Are MLS players asking for too much in CBA negotiations?

Soccer Betting Lines

02/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Major League Soccer began operation in 1996, its chances of sustaining a legitimate, profitable league were considered slim in the crowded American sports scene.

As a result, most players weren't even given the benefits that most American workers receive - health care for themselves and their families, 401(k) retirement plans - while owners lost millions trying to make a professional soccer league work in the North American market.

Over time, MLS began to gain more of a foothold, and after a jury decision 10 years ago ruled against a federal antitrust suit filed by the players against the league's single-entity system, the players formed a union. As a result, those basic rights were conceded in the first Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players union five years ago.

Fast-forward to the present.

That CBA expired on Jan. 31 and the union and league have twice extended negotiations to avoid a lockout while clubs continue to prepare for the 2010 season. The most recent extension set the deadline at Feb. 25 with the season scheduled to open a month later.

But now, less than a week before the deadline, there is still no deal, and some reports suggest one isn't imminent.

The players want more rights - a form of free agency, guaranteed contracts, etc. - while the owners want to keep costs down.

You can see the dilemma.

"This league was built around keeping costs down and they've done a good job of that," seven-year MLS veteran Todd Dunivant told the Los Angeles Daily News. "But the league has to evolve if it wants to get better and be on a par with some of the other leagues around the world."

But MLS isn't like other leagues around the world. It isn't the most popular sport in its region - it's probably not even in the top five. The level of play, while improving, is nowhere close to that of even mid-level European leagues, and the pay reflects that.

As it should.

If players want to be paid and have the financial security of those in other leagues, they should improve their skills enough to earn contracts from other leagues - like a recent crop of former MLS players that includes Kenny Cooper, Yura Movsisyan, Chris Rolfe and Michael Parkhurst did.

The average North American worker considers themselves underpaid and under-appreciated in the current financial climate. The only way they are going to get more money is to seek out and earn a better situation. Why should MLS players think they deserve more?

MLS players want guaranteed contacts?

Ask the millions of unemployed Americans if they would have liked guaranteed contracts in their previous places of employment. You earn your money, or you're gone, plain and simple.

As it should be.

What the players also aren't considering is that while franchises like Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders FC are selling out games at record numbers and thriving, the majority of MLS teams aren't profitable. While only five MLS clubs - the Kansas City Wizards, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, D.C. United and Chivas USA - are tenants in their stadiums, and the other 11 own or control their stadiums and revenue streams, profit is something that eludes the majority. The lack of local and national support for the league and sport is a primary culprit.

Until that changes, and the revenues consistently roll in, the league will continue on its current path, with owners footing the bill in hopes of more profitable days ahead.

As they should.

The league can and should make minor concessions when it comes to the salary floor and cap, however.

A third of the league's players earn under $35,000, with a select few earning as little as $15,300. Raise the floor to a more livable wage, around $30,000, and combine that with a modest raise in the current $2.3 million salary cap for each club, and it should be a win for both sides.

"We're not millionaires looking to get more millions, we're just trying to slowly raise the bar to make this league better," Dunivant said.

As you should Todd, but like the average worker, don't expect a pay raise or job security while you do it.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.