Whitecaps, MLS set for liftoff in Orlando
Despite testy negotiations, there’s a new CBA deal and soccer is back in July
SpaceX has been taking off from Cape Canaveral, but Major League Soccer will be launching 50 miles to the west.
After a testy negotiation that nearly blew up in their faces, the league and its players’ union came to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and a return-to-play protocol for a July hub-city tournament to be held in Orlando, Fla.
“We’re all systems go for Orlando,” Vancouver Whitecaps goalkeeper Bryan Meredith said Wednesday.
“Everything’s been agreed to. Everything’s ratified. So I think we’re full steam ahead.”
The players voted to accept the latest proposal from MLS, which includes a 7½ per cent wage cut for this season and deferment of the new CBA for one year, meaning wage increases will wait until 2022.
The players also agreed to a reduction in the first year of the new broadcast deal, taking just 12½ per cent instead of 25 per cent of any revenue that exceeds $100M above 2022’s total. The new deal also contains a force majeure clause that allows the league to suspend payment to players for reasons out of their control, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic that has kept players off the field since March.
MLS had threatened to lock out the players on Sunday if they hadn’t agreed to new language that included attendance numbers, but backed down after the players balked and a massive social media outcry against it.
Whitecaps right back Jake Nerwinski, who along with Meredith is a player representative for the MLSPA, said the league’s tactics were a tough pill to swallow.
“Although I’m relieved and excited that a deal has finally been made to get us back to play, the tactics that were used by the league were very unfortunate and upsetting,” said Nerwinski.
“I’m proud that even though at some points the players had their backs against the wall, we never gave in. We stood in solidarity and we remained a unified coalition to get a deal done. We gave up a lot of concessions. We gave up a salary cut. We gave up a year of our CBA.
“When the league came back with another counterproposal in the last hour of negotiating with a new stipulation and a threat of a lockout, it upset a lot of guys. And
I think that was the turning point in this whole process. A lot of neutral guys began to sway toward ‘we need to fight for what we think is right and what we think we deserve.’ ”
Some teams will fly out to Florida later this month to begin a two-week camp before the tournament — details of which haven’t been finalized — although The Athletic reported that some may have the option of training in their local cities and travelling to Orlando just before the tournament.
Teams will be sequestered in hotels in and around Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex and play a three-game, round robin style tournament, the results of which will count toward the regular season. The ensuing knockout round will not count in the standings.
A $1M prize pool of money derived from the players’ wage cuts will also be up for grabs. MLS is also hoping to resume play in the fall, with as many as eight home and eight away matches, but those are all dependent on local health restrictions and guidelines surrounding the novel coronavirus outbreak.
There have not been any definitive testing protocols released by MLS, although those leagues that have resumed have instituted twice-a-week COVID-19 tests and immediately quarantine any players or staff who test positive.
The Orlando tournament will last for 35 days, and participation is mandatory for all, with a few exceptions. Players can leave the tournament if there is a death in the family or if they have pregnant wives. Those with underlying health conditions can be medically excluded from participating.
“I guess I check two of those boxes,” chuckled Whitecaps midfielder Andy Rose, who has Type 1 diabetes, and whose wife Ryan is expecting their second child in July.
Rose said he wasn’t worried about his health being at risk playing in the tournament, but being away from his family — especially with a two-week self-isolation still in effect for those returning to Canada from abroad — were factors he would have to weigh.
“It’s a tough one. I think my mindset first and foremost is with the team and with my wife. … The decision will come down to timing,” he said.
“Missing the tournament would be a very difficult thing for me to take, and missing the birth of a child, of course, for anybody would be a really difficult thing to take.
“So I need to have some conversations now that things are set in stone.”
All three Whitecaps were excited to be able to begin training and start the process to get back on the field.
“I’m really happy that (the CBA) is finally done with. I’m happy that we can get back to play,” said Nerwinski.
“There are more important things in the world that are going on today.
“(But) I think that having football back in mainstream, back on TV, getting games in, is important because it brings everyone together, it brings people together through all walks of life.
“Different races, different colours, different religion. It doesn’t matter.
“We all come together because we love the sport, and we fight for each other.”