MLS players union counters league plan
Major League Soccer players have approved a plan to resume play in Orlando, asking MLS to agree to significant changes to its initial proposal, according to The Athletic.
The MLS Players Association submitted the proposal to the league’s owners Friday after receiving enough votes from players, The Athletic reported. The league will now review the players’ proposal and decide whether to accept it or counter.
The players previously had reportedly sent more than 100 questions to the league for review, with many speaking out against being isolated at ESPN Wide World of Sports away from their spouses and young children for months.
The players’ vote on a revised plan is progress and could lead MLS resuming this summer after suspending competition due to coronavirus pandemic on March 12.
If the players’ plan is approved, teams would arrive in Orlando on June 24, then train for two weeks. After this mini preseason, the tournament would commence with a three-game group stage followed by a single-elimination knockout round. Teams would leave Orlando immediately after being eliminated.
This would keep teams in Orlando for six weeks at most instead of the league’s previous plan, which would have lasted more than 10 weeks. This addresses widespread concerns from players throughout
the league about extended separation from their families.
The players rejected a key point in the latest league proposal — a one-year delay of a revenue-sharing agreement secured in the players’ most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement. The two sides agreed to a new CBA before the season, but it was never ratified, complicating return-to-play negotiations.
MLS and the players have been negotiating a 10% pay cut and other cost-saving changes to compensation, as first reported by ESPN.
However, the players declined to delay the revenuesharing agreement. The agreement would direct 25% of the increase in media revenue after 2022 into salary budget and General Allocation Money (GAM) for each team. The
league’s proposal would delay the start of this revenue sharing from 2023 to 2024.
If the league counters the players’ proposal, The Athletic reported the MLSPA will repeat the process of asking player representatives on every team to discuss options with their peers to help the MLSPA bargaining committee — which consists of three players from every team plus the union executive board — develop a response.
Any response to a potential MLS counter-proposal would then have to be approved via a vote by all players.
MLS is expected to finalize the CBA, the plan for the Orlando tournament and the final compensation reduction within the next week, according to The Athletic.
Pride train
The Orlando Pride hosted their first full-team training session since March on Saturday as the team gears up for the NWSL Challenge Cup in Utah at the end of June.
The tournament is voluntary, and the Pride have yet to announce which players have agreed to compete in Utah. However, veteran stars Ashlyn Harris, Marta, Ali Krieger, Toni Pressley and Sydney Leroux all participated in the workout.
Midfielder Emily van Egmond, who is completing a mandatory seven-day self-isolation after arriving from Australia, is the only player in Orlando who missed training.
New additions Ali Riley, Erin McLeod and Emily Sonnett all participated in their first team practice.
“It feels good,” Sonnett said. “I think a lot of people were itching to get back in their markets, get back in playing with the full squad. It’s been great.”