- Fido, too?
I just had a brainwave (first in a while) after reading a post over on The Offside that quotes Seattle Sounders goalie Kasey Keller as expecting a lockout of MLS players to occur in February. That’s not great news, but the players seem to have a significant amount of leverage considering it’s a World Cup year that the teams will want to use to boost their bottom lines.
The brainwave was this: What happens to Landon Donovan’s loan if the players are locked out?
Will he not be able to play since he is under contract with LA and they are locking out the players? Will his loan be extended at Everton if the lockout goes beyond his loan term? Does LA lose some rights to Donovan during the lockout? Could MLS players seek loan agreements during the lockout or during this January transfer window?
Additionally, if Donovan is allowed to play during the lockout with Everton, how would that look to the rest of the players since he is earning money and they are not? The corollary question would be if LA continues to receive some money from AC Milan and Everton from the loans based on whatever the agreement is, does that make LA a club it a much better financial position and unwilling to come to an agreement that would not favor the team? So many questions and I’m not a labor lawyer.
(Plus, what about Beckham?)
MLS ownership is claiming that they pay the players too much? Really? Nothing grabs the football world’s respect like halting the league b/c the ownership is that incompetent.
First, and most importantly: PUPPY! Puppy can come stay with me during the lockout. Kthxbi.
Surely LA couldn’t stop Landycakes from playing during his loan period, else they’d be breaching the agreement with Everton, no?
And if there’s a lockout by the management, surely the players can seek employment elsewhere. Isn’t that what happened when the NHL had its lockout? You had players going to different countries to play in domestic leagues? I thought I remembered something like that happening, b/c I remember the fear being voiced at the time was that you’d have these big-name players just not coming back. Anyway, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the league to be able to say, “Ok, players, we’re locking you out, we’re not paying you, and we’re not going to let you work here. But we also have the power to prevent you from making a living elsewhere.”
I don’t think it would be a loan extension, though. The interesting question is what would happen if, say, Landycakes signs a contract with Everton to play for ____ amount of time, and then the MLS lockout ends while he still has time left on the Everton K? Do Premier League rules allow for indefinitely temporary agreements with players? I’d think not. It’d be too open to abuse.
My prognostication: MLS lockout = MLS death.
I agree with your first lengthy paragraph citing those NHL examples.
I’m not sure I agree with the second lengthy paragraph. FIFA would certainly have a say in the contracts, the contract length and whether they could sign those contracts outside of the transfer windows. Moreover, once the lockout ended LD would be in breach of the LA contract if he stayed with Everton and if he left everton then he would be in breach of any contract he signed with Everton.
I just wonder what sort of provisions are in LD’s contract with regards to lockouts.
Right, I wasn’t even thinking about the transfer window situation. That does sort of moot my 2nd paragraph.
Do the players and clubs have a CBA? If so, do we know what the CBA has to say about lockouts/future labor agreements?
nothing in my quick review.
http://www.mlsplayers.org/resources.html
Section 18.5 Validity of S[tandard] P[layer] A[greement]: No compensation of any kind shall be owed to any Player (whether under a Guaranteed or other type of contract) with respect to the period of any strike or lockout, but a strike or lockout will not void or otherwise affect the validity or enforceability of an SPA after the conclusion of a work stoppage. During a work stoppage, a Player may obtain employment as a professional soccer player outside MLS, but any contract with such other club employing the Player during an MLS work stoppage must provide that the Player shall return to MLS after the conclusion of the work stoppage if his SPA’s term has not expired. MLS shall have no remedy against the Union for a Player’s breach of this provision.
I wonder about the validity of such a term when th CBA expires on Jan 31. It would seem to be unenforceable once the agreement expires.
Which side (players or MLS) notified that it wanted to change or terminate the CBA, and when did that happen? I can’t find any reference to it. I assume it was the players?
I would imagine nobody has terminated it yet but that the players will provide notice that shortly before January 31.
i wish the SPA was provided in the exhibits. it says it is but there is nothing there.
But:
Section 3.1 Term: This CBA is effective beginning on the date it is executed by the parties and shall remain in full force and effect until midnight on the 31st day of January 2010, and shall remain in effect from year to year thereafter, unless either party notifies the other in writing at least sixty (60) days prior to January 31, 2010 (or of January 31 of any renewal year thereafter) of its intention to terminate or modify the CBA.
So it would seem that unless they want to be caught under this CBA, they would need to have already notified that they want to alter it or terminate it. And they would have to have done that, because Section 6.2 prescribes some pretty significant penalties for striking while the CBA is in effect.
I don’t know if MLS lockout= MLS death. I think a 2-3 week lockout might not hurt them at all, provided it serves as a nasty wake up call to get their act together. A season starting 2-3 weeks late would allow Philly to open their season in their shiny new stadium, and not in the Linc.
@dvdm: yeah, then they probably have sent notice already.
I was just wondering if it was the players or the league. Because Keller said they’re expecting a lockout, but everything up until now has indicated that it was the players who were going to strike.
Either way, check out the Barca game in the semi-final of the Club World Cup. They play some astonishingly beautiful football.
the NHL experienced a similar situation – a lockout means the owners do not want to pay the players’ certain wages. Thus, in the NHL example, most players went abroad to Russia for a year to make some money and stay in shape. I would assume that Donovan could do the same because the Owners are the ones preventing him from playing in MLS, not him.
Conversely, if the players strike, they MLS owners could just bring in a boatload of affordable South American talent. I would assume that they would temporarily change the rules of American player quotas
Could they really bring in South Americans? I don’t know the exact wage scales, but it would seem that MLS couldn’t afford a whole bunch of them. Plus attendances would nosedive I think?
this is the perfect time to switch to the FIFA schedule. start the season after the World Cup when interest will be high. you can also allow full loan time to Landon and other players while giving yourselves more time to work out the CBA. it can be done. the “new” NASL has already saifd they will switch to FIFA schedule with a winter break. how many players may go to NASL if MLS has a Lock-out?!!!?
@DC: i was thinking about the NASL last night and how it would play into the CBA negotiations. very interesting.