MLS News: In February, the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) signed a new collective agreement (CBA) for the next seven years through the 2027 season. MlS and MLSPA, along with players, have worked together to address the major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the league in 2021 and beyond. The successful talks, which were reached in an agreement, were the third time mls and MLSPA had attempted to find a solution to this difficult and uncertain pandemic. Not so long ago, the 2021 MLS season seemed in danger. The owners had threatened to lock in the players if their conditions were not met. Well, they were basically. MlS and the MLS Players` Association have reached an agreement that prevents a work stoppage (for at least another year). The season will continue (albeit somewhat delayed), but what happened to the deal? When players and owners agreed on a new five-year ABC in 2020, players made gains in terms of salary and free agency, among other things. As everyone now knows, the pandemic has turned life upside down around the world, and the failure to ratify this ABC allowed the owners to renegotiate the deal in June and then opt for it again at the end of the season.
Players have therefore been forced to forego some of these increased benefits, in addition to the ABC, which now extends to the 2027 season, as opposed to the 2024 season in the original agreement. However, the revenue-sharing agreement that the players successfully recovered in their CBA negotiations in February 2020 remains in a slightly different format. In the previous ABC, starting in 2023, the league would increase player spending by 25% of media revenue, which was more important than the league`s media revenue in 2022 plus $100 million. The new ABC retains the revenue share, but pushes the 25% mark to 2025, with 2026 and 2027 also having a revenue share of 25%. For 2023 and 2024, MLS will increase player spending by 12.5 percent of the media revenue set for CBA San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski, added: “[It was a] mixed bag. I think that`s probably the next thing that both sides have come closest to some kind of work stoppage. That being said, the players finally got a big bargaining chip [at the World Cup]. I think it will hurt the pool of young players in a few years. Overall, I am relieved that there was no stop. Among the other benefits players won in the CBA`s initial deal in 2020, they reduced their share of media rights revenue from the league`s upcoming televised deal. Instead of a 25% reduction in the league`s increased revenue (more than $100 million) from a new TV deal starting in 2023, players will now receive 12.5% in 2023 and 2024 before rising to 25% in 2025. A month and a few changes to the public hem later, the two sides agreed on a new ABC.
Here are the most notable details of this new agreement. Major League Soccer and the Major League Soccer Players Association today signed a new collective agreement. The agreement, which covers the next seven years from 2021 to 2027, has been ratified by the MLS Board of Governors and MLSPA members. Like previous ACAs, players will also share the increased revenue from new MLS media contracts starting in 2023. Was it a total loss for the players? No. They still receive their full salary for 2021 and, in some cases, beyond. That was their stated goal from the beginning. But mlspa played defense from the start, and with the threat of a lockout hanging over the union`s collective head, the players had to give a lot.
Growth in salary expenditures is essentially frozen for two years, including the current season. The delay in the expiration of the ABC — and the bump that usually accompanies the next deal — is considerable. Total player spending per team of $9.225 million in 2020 represented a 13.1% increase from 2019, the CBA`s final year of 2015-19. Such a bump is now pushed into the future. The new five-year ABC begins at the beginning of the 2020 season and continues until January 2025. Under this historic agreement, the rights of free agencies will increase significantly, while the percentage of eligible players will more than double. Salary budgets and player compensation will grow steadily, bringing the average salary to over $500,000 and the seniors` minimum wage to over $100,000 at the end of the agreement. In addition, owners will continue to invest in players on and off the field. For the first time in the league`s history, the CBA includes mandatory charter flights for team travel, which will gradually increase throughout the life of the agreement. The full SLM statement and the breakdown of the agreement are as follows: The agreement has been ratified by the SLM Board of Governors and MLSPA members. The talks that just ended were the third time in about a year that the two sides were crafting an abscess, largely due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
What began last February as large winnings for players led to $150 million in concessions on the terms of the deal last June. Neither side offered a dollar figure at the last CBA, but the league had demanded more than $110 million in player concessions during the terms of the deal, while MLSPA offered $53 million. To reach an agreement, the league had to take advantage of the threat of a lockout. Again. Finally, the dreaded force majeure clause remains, but with limitations. It was this clause – invoked because fans are unlikely to be allowed to return to stadiums anytime soon – that allowed the league to resume negotiations at the end of December and bring the MLSPA back to the negotiating table. With an agreement now concluded, the clause can only be recovered on December 1, 2021. This means that if MLS still has financial problems until the summer, it cannot return to MLSPA and try to resume negotiations. After December 1st, anything is possible. Another gain is the potential salary increases for free agents. The new ABC addresses the impact of COVID-19 on the league and players.
One of the goals scored by the players` team was not a pay cut for 2021. Players will receive their full salary, regardless of the financial impact of COVID-19. As with delays in the salary budget, salary increases have also been delayed. Although the minimum reserve and the higher minimum will increase slightly in 2022 as opposed to the maximum budgetary fees. “At every scale I can think of — player engagement and commitment, resources, staff — the AP is now stronger than ever,” Foose said. “Our bargaining committee, made up of 13% of the player pool, was committed, clear about its own priorities, clear about the priorities of its teammates and ready to make thoughtful decisions when they needed to be made. They have focused heavily on these priorities throughout time. This pandemic has weakened us all economically, but as an organization, I am extremely optimistic about the continued growth and development of the PA. With the ABC buttoned, mlS will postpone the start of the 2021 season. In the coming weeks, fans of the team can expect a release of the plan and more information from the league on the U22 players` initiative. Since the salary budget will stagnate for the next two years, the maximum budget fee ($612,500) will also stagnate before a player qualifies as a designated player based on his salary. The impact of this will be felt acutely by teams already at or near the salary cap, including the Seattle Sounders.
Soccer general manager and president Garth Lagerway had previously mentioned that the Sounders were essentially on the edge of the budget, although the loan of Jordan Morris and the transfer of Henry Wingo brought some financial relief. Excerpt from the official MLS announcement: “For players who earn the maximum salary budget fee or less, a free agent may sign a contract with another club with a starting salary of $25,000 above the maximum salary budget fee or 20% above the player`s previous salary. For players who fall between the maximum salary budget fee and the maximum amount for Targeted Allocation Funds (TAM), the player could earn 20% above the previous salary up to $500,000 above the maximum salary budget fee and 15% of that salary of $500,000 above the maximum salary up to the maximum AMOUNT TAM. . . .