Are MLS players asking for too much in CBA negotiations?

Soccer Betting Lines

02/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Major League Soccer began operation in 1996, its chances of sustaining a legitimate, profitable league were considered slim in the crowded American sports scene.

As a result, most players weren't even given the benefits that most American workers receive - health care for themselves and their families, 401(k) retirement plans - while owners lost millions trying to make a professional soccer league work in the North American market.

Over time, MLS began to gain more of a foothold, and after a jury decision 10 years ago ruled against a federal antitrust suit filed by the players against the league's single-entity system, the players formed a union. As a result, those basic rights were conceded in the first Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players union five years ago.

Fast-forward to the present.

That CBA expired on Jan. 31 and the union and league have twice extended negotiations to avoid a lockout while clubs continue to prepare for the 2010 season. The most recent extension set the deadline at Feb. 25 with the season scheduled to open a month later.

But now, less than a week before the deadline, there is still no deal, and some reports suggest one isn't imminent.

The players want more rights - a form of free agency, guaranteed contracts, etc. - while the owners want to keep costs down.

You can see the dilemma.

"This league was built around keeping costs down and they've done a good job of that," seven-year MLS veteran Todd Dunivant told the Los Angeles Daily News. "But the league has to evolve if it wants to get better and be on a par with some of the other leagues around the world."

But MLS isn't like other leagues around the world. It isn't the most popular sport in its region - it's probably not even in the top five. The level of play, while improving, is nowhere close to that of even mid-level European leagues, and the pay reflects that.

As it should.

If players want to be paid and have the financial security of those in other leagues, they should improve their skills enough to earn contracts from other leagues - like a recent crop of former MLS players that includes Kenny Cooper, Yura Movsisyan, Chris Rolfe and Michael Parkhurst did.

The average North American worker considers themselves underpaid and under-appreciated in the current financial climate. The only way they are going to get more money is to seek out and earn a better situation. Why should MLS players think they deserve more?

MLS players want guaranteed contacts?

Ask the millions of unemployed Americans if they would have liked guaranteed contracts in their previous places of employment. You earn your money, or you're gone, plain and simple.

As it should be.

What the players also aren't considering is that while franchises like Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders FC are selling out games at record numbers and thriving, the majority of MLS teams aren't profitable. While only five MLS clubs - the Kansas City Wizards, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, D.C. United and Chivas USA - are tenants in their stadiums, and the other 11 own or control their stadiums and revenue streams, profit is something that eludes the majority. The lack of local and national support for the league and sport is a primary culprit.

Until that changes, and the revenues consistently roll in, the league will continue on its current path, with owners footing the bill in hopes of more profitable days ahead.

As they should.

The league can and should make minor concessions when it comes to the salary floor and cap, however.

A third of the league's players earn under $35,000, with a select few earning as little as $15,300. Raise the floor to a more livable wage, around $30,000, and combine that with a modest raise in the current $2.3 million salary cap for each club, and it should be a win for both sides.

"We're not millionaires looking to get more millions, we're just trying to slowly raise the bar to make this league better," Dunivant said.

As you should Todd, but like the average worker, don't expect a pay raise or job security while you do it.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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