's not in the club's future plans. But the
Wizards retain the rights to Hartman, and he's stuck in "soccer
purgatory." The union wants players like Hartman to become free agents
when their contracts expire.
"You have a guy who getsEverything'sterminated, who more or less gets fired, and
his former employer holds his rights, so his next employer has to give
compensation," said Todd Dunivant, one of the Los Angeles Galaxy's
player representatives. "It just doesn't make sense to us."
on the table, Conrad said.
Photo"We've definitely talked about all possibilities. And if [a work
stoppage] happens, then we're unified on what we're passionate about and
what we think needs to change. We will stand by that until it does."
by Jarrett Campbell.
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