We all know the Collective Bargaining Agreement is coming close to it's end and the MLS Players Union and league front offices are set to battle it all out. Well today we got some rough news from the Sports Business Journal (subscription based link, sign up for a free trail if you haven't) that the players union is already talking strike if things don't improve.

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Disheartening news on the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations between Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union today; the league's proposal last week has the players threatening to strike...

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Sriwijaya have still not been able to pay their players and figure they will be unable to do so until they bank the gate reciepts from their home game against Pelita Jaya on 21 November. The Vice President Finance of the club says he understands the players' concerns but calls on them to be 'professional'. Click to continue reading...

South America is a million miles away from contemporary, cosmopolitan western Europe. Distances are vast, mass salaries are low, air travel is expensive. There has been little significant mass immigration to the continent in decades. Click to continue reading...

AC Milan Chief Executive Adriano Galliani has confirmed that David Beckham will return to AC Milan in January. Click to continue reading...

Bryan Robson has been here a week already and he is really loving it. The reception by the fans has been magnificent and he says he can feel a real genuine love of football here at all levels of The Game.
His aim is of course to watch as many players as possible and he enjoyed The Game Muanthong v BEC on Sunday and the BEC v Port Thai Cup finals is the next task. Click to continue reading...

Portland's MLS expansion wobbles along, with stadium financing taking shape (we hope), a marketing campaign already taking shape, and the typical community-resistance and tired questions over Major...

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The MLS Player's Union generally releases the info twice a year to show the pittance many of its members take home.

The second release is usually pretty much the same as the first for players still on the roster (although I see Chivas USA forward Justin Braun got a raise from around $20,000 to $36,000, so maybe he can order a double double instead of a small burger at In-N-Out now), but of course new additions to the roster since March haven't had their salaries known.

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The MLS Players Union has updated its list of 2009 salaries. Its current as of the roster freeze date on September 15th.
There are 8 Rapids added and 5 removed since the last release on March 15th. We finally get the number for Palguta and Holody, it moves Moor, Noonan, and Valentino from their former teams to Colorado, and it adds the salaries for Baudet, Diz, and Jamie Smith. Click to continue reading...

The condition of professional soccer in the United States is such that the when presented with a choice between playing the game on its highest level here or hanging up the boots and focusing on a...

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I have been very outspoken in the past in reference to Major League Soccer really dropping the ball in reference to player development by doing away with its Reserve Division.
Andrea Canales from Goal.com wrote an excellent article about not only how the absence of the Reserve Division is stunting the development of the young American professional player, but also negatively affecting our United States Under-20 National team. Click to continue reading...

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 (Bernama) --
The Malaysian League may be privatised in 2011 if the problems that plagued contending teams continue to persist next year.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad cited the problems as financial woes (staff and players' salaries), dropped in the quality of the game and dwindling audience. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday Ben Knight tried to move the soft cap debate forward (we'll call it a salary cap debate at this point) and for some reason looks in my direction to provide rational discourse. And Dan Loney. Yeah. Did you read the part in his last column where Loney talked about using nerve gas on the promotion/relegation supporters? Click to continue reading...

The site Futebol Finance produced a list of the top 25 salaries of Brazilian footballers around the world. The surprise? The list has a number of players who are veterans or have not produced much in recent seasons. That shows us that even in football, the brand is what counts. What is also scary about the list?

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Fortune favours the brave. Rather than sitting down and licking its paws in impotent rage as one by one the star names leave Singapore football, surely this is an opportunity for clubs there to re-evaluate themselves and think afresh.
And that means not just whinging because some players are leaving. Click to continue reading...

Every year the release of Serie A salaries is met with great anticipation and often little surprise. This year, there was plenty of surprise to go around. With Kaka & Zlatan off to the lowered tax rates of Spain, the top spot was up for grabs and it went to Jose Mourinho, whose main improvement [...] Click to continue reading...

UEFA's Executive Committee meets next week to consider recommendations that could change the face of European club football. "Financial fair play", as UEFA calls it, is the key item on the agenda, as the recommendations of the Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC) made last month are up for approval (the PFSC was created in 2007, and consists of UEFA's vice-presidents and representatives of clubs, leagues and the players).

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The Colorado Rapids are hoping to reach the playoffs and some defensive help should go a long way in correcting some of their inconsistent issues. Today they have traded with FC Dallas for defender Drew Moor in exchange for Ugo Ihemelu, according to both clubs.

The Rapids also pick up a second-round pick and allocation money in the deal.

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As I recover from a late night of fighting through some technical snafus on the podcast recording, my brain is working just well enough for a thought to occur on the crucial nature of the rest of...

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I just had to post this picture.
Just had to.
So funny.
Links me:

• Fans fight police. 150 arrested. [The Offside]
  
• Peru soccer avoids a boycott. [Living in Peru]
  
• USMNT coaching salaries. [Goff]
  
• Epic Kaka video. Epic. [The Offside Rules]
  
• Greek wildfire (wtf?

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Interesting post on Serie A Tickets about some recent comments from Italian Premier and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi about why football needs a salary cap.

"Footballers' salaries are outside reality. It is necessary to introduce a salary cap," Berlusconi was quoted as saying by Italian media on Tuesday.

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Just when you thought Freddy Adu would find steady playing time thanks to a loan move to Denmark, now comes word that Adu is still looking for a loan move to make after a discussed loan to Danish side Odense BK has collapsed.

According to Portuguese publication Record, Adu's proposed loan to Odense stalled due to a inability to reach an agreement over Adu's salary, which is considerably higher than the standard salaries in Denmark.

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Just when you thought Freddy Adu would find steady playing time thanks to a loan move to Denmark, now comes word that Adu is still looking for a loan move to make after a discussed loan to Danish side Odense BK has collapsed.

According to Portuguese publication Record, Adu's proposed loan to Odense stalled due to a inability to reach an agreement over Adu's salary, which is considerably higher than the standard salaries in Denmark.

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While I was watching the USA loose to Mexico again on Wednesday, something struck me. It is clear from the Hexagonal Concacaf World Cup qualifiers that the USA is not the dominant team in the region. We may be the best (or one of the best), but not dominant by any measurement.
Mexico used to be dominant in every way in Concacaf until we developed over the last thirty years into a serious threat. Click to continue reading...

English Football association (FA) head Ian Watmore, has stated that he believes the UEFA should leave players salaries free to the open market. This comes just days after the UEFA has expressed their concern that European soccer players are being paid too much and that there needs to be a cap on a clubs spending.

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Fabiano Eller breached his contract with Santos. The team payed for the two months they onwed the player and ended the contract that was supposed to be done in December. Now, he is free to negociate with other teams. Fluminense, Flamengo and Internacional might be interested in the player, but, Eller says there is no official offers. Click to continue reading...

Apart from transfer rumours, commentary on managers probably forms the bulk of football chatter. Before, during and after every game, every decision is scrutinised; every minute move debated; tactics, strategy, man-management, motivation, appearance all feed into an endless discourse debating whether any given manager is succeeding or not.

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According to "Marca" FC BARCELONA has made a 20M€ offer forVALENCIA CF midfielder & Spanish International JUAN MATA. It ispublished that the player's representative will communicate thisto Valencia CF this afternoon & see if they can come to anagreement.Valencia CF is in serious economic difficulties & needs to pay itsplayers part of their salaries, therefore they have a need to sellplayers, Click to continue reading...

This will be a very interesting year with the new MLS Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations taking place. Things have been fairly quiet but details are now emerging regarding what the MLS Players Union is looking to gain.
This excerpt comes courtesy of the Sports Business Journal:

As other big leagues seek concessions from players, the Major League Soccer Players Union has proposed significant increases in its members' rights, including free agency and leaguewide guaranteed contracts, sources said.

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Sports Business Journal reports that the CBA negotiations between the MLS Players Union and the league have taken an interesting turn: in addition to guaranteed contracts (currently contracts don't...

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From Sports Business Journal (which is increasingly required reading for MLS fans) and WVHooligan.
Quote: Free agency, part of the proposal presented at a collective-bargaining session with the league in New York last month, would fundamentally change the way the MLS is operated. Click to continue reading...

According to Stephen Crawford at Goal.com, UEFA is looking to limit the amount of money spent on transfers by clubs. An official statement in UEFAdirect said,

"The aim is for all clubs to be able to live on the income they generate ... A series of incentives and disciplinary action will be examined at the next executive committee meeting.

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Imagine on Monday morning you get a phone call. Your company's biggest competitor is on the line, offering you exactly the same job but on twice the salary. What's more, they'll give you a couple of million quid as a sweetener just for signing on. Now don't get me wrong, I love my job. But you'd have to be a pretty brave or, to be frank, a pretty stupid man to hang up the phone.

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I'd link to it, but it requires a subscription (or at least a free trial), and I'm not going to put you through that. Suffice to say, it's a small part of one of many interviews Grant Wahl has done recently about his new book, The Beckham Experiment (the latest trial is tonight when LA plays at New York, 8pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel).

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Photo via AP

Oh King Pele! Never fear, your crown will never be taken from you... unless the person holding it is The Dona!

Anyway, he's spoken again about recent "betrayals" in world football because back in his time, there were no multi-million dollar deals and everyone was 100% committed to their clubs.

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