04.03.2015 22:09 h

Strike fears loom over MLS as openers near

Strike fears loom over Major League Soccer as the Los Angeles Galaxy prepare to launch their quest for a fourth title in five seasons in Friday's season opener against visiting Chicago.

Players union representatives and league officials were locked in negotiations with federal mediators in Washington to try and settle terms on a collective bargaining agreement to replace a five-year deal that expired on January 31.

What MLS hoped would be a 20th-season celebration instead threatened to be shutdown over player demands for higher pay and greater free agency in a league that has thrived mainly by holding down costs and preventing players from playing clubs off each other to boost salaries.

The MLS minimum salary was a mere $36,500 last season and team salary caps were at $3.1 million, with designated players excepted from that limit so a few top talents can be signed.

Union leaders have said players will walk out without more money and free agency, leading to the standoff that has jeopardized the season and could scuttle Sunday's scheduled debuts of high-profile expansion clubs Orlando City and New York City FC.

"We all have huge respect for the league," said Toronto midfielder Michael Bradley. "But after almost 20 years we can all agree that to take this league where everyone wants to take it, changes need to be made."

Bradley, a US international, made $6.5 million last season, the second-largest contract in MLS.

Player movement between clubs is limited in part because MLS works as a single entity. Players sign with the league and are allocated to clubs rather than signing with teams in a system that pits owners against each other in spending to keep top talent. The league-only system ensures franchise location stability but also shuts down options for players other than seeking deals in overseas leagues.

MLS commissioner Don Garber has said he wants the North American league to rival the world's best by 2022, but that would require far greater spending for talent than the league has been willing to undertake and huge leaps in revenue that a shutdown could stifle.

Work stoppages have delivered staggering blows to the National Basketball Association, National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League. MLS has so far avoided such woes, scrambling to raise the sport's profile in America with some success.

In the past five years, MLS has added six teams, signed a television deal worth $720 million and enjoyed record average crowds above 19,000 spectators a game, many at smaller stadiums built especially for MLS clubs.

MLS claims it loses $100 million a year but team values have leaped 10-fold over the past decade to more than $110 million and such partners as David Beckham, Manchester City and baseball's New York Yankees are eager to back teams.

Five years ago, a strike was averted only when a federal mediator hammered out a deal five days before the season began. That prompted players to stockpile money in anticipation of a possible strike this time.

ESPN reported Wednesday that the league offered free agency terms that would have given the power to only one MLS player, later revamped to cover about five percent of players, but in return sought an eight-year deal, ensuring cost containment for the league as revenues grow.

In the meantime, MLS coaches such as Seattle's Sigi Schmid can only prepare their players for matches such as the Sounders' opener Sunday against the New England Revolution.

"I'm sure it's on their minds," Schmid said. "One thing that I've held back on as a coach is I don't want to go in there and say, 'All right, here we go, let's go,' and then all of a sudden it's not let's go for a while. I want to wait until that all gets resolved. I think everybody will feel better from both sides."