Quote:
As MLS draft approaches, labor negotiations stall
Amid all the talk of a possible work stoppage in Major League Soccer, prospects playing in the league's combine last weekend had to deal with a more mundane nuisance — weather.
The combine in Fort Lauderdale had a few issues with rain, which wasn't a surprise, and cold, which was.
"I packed almost nothing cold," says goalkeeper Brian Perk of UCLA and the U.S. under-20 team. "Maybe a jacket or two, but I really wasn't anticipating this."
Players will join a league whose collective bargaining agreement ends Jan. 31. Little progress has been reported in negotiations with the players union. The union has accused MLS of failing to abide by international regulations set down by governing body FIFA, but the league denies the charge.
But ahead of Thursday's draft (2 p.m. ET, ESPN2), the league is carrying on with business as usual. The Generation Adidas program, for players who haven't finished their college eligibility, signed 12 players, comparable to past years. Five graduating seniors, including Perk, signed contracts ahead of the draft.
"We're trying not to focus on that right now," says Teal Bunbury, a Generation Adidas signee from Akron who is poised to be a second-generation MLS player after his father, Alex. "We'll see what happens with that."
Says Perk: "It is a concern. I'm not fully up to speed. Whether you talk to MLS or the union, they're all trying to keep you in the dark because they don't want things leaking. But there's really nothing I can do, so sitting here worrying about it is not going to do any good.
"I can't see a work stoppage being good for the sport or either side, so in the end, I think it'll get settled out."
Last year, MLS was unable to land Marcus Tracy, who signed with Danish club Aalborg after winning the Hermann Trophy, college soccer's equivalent of the Heisman.
This year's class, with 17 players already under contract, includes all three Hermann finalists. The winner, Bunbury, was impressed with the quality of play at the combine, in which the prospects are split into teams for scrimmages. "To me, it felt like a lot of players were having fun," Bunbury says, "The level of play was really high."
Amid all the talk of a possible work stoppage in Major League Soccer, prospects playing in the league's combine last weekend had to deal with a more mundane nuisance — weather.
The combine in Fort Lauderdale had a few issues with rain, which wasn't a surprise, and cold, which was.
"I packed almost nothing cold," says goalkeeper Brian Perk of UCLA and the U.S. under-20 team. "Maybe a jacket or two, but I really wasn't anticipating this."
Players will join a league whose collective bargaining agreement ends Jan. 31. Little progress has been reported in negotiations with the players union. The union has accused MLS of failing to abide by international regulations set down by governing body FIFA, but the league denies the charge.
But ahead of Thursday's draft (2 p.m. ET, ESPN2), the league is carrying on with business as usual. The Generation Adidas program, for players who haven't finished their college eligibility, signed 12 players, comparable to past years. Five graduating seniors, including Perk, signed contracts ahead of the draft.
"We're trying not to focus on that right now," says Teal Bunbury, a Generation Adidas signee from Akron who is poised to be a second-generation MLS player after his father, Alex. "We'll see what happens with that."
Says Perk: "It is a concern. I'm not fully up to speed. Whether you talk to MLS or the union, they're all trying to keep you in the dark because they don't want things leaking. But there's really nothing I can do, so sitting here worrying about it is not going to do any good.
"I can't see a work stoppage being good for the sport or either side, so in the end, I think it'll get settled out."
Last year, MLS was unable to land Marcus Tracy, who signed with Danish club Aalborg after winning the Hermann Trophy, college soccer's equivalent of the Heisman.
This year's class, with 17 players already under contract, includes all three Hermann finalists. The winner, Bunbury, was impressed with the quality of play at the combine, in which the prospects are split into teams for scrimmages. "To me, it felt like a lot of players were having fun," Bunbury says, "The level of play was really high."
