MLS and the MLS Players Union have agreed to terms on a new, five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement to ensure the 2015 season will start on time.
The two sides spent three days trying to reach common ground in Washington, D.C. to avoid the first work stoppage in league history. They eventually closed the remaining gaps and reached an accord early Wednesday evening. The decision ensures MLS players will take the field as schedule for the start of the league's 20th season on Friday night in Carson, Calif.
“We are pleased to finalize the framework for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with our players,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a release. “We now enter our 20th season with enormous momentum with our new television partnerships, dynamic star players from the US, Canada and abroad, and two new expansion teams in New York City and Orlando that will debut in front of more than 60,000 fans on Sunday in the Citrus Bowl. This agreement will provide a platform for our players, ownership and management to work together to help build Major League Soccer into one of the great soccer leagues in the world.”
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league,” MLS Players Union executive director Bob Foose said in a release. “We are pleased to finally turn our fans attention back to our players and the competition on the field as we get started on the 2015 season.”
Word broke swifly and expansively to confirm the deal with FOX Sports reporter Julie Stewart-Binks first to break the news with a player source inside the negotiations.
The exact terms are unknown at the present time, but the deal is expected to include increased salary budgets, a raise to the minimum salary and the introduction of a restricted form of free agency.
MLS and MLSPU are expected to reveal further details on the terms on Thursday.
