SoccerCongratulations to Christine and the CBA conundrum

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“The career appearances record is a testament to the women’s program in Canada. The number of matches the team has been able to play over the past few years has provided me with the opportunity to reach 133. As for the 100 goals, it is all about my teammates. I have been very fortunate to play with some excellent players who have provided me the opportunity to score goals.”

Sinclair is a world-class player who deserves all of the plaudits she receives. Her achievements in the game put her head and shoulders above every other Canadian soccer player, male or female.

Even more remarkable is the fact that she has reached these milestones by the age of 26. A veteran of the women’s team for 10 years, she could conceivably carry on representing our country for another decade.

And that is welcome news for every fan of Canadian soccer.

Still no deal between MLS, union

Negotiations between Major League Soccer and its Players Union are set to continue this week, but if statements made recently by both camps are anything to go by, a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement is a long way off.

Until this week, it had been hard to understand exactly why the two sides had failed to reach an agreement on a new CBA; such had been the lack of information regarding the state of the negotiations. That all changed over the weekend, as the players, and then the league, went public with their frustrations.

The key sticking point appears to be the league’s reluctance to discuss free agency. For the life of me, I can’t understand why this is such a big problem.

The players union have indicated that they are not asking for unrestricted free agency, but rather that they are looking to secure some basic player rights, like the ability to seek employment within MLS after being deemed surplus to requirements by another MLS team.

That doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request, does it?

The league has stated that it is prepared to discuss that scenario, but that it is unwilling to budge on the issue of free agency within MLS. League officials contend that free agency would escalate costs, as players would move to the highest bidder at the end of their respective contracts. While this might be true to some extent, it is not as though teams would be able to load up on talent by offering large salaries – that is what the salary cap is for.

It simply is not possible for teams to stockpile talented players by offering them more money; there isn’t a great deal of salary to spread around in the first place. Assuming that free agency would escalate costs is an inaccurate assumption.

If the league is so set against free agency, then why not negotiate some form of restricted free agency? Why not implement something similar to the NHL, where players are granted unrestricted free agency at the end of their contracts if they have accrued seven seasons in the league, or if they are 27 years of age and have accrued four seasons in the league?

I’m not suggesting that MLS should just cut and paste the NHL’s policy on free agency, because there are too many differences to list between the two leagues. But Don Garber and company had better be willing to put together some form of restricted free agency, or a work stoppage could very well be on the cards.

And that will be a disaster for everyone involved - the league, the players, and most importantly, the fans.

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