MLS Strike Would Be Wrong Move
By Ron Orchard
We are now more than a week out from the expiration of MLS’ CBA, and there has been a consistent output on Twitter with comments from players and fans, speaking out in support of a strike. The big issue for players seems to be free agency, but the biggest issue for fans seems to be wages (Although, at least one player in particular, Mike Magee, has come out to plead for an increase of wages: see his Twitter account @magee9).
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Previously I’ve written on the low salaries MLS players receive. The motivation for this was not to support their CBA or encourage a strike, it was simply to endorse the college system. Throughout the league, and with particular focus on those players earning the league minimum, I believe the players are being paid a reasonable salary. Much of the discussion on Twitter from fans and marginal soccer blogger/journalists is that they can’t believe how someone could live off of their wages and how they make more than some of the players, obviously implying that the players should make more money.
First, this is not the pre-CBA era of MLS wages when many players made 20k or less. Per the MLSPU website, the players on a minimum salary earn is $36,500. I know for myself and many MLS fans that I know, this is more than we make. This is not a plea for players to make less money or for myself and our friends to make more money. This is an example that you can make this little money and not be poverty-stricken. The thing between me and my cohort is that we accept the salary we make because we are doing something we love. If we truly wanted to make more money, we’d enter a new career field. This much is true for the players. We live in a free country, not one where players are forced to make lower-middle-wage to play soccer; this is a decision they make. The pervasive “let them eat cake” mentality, where fans or journalists say I make more, the players should too, is an obvious fallacy.
The next thing to consider for many of these marginal players, if the salary cap and league minimum increased, would they even be good enough to make the cut. Because of the lower salaries MLS has been forced to cultivate domestic talent that would see no development time anywhere else in the world. Now, if the teams weren’t forced to select from this lower rung of talent, how many would make it in the league. Not as many. This would certainly hurt the goals of creating more, better soccer players.
What an interesting time in history we all sit in, where we take for granted the inflated wages paid to players of this game throughout the rest of the world, yet our league remains the last vestige of “reasonable” salaries. This interesting cross-section of time allows to experience both the past, with players you might actually see around and feel comfortable approaching because you’ve chatted before, and the future, where you’d never imagine having a conversation with carefully manicured appearances and brands delivered to fans from the games largest stars. Obviously, the era of MLS guys being regular guys is going, but we don’t have to run toward the inflation of these other markets. We can embrace the good old days for just a bit longer.
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MLS may not be poor, but I’m not sure the league is massively rich either. What are we willing to give up for these wage increases to happen? Are we all willing to pay more for the product? Are we willing to miss a season? Are we willing to risk the league?
That may sound alarmist, but look at the negative effects the NHL’s numerous strike have had on their league. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen that league experience all of the above except for the league folding, and that is likely only due to the league’s strong TV contracts and history; both of which are marginal within MLS. The other similarity between the NHL and MLS is that there are other high level leagues around the world that could pull players away, and that also share in any potential revenue or market share. This obviously weakening the significance of a strike from either side.
We’re all in favor of growing the league, but drastic measures will hurt the league’s momentum. While I don’t want the league to go away, I also don’t want the league to be drastically altered to try to ring a maximum amount of revenue from the fan base. If this were to happen, we should all go on strike.