Commissioner Don Garber is trying to avoid a work stoppage from delaying the start of the 2010 MLS season. (Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

Opening day of Major League Soccer's regular season is drawing close, but whether the campaign kicks off on time — or at all — remains to be seen.

The labour dispute between the league and the players union has cast a dark pall over the soccer landscape in Canada and the United States, threatening the start of the MLS season.

The old collective bargaining agreement ran out Feb. 25 after the league and the players union twice extended the five-year labour pact, which was originally to expire Jan. 31. Next Thursday, the Seattle Sounders are scheduled to host the expansion Philadelphia Union on the first day of the season, but a game will likely depend on whether or not the two sides can agree to a new agreement within the next eight days.

The two sides recently met with U.S. federal mediator George Cohen in Washington, D.C., but no new pact was forthcoming. MLS commissioner Don Garber is on record as saying that the league would not lock out the players and that he would not be averse to beginning the season under the terms of the expired agreement.

Last week, the players overwhelmingly voted to strike if a new labour pact wasn't in place by the start of the season on March 25.

"We are united as a union and if we need to strike, we will," Toronto FC defender Nick Garcia told reporters last week.

CBCSports.ca contacted both the league and the union Wednesday for an update on the negotiations and whether or not a new labour deal was imminent. Both declined to comment.

A phone call to Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad, one of five players on the union's executive board, was not returned.

San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff released a statement via the league.

"Sadly, the players and their representatives say they will strike unless a new collective bargaining agreement is reached by the March 25 season opener," Wolff said.

"Being a relatively new MLS owner, I truly enjoy and appreciate our players, but I believe a strike would not be in the players', fans' and owners' best interests."

Turning point for league

Indeed, any type of work stoppage could potentially be disastrous for MLS in what could be a critical year for the league.

The expansion Philadelphia Union are slated to join MLS as the league's 16th franchise, and teams will be added in Vancouver and Portland, Ore., in 2011. The New York Red Bulls are set to move into Red Bull Arena, a new $200-million US soccer-specific stadium located in Harrison, N.J.

Also, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa runs from June 11 to July 11. Interest in soccer will be at an all-time high in the U.S. and Canada, and MLS would like to piggyback on the popularity of World Cup and capture the attention of soccer fans who traditionally don't watch the league.

"A lockout or a strike doesn't help anyone," Toronto FC midfielder Dwayne De Rosario told CBCSports.ca back in January. "I don't think the players are asking for a whole lot. I think [our demands] are reasonable, so hopefully they'll come to a decision soon and we can get on with our jobs."

Issues at the heart of the labour dispute include the structure of contracts and the security and freedom of players.

MLS is a single-entity structure, which means all players sign with the league rather than individual teams. The union alleges that close to 80 per cent of players in MLS have non-guaranteed contracts.

Under the current pact, players can be transferred to another club without their consent. Even when a player is released from his contract, he's not free to automatically sign with another team in the league.

In effect, the union argues, there is no player free agency in MLS, unlike in the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball.

A veteran of 10 MLS seasons, Garcia said the league hasn't come close to addressing the union's major concerns regarding improved player rights.

"We, as a union, have come more than half-way [in the negotiations]," Garcia stated. "To this point, the league hasn't taken us seriously, so for me I don't think real issues have been addressed and I know other guys on other teams feel the same way."

But Wolff claims that he and most of his fellow owners are not making money, and that should temper the players' expectations at the bargaining table and influence their decision to strike.

"The Earthquakes and the majority of MLS teams did not generate a profit in 2009, nor do they expect to generate a profit in 2010," Wolff stated. "I believe that the profitability goal should be as much of a concern for the players and their union as it is to the owners."

Wolff later added: "MLS is still a young league that is not fully established yet. To lose the benefits that have been gained to date and to risk league stability is, in my opinion, a risk that the players and their unions need to fully consider."