All indicators are that the MLS season will be delayed as players overwhelmingly voted to strike if free agency and guaranteed player contracts are not part of the collective bargaining talks.
This means that the season will not begin on March 25th as anticipated unless the two parties come to an agreement very soon.
This has immense benefits for Donovan who gets to extend his Everton stay without the moral hazard of violating the same principles he accused David Beckham of abandoning last season.
Except this is far worse. While hundreds of his MLS brethren fight for a better day for themselves, Donovan gets to play for the best league in the world while earning more than many of them. Their pay will likely be docked for every no show, cutting further into their paltry salaries.
A strike could also virtually end the hopes of MLS players with national aspirations making it to the World Cup. Donovan has no such worries. As a DP he is inoculated from the vagaries of free agency and settled contracts. So far he seems to have said very little about the labour dispute.
You might say so what? Let the players stew in their juices. But these are the very tactics that initially setback the MLB and NFL but transformed them into the viable leagues they are. The European leagues have benefited immensely from free agency and Bosmans. It is part of the maturation of sport.
The MLS pays attention when a talismanic figure like Donovan spurns a high profile, high paying overseas gig to come back and fight with his team mates for a better future. In fact, every player who cut their teeth in MLS and now play for leagues abroad should be standing in solidarity with the players they have left behind. They know the reasons why they left and they should be the first ones to appreciate every effort to make the MLS better.
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