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American Football League (MLS) extended this Friday another week the negotiations with its players on a new agreement facing the impact of the coronavirus and warned that if there was no agreement, it could decree a stopping work.
MLS met on Thursday with Players Association (MLSPA) “to continue talks on how to address the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the league said in a statement.
“Although we are still a long way off, we will extend the negotiation period from 30 days to another week to provide all opportunities to reach an agreement.”
The negotiation period, which ended on Thursday, will now end at midnight the next night 4th February.
If there is no agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement at that time, “the MLS Labor Committee voted unanimously to authorize the league to terminate the collective bargaining agreement and to establish a stopping work“the statement said.
MLS, which reopened negotiations in December due to the continuing uncertainty of the pandemic, said its proposal to players included pay 100% of salaries in 2021 in exchange for a two – year extension of the current employment contract until 2027.
This extension would allow the league and teams to regain some of the the losses suffered in 2021 due to the pandemic and would provide stability for future investments in competition, he said MLS.
MLS Commissioner, Don Garber, said in recent months that the league has stopped enter about $ 1 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic, which forced the suspension of competition between March and July, and can’t afford another campaign with this level of losses.
On Thursday, the Players’ Association proposed extending the agreement for a year with other non-economic concessions and recalled that in an agreement with the league last June, players had already accepted salary reductions in excess of $ 200 million.
“A work stoppage at this time and in this environment would be catastrophic for MLS’s position, both nationally and internationally,” the Association said. “Our sincere hope is that it can be avoided. The players are ready to play.”
The start of the MLS 2021 season is scheduled for April 3 with the training grounds of 27 teams from the United States and Canada since February 22.
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