With the end of the World Cup cycle for the US, the prospect of a managerial change looms large. A lot of people seem to be asking the questions "who is the best tactical manager for the US talent pool" or "who is the manager who will play the style I want the US to play".
For me, it's all about timing.

The MLS Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations are coming down to the wire and appear to be reaching an impasse. Peter Wilt offers up solutions to the current MLS labor strife.

Many of my New Year predictions will prove false, but I'm afraid the first one, which predicted a 3-4 week work stoppage, is beginning to look accurate.

With MLS and the Players Union keeping very quiet concerning the looming expiration of the CBA, we are left to pick through random quotes and 140 character Twitter messages in an attempt to figure out just what is happening. MLS fans are understandably concerned about the potential of a work stoppage and a bit jumpy as well.

Major League Soccer and the MLS players union today announced a new five year collective bargaining agreement.

"This is a great way for Major League Soccer to start its 15th season," said MLS commissioner Don Garber. "It's an agreement that will set the stage for a new relationship.

By Geoff Reid

First of all apologies for being away for a while. I took a break during the world cup to specifically enjoy it and getting back into the regular routine is a tough thing to do!

With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement agreed upon and put in place, several things got tweaked, including the Designated Player rule and this was a good thing because when the rule was first announced and was code named the ‘Beckham Rule' because lets face it, it was designed around signing him, the whole buzz around the rule was lost this time a year ago.

As the impasse between Major League Soccer and the Players Union continues, the possibility that the players will be locked-out by the league on February 1st when the current CBA expires becomes increasingly more likely.
There is a mix of concern and fear amongst soccer fans in the United States about what effect a work stoppage would have on not only the league, but on the state of the game itself.

Jorge Flores (right) could be left unprotected for Chivas USA. (Getty Images)

It's time to go back into the expansion draft talk. Last week we looked over D.C. United and their roster and today we'll shift focus out west with Chivas USA. Both Portland and Vancouver will be selecting 10 players each from the current rosters next month after MLS Cup.

There's been a lot of talk these last couple of days about how Major League Soccer players and the league are stuck at an impasse over a new collective bargaining agreement. Players have made noise, on Twitter and in the press, about an all but unbridgeable gap between the two sides. The latest extension to talks is set to expire Feb.

Its all over twitter now, and speculation about details is all that remains.

Here's the AP story that says a 5 year CBA has been reached.

Major League Soccer and its players called a joint news conference for Saturday and were near agreement on a five-year contract that would avoid a strike scheduled for next week, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

I've attempted to stay relatively open-minded during the MLS CBA nonsense, I really have. I've been frustrated with both the players and the owners, and recently wrote a piece where I came down on...

Want more positive news on a new CBA between the players and the league? John Wolyniec, the player-rep for the New York Red Bulls is said to be hopeful according to the New York Post.

After weeks without much progress being made, Wolyniec said concessions have been made on both sides and he termed his feeling as "hopeful.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Representatives for Major League Soccer announced today that a new collective bargaining agreement has been finally reached between players and management, meaning everyone bored stiff with learning the complexities of MLS's single entity system, precedent-setting sports entertainment labour decisions, and whatever Kasey Keller has to say about either, breathed a sigh of collective relief this morning.

Big Story
We've rather evaded the ongoing labour talks between MLS and the players' union, mainly because we don't have any insider info or original insight to offer on the dispute. But we're just days away from a lockout, so we are at least keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

The threat of a strike looms large over Major League Soccer and if the players strike, the blame must lie at the feet of MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

For soccer in the U.S. to continue to grow, the league must fall in line with FIFA guidelines and regulations. I understand why the league wanted to own all the contracts but that time has passed.

So for the third time we've reached D-Day for MLS CBA negotiations...in honor of this, I will simply provide you with the following video:
Who knows what will happen today...another extension, a players strike, nothing. All we really know is that we don't know anything.

Following Saturday's announcement of a new collective bargaining agreement between Major League Soccer (MLS) and the MLS Players Union (Players Union), the League today announced key elements of the five-year agreement.

Notably missing from the league's announcement are provisions on roster sizes, including exemptions for home grown players, injuries and others.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

While we all wait for MLS to either reach a labor deal or begin an ugly labor war, it's probably a good time for our latest installment of Your Questions Answered. There just so happen to be a few MLS labor-related questions in this first installment of the January Answers.

With all the news over the past few days concerning the MLS collective bargaining agreement negotiations, I decided to take a ride in my Jabulani powered DeLorean and report what I saw. So prepare yourself and remember to think fourth dimensionally...
"I have to tell you about the future" -Marty McFly
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Hmmm, are the players really this crafty? Consider these points:
Here's the statement from Bob Foose today:

"Effective at midnight tonight, our collective bargaining agreement with MLS will expire," said Union executive director Bob Foose in a statement.
Foose added that, "while we expect that negotiations with MLS will resume at some point, there simply hasn't been enough progress made in the negotiations to date to warrant an extension of the old agreement.

They both blinked.

After Thursday's non-announcements that the owners are willing to let the season begin under the old CBA and the players aren't willing to walk off the job, I think we can safely say that both sides realize a work stoppage is not in either sides' best interests.

Both are playing it right from a negotiating standpoint.

Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union released the following statement Wednesday night, March 10:

Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union met in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of George H. Cohen, the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

A tiny bit of good news on the MLS front: apparently the vote on Thursday wasn't an actual vote to strike. It was more like...a vote to vote on a strike. More like being engaged to be engaged than actually being betrothed. In other words, This vote was maybe [...]

Well, here we are. If an agreement on a new CBA can't be reached this weekend, the players will go on strike next week.How did it get to this point? Wasn't it only a month or so ago that the League and players union were oh-so-close to sealing the deal on a brand spanking new agreement?Obviously, something went wrong.

An odd headline right after the sides agree on the new CBA (details please!), but one thing that was clear during the ordeal is that Single-Entity is here to stay, now we get that confirmed for the next five years. This post is not about the new CBA, but instead is about how the lack of tradition should help MLS compete with global soccer leagues/clubs, or it could be titled

Soccernomics isn't about statistics

That trip I took to Cabo feels like a month ago, really only 1 week, and during the flights, the down time on a porch or pool I got to read the book that many claim is the reported entry of performance analysis (statistics of the sabermetric sort) into the realm of soccer.

Here's what you need to know about the new CBA. It's complicated but I'll try and simplify it for you. It lasts five seasons, 2010 through 2014.

A Special Series by Rob Luker This is the final installment in Clarkson University business student Rob Luker's "American Soccer Business Plan". You can read Part I, American Soccer Ambitions here,...

Landon Donovan and Kasey Keller are widely known as important soccer figures in and out of MLS circles. Through FIFPro, Donovan and Keller expressed their concerns on what a potential lock-out could do to the league and the sport in America if owners aren't willing to compromise on a few key issues.

Over at Pitch Invasion:

Seattle Sounders FC player rep James Riley said the union wants the teams, not the League, to negotiate player contracts. The union also wants more guaranteed contracts and free agency after contracts expire. I'll bolden my prediction by guessing that a CBA is not achieved until at least April, meaning that for the first time, MLS games will be missed due to a work stoppage.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Major League Soccer and its Players Union expires at the end of the month. The current agreement can be found at the Players Union website. Negotiations on a new CBA have been ongoing since the end of the season (and some time before that), and according to Ives Galarcep's blog, the sticking points are three major areas: (1) Guaranteed contracts (2) Contract negotiation with individual teams (3) Free agency If there's not a deal by the 31st, the League would no longer be banned from locking out the players from training camp, and conversely the.

By now, you know the deal. We're doing our best to make all of the background behind the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the Players and the League super fun and super exciting!...

In the last 20+ years, every one of the so-called "major" sports leagues in America has gone through some sort of work stoppage. Whether it was the NFL in 1987, MLB in 1994, the NBA in 1998 or the NHL in 2004, every stoppage damaged the respective leagues. Attendance declined, playoffs were canceled, interest levels dropped and it took time (and in the case of baseball, two steroid-fueled power hitters) to get the leagues back to their pre-work stoppage levels of success.

Philadelphia will be the center of the American (and Torontonian) soccer universe tomorrow when its annual draft of amateur players into the league takes place there. In fact, Philly just might be...

Freddie Ljungberg's new post on his blog clarifies exactly what his status is for next season. Unsurprisingly, it's "unclear" and it all depends on whether there's a CBA and if there's a lockout. If there wasn't incentive enough for MLS to resolve this situation quickly, a top team losing a DP to Europe because of the labor instability should provide a bit more.

"We have advised our players to report to camp as planned. In the meantime, we will continue to meet with the league to determine if an agreement can be reached. As of this date, however, we have no agreement on a new CBA."

• MLS Players' Union in a statement released last Thursday

So, there you have it.

The deadline is only a few days away but it seems like the more that we hear about the CBA discussions between players and the league the more the two sides are coming together on the issues.

Today another player has come out and said that he is feeling optimistic about a new CBA. Seattle defender Jame Riley, who has at times been out spoken on the CBA and its issues is getting a better feeling on things, though like other players he isn't saying a whole lot just yet.

Freddie Ljungberg speaks and I listen, simple as that. (Getty Images)

I won't lie to ya, anytime I see something Freddie Ljungberg says I believe it to be the truth. That is unless something morally tells me not to do so but 98% of the time I take his word for what it is. Today is no different.

(Repeating a comment I posed on Tom Dunmore's Pitch Invasion blog about the impending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Soccer players and league management. Too many seem to think that as of the CBA's expiration, there's automatically a lockout, or that that's what MLS' intent is.

In this special edition of the American Soccer show we have candid conversation with Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution about the CBA talks, Landon Donovan in Europe and The Bachelor. Taylor offers some excellent insights in to the CBA negotiations and alludes to the timing of a possible resolution.

MLS posted an announcement that they have extended the CBA till February 12 so that they can continue their negotiations towards a new CBA.

Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union have both agreed to postpone the deadline to come to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement until February 12th. The original CBA – the first in MLS history – was scheduled to expire as of next Monday, but both sides have agreed to continue discussions since progress is being made toward an agreement.