Major League Soccer is all grown up. After 20 years of working towards developing an image and gaining a foothold in the American sports landscape it is finally at a point where it can grow and not hope just to hang on. There is just one more thing that MLS needs to be considered an adult league: labor negotiations.
Enemy imagery is a very powerful tool. It is a term that psychologists use to explain why people feel certain ways about certain things. When we see certain objects, images, or pictures, they illicit certain responses. These responses are shaped by religious, ethical, and political beliefs.
Take for example: labor negotiations. While some may see a group of workers picketing for higher wages and better benefits as being noble and within their rights, others will see them as being ungrateful for the opportunities given to them. The same could go for those in a management or ownership position. Just flip the terms and you have pretty much the same mindset.
No one likes labor negotiations but it is a necessary evil to get labor and management together to form an agreement. And for MLS there are obviously many issues that need to be discussed. While player’s salaries will be at the forefront of negotiations that are set to start next week, there are other topics that need to be discussed as well. The single-entity system, pitch conditions, television revenue, and promotion/relegation are all subjects that will certainly be discussed as they all have economic implications upon both parties.
More from MLS News
- Javier Milei Elected in Argentina: Potential Impacts on MLS and Signings of Argentine Players
- Orlando City and New York City FC in the Battle for Matías Arezo; Grêmio Enters Negotiations! Who Will Come Out on Top?
- The Chicago Fire does not deserve your support anymore
- Heading to America: Alexis Sanchez Aims for New Horizons in American or Mexican Soccer
- Ethan Horvath: The Bridge Between Two Worlds in Soccer
Perhaps what makes so many MLS supporters reticent towards the idea of labor negotiations is the threat of a work stoppage. In the past 30 years each of the four major sports in the United States and in Canada have had at least one work stoppage. Only the National Football League avoiding the loss of any major regular season games. Each time this happens, everyone loses which is of course the gamble that both the players union and MLS management would like to avoid.
Although the scars of labor negotiations can be quite real (there are still people who refuse to watch Major League Baseball after the 1994 strike cancelled the World Series,) people do need to come together and iron out their issues. In particular with sports millions (and sometimes billions) of dollars are at stake. As evidenced by recent the re-negotiations between MLB and players union, both parties can hammer out agreements without needing to picket and cancel matches.
But beyond the sight of seeing players in suits and ties and not boots and kits, there are some benefits to these negotiations. Don’t like the single entity system? Talk to the players union because chances are they don’t either. Want to make sure Designated Players come to MLS and not treat it like a retirement league? Talk to your local owner because in all likelihood they want to limit players salaries.
The good news is that the relationship between the owners and players in MLS seems to be pretty good. It is a product of the league working with the players over the years hand in hand to help develop the game here in the United States and to a lesser extent Canada.
That “all for one, one for all” mentality will be tested in the coming weeks (especially if the league continues to maintain its ridiculous assertion that its losing money) but at least forms a base from which both parties can work off of. There isn’t that deep-seated hostility between MLS owners and the players union like there is in the MLB, NBA, NFL, or NHL.
Labor negotiations are not always the easiest situations to navigate. But if MLS wants to be treated like a grown-up league in the United States then it needs to be done with both the players and the union. Neither party might get everything they want, but labor negotiations are an integral process to growing this league and football in North America.