One of the key issues in last offseason’s collective bargaining negotiations between MLS and the union was what to do when players and teams couldn’t agree on a new contract.
Major League Soccer Adds Re-Entry Draft To Offseason Schedule
In the past, teams retained control over the players’ rights for perpetuity unless they traded the rights away. This obviously put serious restrictions on a players’ abilities to move from one MLS team to another.
Under the new agreement, players were granted limited rights to switch teams.
Those rights will come in the form of a re-entry draft in December, details of which were announced on Wednesday. The re-entry draft will be one of five MLS drafts that will take place this offseason.
Players who are at least 23 years old with three years in the league and have an option that was not renewed by their team and players at least 25 years old with four years in the league and an expiring contract are all eligible for the first stage of the re-entry draft. All teams will have the option to draft these players under the terms of their current contracts. Draft order will be determined by the reverse order of the 2010 standings.
“If you ask a player to take a reduction in pay, he can negotiate that reduction, or make himself available to all the teams at his previous salary in Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft,” said Todd Durbin, MLS Executive Vice President of Player Relations and Competition.
Even if players are not selected at their current rates, they can make themselves eligible for a second stage of the re-entry draft in which their rates are not predetermined. Players not selected in either stage of the re-entry draft will essentially become free agents.
“This is one of the major changes compared to previous years,” Durbin said. “In previous years, if the player’s existing team offered him a lower salary, the player didn’t have many options. Now the players have more leverage in that negotiating process.”
The idea behind these re-entry drafts is to avoid situations like the ones the players such as Kevin Hartman and Steve Ralston found themselves in last offseason. In both cases, the players could not come to terms with their current teams.
The Kansas City Wizards eventually traded Hartman's rights to FC Dallas for a second-round pick in the SuperDraft, but it took almost the entire offseason for the situation to be resolved.
In Ralston’s case, he chose to sign with USSF D-2 team AC St. Louis rather than wait for his situation to be resolved in MLS.
If those situations were to occur this offseason, both players could have elected to be exposed to the re-entry drafts.
MLS DRAFT TIMELINE
- Nov. 24 – MLS Expansion Draft
- Nov. 24 – MLS Waiver Draft (players not eligible for Re-Entry Draft)
- Dec. 8 – Re-Entry Draft Stage 1
- Dec. 15 – Re-Entry Draft Stage 2
- Jan. 13, 2011 – MLS SuperDraft
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