MLS Soccer Journalists and the MLS Labour Dispute
There aren’t many professional American soccer journalists, so when they move digs, it tends to create a stir in our little media teapot over here. The latest announcement is from Steve Davis, a veteran whose work I admire, who has a new role at Sports Illustrated, leaving ESPN Soccernet.
The latter has practically abandoned American soccer, with SI beefening up its presence stateside.
At the same time, with MLS’ new league website about to launch, what’s now MLSSoccer.com continues to attract talent: in the past few months, they’ve hired as full-time staffers Offside Rules blogger Shawn Francis, Goal.com’s Greg Lalas and Jonah Freedman from Sports Illustrated.
Others like Greg Seltzer from No Short Corners will be writing for the site, and so will Steve Davis, as he tells us on his blog. Many American soccer journalist have and will continue to freelance for MLS’ official site.
All this is happening while MLS is embroiled in its worst-ever labour dispute, with the league on the verge of a strike.
MLS Communications is, of course, pretending none of this is happening; if you relied on their daily MLS Newsstand email service for your fix of MLS news, with the text of a dozen+ articles on the league included, you wouldn’t know a strike was even a vague possibility. The MLS Insider blog has more about David Beckham’s injury than about the Collective Bargaining Agreement dispute, which hasn’t received a mention this week.
I can’t blame MLS staffers for this at all. Don Garber has been pretty clear that MLS employees are not to talk about the strike in public. Any communications regarding the CBA are presumably vetted by Garber’s dog, cat and mother before going out.
Yet doesn’t this present a problem when many of the country’s best soccer journalists now work for MLS, just when we need insightful coverage the most?
And how does this impact on MLS’ hardy string of freelancers? Steve Davis’ first column at Sports Illustrated is on the biggest story in American soccer, the strike. It’s a good piece, fair and objective. Still, he takes a jab at the players (not for the first time):
“This is truly a case of guys who could make more money going out and getting a job, but they’re trying to live out the dream,” Keller told The Associated Press last Friday.
He may be right, but it may not matter. In the chill of national recession, the public may not be in the mood to hear about dreams — particularly not the 10 percent of population currently unemployed. Paying bills is the here-and-now. Chasing dreams is a luxury that’s off the table for many Americans today.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that opinion, nor do I think that Davis would colour his thoughts due to his work writing for MLS’ website as well. But it still strikes an odd chord for me; I personally would not write at an independent publication about another company that periodically pays me to work for them on a labour dispute they are involved in, even as a freelancer. At least, definitely not without saying up front I also take a few dollars here and there from them. I trust Steve’s writing and integrity as a long-time reader of his work, but many fans at Sports Illustrated coming across the piece won’t even know he also writes for MLS.
Naturally, freelancers have to make money to make a living, and the MLS site is increasingly where the pay checks are being cut. Maybe there isn’t a problem until there’s a problem: when obvious bias creeps into reporting.
I’m not really worried about a guy like Steve Davis; judging from his columns, he’s not likely to start pandering to anyone anytime soon. But in the broader sweep of things, with newspapers cutting back coverage of all sports and content increasingly moving in-house, where are the genuinely outside perspectives on MLS going to come from? You might tell me the blogosphere, and you might be right, but it ain’t easy to find the good coverage out here in the sticks, is it?
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“Yet doesn’t this present a problem when many of the country’s best soccer journalists now work for MLS, just when we need insightful coverage the most?”
Why sell yourself so short Tom?
much love from the newest son of ricky of the TA. just got my scarf at last weeks charity match.
I hadn’t realized MLS had hired so many players or that their actually had articles on their sight. It’s really hard to keep up on American soccer without a 24/7 internet connection and a stocked RSS feed. The best I can do is pickup a copy of Hoy and maybe get a daily story on the Fire.
I don’t see Davis’ comments as a jab at the players, but rather as a statement of fact. When people are out of work or struggling to keep the jobs they do have, it’s hard to work up much sympathy for people who play a game for a living going on strike. Would you disagree?
“When people are out of work or struggling to keep the jobs they do have, it’s hard to work up much sympathy for people” who do something they love “for a living” going on strike.
Actually, I would disagree. Sorry.
I think the players are totally wrong to strike and I’m going to be really pissed at them if it happens.
How many MLS teams have ever turned a profit??? This isn’t the NFL. Quit whining about a league policy that has been in place since the inception of the league and most likely is one of the reasons the league still exists.
If you don’t like how MLS works, go play in a different league. Don’t ruin this one!!!
I’m with Matt & Derek on this one. The players aren’t even going to strike for anything that will make MLS better. They just want more freedom for guys like Kevin Hartman and Adrian Serioux (who, oh by the way, were able to find jobs with other teams in MLS this offseason).
Sometimes we want things that we just can’t have. I guess I’d like my season tickets to cost less. Maybe I should go on strike and my team will agree to my terms.
Well that’s a little simplistic. I’ve gone back and forth on the idea, but as we get closer to the actual strike, I’ve landed on the side of the players (I think). They’re requests are reasonable and just – that they not be put in positions of contract manipulation. The thing is, a team can offer a player $30 and a pack of smokes as a “good faith negotiation.” If the player refuses the offer, which obviously he would, then he is basically SOL. So the team doesn’t really value him as a player, and he doesn’t want to play for that team anymore. But he can’t just say, OK, been fun. I’ll go look for work elsewhere, because of MLS’ contract rules. But the team does want to use him as bait. He’s worth more to them in trade than in production, and that’s not right – he’s not a used Toyota.
It’s not ethical in any environment – freelance writers, contract designers, plumbers, or athletes. Can you imagine trying to low ball an architect and then telling him he can’t work on any other projects unless you get paid first?. This argument that athletes have no rights because they play a game for a living doesn’t hold any water. If that was really your concern, then why do you watch sports at all? It’s the money that you spend on the sport that drives this ridiculous system where grown men are paid good money to play games. Can’t have your cake and complain about it too.
I can see where MLS is worried that it will inflate wages, because the players can initiate bidding wars, at least in theory. But the salary cap will always keep player wages under control, because no team is going to drastically over-value what is just one part of their large rosters.
In the end, though, it’s hard to know which side to take because the details of the offers and counter offers aren’t being disclosed. Based on what info I have seen, though, I have to side with the players.
bkfiv: Go for it. I hear Manchester United fans are giving that a try, too.
Very well put, Benjamin. I agree completely.
S-
I’m looking forward to more of your opinions.
Thank you for taking the time and initiative to post this article.
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