MLS: The key points from Board of Governors meeting

The MLS  community all came together this week in Orlando, FL for the annual all-star festivities and the MLS board of governors meeting. Here are some key points.

The All-Star game demands public attention. It presents the best of Major League Soccer and pits it against a European superpower. This year, the All-Stars were beaten 3-0 by Atletico Madrid in what was not a great advertisement for the league as a whole. But while the festivities are certainly fun and lighthearted, the most important part of the week’s activities happens far and away from the white lines of the football pitch. No, the most important points come in board rooms in discussions between men in suits. I am, of course, talking about the MLS governors meeting.

Making this year’s meeting different than others was the fact that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is set to expire in January, setting the stage for a possible work stoppage ahead of the 2020 season. The CBA presents a set of issues which pile on top of the other topics such as expansion and youth development.

Starting off with the simple stuff, expansion. The league has come out publicly and stated that they want to expand to 30 teams to be in line with the number of teams the other major American sports leagues have. This year, the league added FC Cincinnati and have already awarded Nashville, Miami and Austin expansion franchises in the coming years. After those three are added the league will sit at 27 teams, leaving three spots up for expansion bids.

The expansion fees are more than they have ever been, with new clubs having to pay a $500 million watershed cost to just be allowed into the league. That number certainly pleases the existing owners. They pocket some of it. The large sum also shows the progress the league has made through its quarter-century history.

But who is going to pay this outrageous fee? Well, after these meetings, it looks like St.Louis is in the lead. The St.Louis MLS expansion group presented to the board of governors at the meeting and made a very good impression. The project is aided by US Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, who is helping the committee in organizing their expansion bid. Flynn, a St. Louis native would love to see a team come to his home city, however, the lofty expansion fee and stadium situation are the only things holding that group back. If they are to get everything together, the team would be hoping to kick off in 2022. While they did not set anything in stone, the St. Louis expansion group should come out of the meeting hopeful for the future of their franchise bid.

Other than St. Louis, MLS commissioner Don Garber said that the league is still in discussions with ownership groups in Sacramento, who would also be hoping to join St. Louis in 2022.

The weirdest thing to come out of the expansion talks was the idea of a team in Charlotte. There has been no prior interest shown from anywhere in Carolina, but interest from the Carolina Panthers NFL ownership group is an intriguing prospect to MLS. The expansion idea is very new, but if the money and stadium are there, it could be more realistic than some of the cities higher on the list.

So, to the CBA…

Yea, that scary monster that can stop soccer from being played. Where does that stand? What are the issues?

The last CBA negotiations were heated between the MLS Player Union and MLS. The players wanted to implement a free agency-based structure to give them more freedom to move within the league. Before the negotiations, players’ rights were held by the team within the league, and unless that holding team agreed to let the player go, the player could not sign with another club within MLS.

What they landed on was a compromise, but not one that pleased many players. Free agency did become relevant in American soccer, but only players 28 years and older with eight or more years of league experience were eligible. This pleased some as it was a sign of progress, but it did not achieve the goal of full free agency.

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While changing the terms of free agency will again be a topic of discussion, it won’t be the headline piece. Coming out of the meetings, it sounds as though the main topics will be raising the league minimum wage, more charter flights and new arrangements to keep domestic players in the league.

Of all these issues, the charter flights are likely to be the biggest stopping point. The wage jump is something that most clubs can afford as the suggested increase is to $100,000, from the current of $72,500. The charters, on the other hand, would cost far more, possibly allowing some teams better travel arrangments than others. It is because of this that the current CBA limits teams to a maximum of four charter flights a season. The case for more charters is very strong. Multiple times a year teams find their commercial flights delayed and sometimes arrive in the city mere hours before the match. New York Red Bulls defender Tim Parker documented his outrageous travel journey through Twitter earlier this year. With travel situation like this, the case for more charters is a strong one.

The CBA negotiations will heat up in the coming months, but informal discussion has begun. As of now, there have been no formal offers made by either side, but there will have to be an agreement before the scheduled kickoff if MLS is to start the 2020 season on time.

The governors meeting always presents a good look into where the league stands, and where the executives want the league to go. 2019 was no different as we found out more details on expansion, the CBA and the state of the league.