MLS Games On as Agreement Reached

Game on!

The MLS and the players association agreed to a new 5 year labor deal averting a looming strike that was set to delay the start of the 2010 MLS season.  An agreement was reached only a few hours before the New York Red Bulls opened their brand new stadium in a friendly against Santos which Red Bulls won 3-1.

"This is a great way for Major League Soccer to start its season," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "Players will have greater rights at the expiration of their agreements, but they will not be free agents within the league."

Garber said the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC were the only profitable MLS operations last year, when regular and postseason attendance averaged 16,391, below the record average of 17,432 in the league's first season.

MLS Players Union head Bob Foose said a majority of players will receive guaranteed contracts for the first time and there will be increased player rights within the league when contracts expire. Still, the union did not achieve its goal of free agency.  "From our perspective, these negotiations were always about players' rights," Foose said, with his members wanting to bring their rights "more in line with leagues from around the world."

The 2010 MLS season kicks off Thursday night as the expansion Philadelphia Union travel cross country to face last year's highly successful expansion side the Seattle Sounders.  The game is to be televised on ESPN II.