Sounders FC majority owner says strike could kill MLS
DON RUIZ; Staff writer
The survival of Major League Soccer could be at risk if the players go on strike next week, Sounders FC majority owner Joe Roth said Tuesday.
“From an entertainment standpoint, we haven’t made enough of an imprint on the national psyche,” he said. “… I don’t think there will be a national outcry like with the NFL if somehow we wouldn’t be out there for a year – which would be terrible. Everyone would lose their jobs. We would all lose our franchises. And that would be that.”
It was the first time Roth spoke publicly on the issue. He said he decided “it’s time as owner of the Sounders to weigh in” because his long-held optimism about the negotiations had changed to pessimism after a series of phone calls with the MLS commissioner’s office on Monday night.
MLS and the players union have been working on a new collective bargaining agreement since the end of last season. The deadline was extended twice, and when agreement still couldn’t be reached, both sides agreed to continue preseason training under the old agreement.
However, the players recently clarified that they would continue that way only until the early morning of March 23. If no agreement is reached by then, they would strike – two days before the new season is scheduled to begin with the expansion Philadelphia franchise visiting Seattle.
Roth, who made his fortune in the entertainment industry, said the threat of a players’ strike reminds him of a Hollywood writers strike over digital-media revenues. Roth said there were no winners in that one: Networks shifted to reruns and reality programming, writers lost more money than they gained, and lots of people in support industries were harmed in the process.
On Tuesday, Roth did not spend much time discussing the issues that divide players and management – primarily increased freedom of movement for the players. His primary concern is the players’ decision to hold the league’s 15th season hostage.
“The issues should be hashed out at a table and not with the threat of a strike,” he said. “Because the fact is the soccer, at least in the Northwest and some other places, is starting to get some traction. … And so there is a glimmer of hope going forward. But it’s certainly not happening right now. And to choose a World Cup year when there is going to be so much more attention paid to soccer in America also feels destructive.”
Sounders player representative Taylor Graham agreed with Roth that a strike should be avoided if possible. And he held out hope that might yet happen.
“Our goal is not to strike, our goal is to try to increase the rights that the players have in this league,” Graham said. “… It’s definitely not in the players’ interests for the league not to survive; and it’s definitely not in the league’s interest for that to happen. Obviously, we’re not at that point yet. From what I understand in a lot of labor resolutions, things can happen up until the last minute.”
Roth said “a lot of issues have been resolved,” especially since a mediator joined the negotiations.
However he strongly defended the league’s single-entity structure, which limits player movement and salaries. That structure, Roth implied, is what has allowed this league to survive where other soccer leagues in the United States and Canada have failed. And he also implied that he might not have bought into the league without such a structure to prevent the kind of bidding wars commonly blamed for killing off the North American Soccer League.
Regardless of what changes the players want, Roth said he does not believe shutting down the league will help them achieve it.
“What happens when you strike? The strike happens,” he said. “But what happens then? The issues don’t get any clearer. People don’t change their minds; their sides don’t change. Then it just becomes both sides waiting somebody out. Well, I’ve been on both sides of this thing. I think they’d have a hard time waiting out a billionaire. I just don’t see how it profits anybody, a work stoppage.”
Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808
don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/soccer
