The Major League Soccer Players Union and MLS leadership are locked in a battle over the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. Leander Schaerlaeckens writes that free agency is a necessity.

BY Leander Schaerlaeckens Posted

January 22, 2015

10:30 AM SHARE THIS STORY



, the Major League Soccer Players Union made some strides when it hashed out a new, 11th-hour collective bargaining agreement with the league. But the players failed to reach an important objective. A re-entry draft was conceived and implemented, presenting unwanted players, whose contracts had run out or whose options were declined, to the other teams in the league. That still fell some way short of free agency though. Going through a draft is hardly the equivalent of being free. More like the opposite, in fact. As the league and its players negotiate anew, with the old CBA about to expire, free agency would appear to be a key battleground once again. Certainly, raised salary caps, better player accommodations, higher minimum salaries and better guarantees thereof, benefits, pensions, and plenty of other issues are on the table. And after they made only modest gains in 2010—the minimum wage went up and more contracts were guaranteed but the salary cap has increased just $800,000 over five years, from $2.3 million to $3.1 million—the players will want to accomplish more this time around. The way to do that, ultimately, would seem to be to double down on free agency. Because by winning their free agency, market forces should logically accomplish all of the players' other objectives as well. They seem to understand and agree on that. Michael Bradley, one of the league’s most high-profile players has told ESPN FC that players would be willing to go on strike over free agency. That’s their trump card, on the eve of a season to be broadcasted on a new TV deal that will see two much-anticipated expansion teams—New York City FC and Orlando City SC—join the league. As we saw in European soccer in 1995, when the Bosman Arrest set players free once their contracts were up, free agency shifts the balance of power from the clubs (or the league, in MLS’s case) to the players overnight. Suddenly, there would be a market within MLS for players already active in the league. That would probably set off a domino effect improving the life of the structurally underpaid players in short order. With teams competing with each other—rather than colluding—for talent, they would be incentivized to offer a sweeter deal than their rivals might. In addition to trying to find ways to offer more money, they would probably work to improve benefits as well. (Here is where all those other things the players are fighting for, besides free agency, would likely come naturally.)Eventually, with market forces taking hold and paying players what they’re actually worth, rather than what they were artificially deemed deserving of, it stands to reason that clubs would push for higher salary caps—taking care of another of the players’ long-time concerns. Higher salary caps, above all, means more money for the vast middle class of MLS players—the non-rookies and non-Designated Players, making somewhere between $48,500 and $387,500 in 2014. When the base, rather than just the stars, can start making real money, the playing level will go up, as the league’s clubs would suddenly be competitive in an entirely new segment of the international market for players. While it will probably resist it to its last breath, having already successfully (and no doubt expensively) defended the single-entity structure in court, MLS would ultimately benefit from free agency. A short-term arms race and likely escalation of salaries could balloon operating costs very sharply in short order. But then that would probably only get the league to where it wants (and needs) to go more quickly. MLS would like to be known as a destination league and has grandiose ideations about being one of the top soccer outfits in the world. We all know that soccer players, like the employees of any other industry out there, are mercenaries. After all, you can’t spell “professional” without “profession.” (I have no issues with that whatsoever, by the way. A person is worth what the market will pay her or him.) Eventually, that means paying proper professional wages. Getting to the top of that mountain sooner could benefit the league, as it would facilitate the monetizing of an improved product. Being a lot further along than it otherwise might have been—without free agency—by the time the just-negotiated national broadcast deals run out in 2022, could prove lucrative. Physics teaches us that taking the brakes off a moving object allows it to generate speed and momentum more quickly.

Let’s take China as a clumsy example. When its Communist Party opened up its economy, it caused steep inflation and forced companies to pay higher wages. But with much easier access to the international market and its resources, its economy has soared. Growing more quickly, now that a very solid structure has been built, would allow the league to tap into the big-time revenues sooner as well. The untapped potential is vast: more TV money; more exposure; more advertising; a bigger and more lucrative role in the transfer market. Free agency may seem like a pricey proposition now, but it could lead to prosperity later. Prosperity for everybody involved, it should be noted—not just the players. Leander Schaerlaeckens is a freelance soccer writer. Follow him on Twitter