Major League Soccer’s full-time referee team will return to the field this weekend after reaching a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement with the Professional Referees Organization (PRO), the MLS-funded entity that administers professional arbitration in North America.
Talks between PRO and the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA, the union that represents professional referees in the United States) broke down earlier this year and in mid-February, PRO locked out its officials. MLS began its season with replacement referees as both sides continued to work to reach an agreement. The federally mediated talks have been volatile at times, with both sides publicly accusing each other of unfair practices and speaking to the media.
Ultimately, the two sides reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, which provides significant salary increases – 28% in the first year alone – for MLS officials. In the days since the deal, figures on both sides have had plenty to say about it.
Conditions and duration of the transaction
Sources associated with the league and club ownership groups seemed largely positive about the deal. A source briefed on the negotiations said the owners were particularly pleased with the length of the negotiations, and notably pointed out that the final two years, which will take place after the 2026 World Cup, feature only modest salary increases for officials .
The view follows a memo sent by Nelson Rodriguez, MLS senior vice president of competitive sports, to team owners after the deal was signed Tuesday morning. In his note, acquired and verified by Athleticism, Rodriguez suggested that the CBA, in the long term, “will be net neutral, if not more favorable, over this seven-year period.”
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Rodriguez pointed out that while the new agreement represents an overall increase of 28 percent for match officials compared to 2023, “when comparing salaries, green fees, benefits and travel upgrades, (the CBA present) an average increase in remuneration of approximately 4.35% in the following six years of the agreement.
Rodriguez then characterized the gains made by the PSRA in the final version of the agreement as a “slight increase” from the agreement that the PSRA membership rejected in February.
According to PSRA data, the final figures for the agreed-in-principle agreement represent an increase of $1.06 million over five years compared to the first agreement-in-principle. Over the full seven years of the agreement, that amounts to $2.7 million.
On the other hand, the seven-year term proved to be the biggest disappointment regarding the agreement among PSRA arbitrators contacted by Athleticism. Several of these officials suggested that they believed the PSRA would be in a less desirable negotiating position for the next CBA, with negotiations expected to take place years after at least one, possibly two World Cups, depending on whether the U.S. win their bid to host the Women’s World Cup. Cup in 2027.
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Nonetheless, most respondents were largely positive about the new agreement, impressed by a deal that provides for an immediate and significant increase in compensation.
“If you look at the remuneration of senior (center) referees, you can actually start to plan a future with that money,” said one PSRA member, who was granted anonymity to protect his connections in the game. We have constant increases that we can count on, we have match guarantees. All of this means that for the first time, you can sort of do some serious financial planning around your salary. For me, the value of this should not be underestimated.
Content of the negotiations
Rodriguez and MLS Commissioner Don Garber have repeatedly shared the league’s belief that the replacement referees employed by PRO during the lockout were “up to professional standards” and at a similar level to that of full-time PRO referees.
Garber himself suggested that the league’s players and coaches felt the same way, adding that the league had conducted market research that indicated the work stoppage mattered little to its fans and would not affect perception long term of the league itself.
“There’s no blowback for consumers,” Garber said. Athleticism during a round table in March. “Not only are we not seeing it in the research we are doing, but we also need to look at where we are. The replacement officials are – not by our standards, but by PRO’s standards – up to professional standards.
Garber’s suggestions angered a contingent of MLS players, fans and head coaches, several of whom spoke out publicly after each of their matches was marred by what they perceived as a failed decision. The Major League Soccer Players’ Association (MLSPA) went further and issued a public statement, in which it suggested that Garber’s comments were “grossly inaccurate” and that the replacement referees were under-trained, lacking of experience and were “not at all up to standard”. that a league of MLS stature deserves.
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Garber and Rodriguez’s view is also not universally shared among team ownership groups.
“The quality of the replacement referees was sometimes embarrassing,” said one MLS club speaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their relationships. “Some of the missed calls and missed calls were really difficult to deal with. I have no idea what they were talking about when it came to the (professional) level of referees. This was clearly not the case. It was weird reading that.
Every referee who spoke to Athleticism expressed some dismay at the tenor of the negotiations as they unfolded. Earlier this month, PRO, represented in the negotiations by the New York law firm Proskauer Rose, moved to propose a sort of “take it or leave it” mandate, suggesting that if members of the PSRA did not approve their submitted offer, they would. start negotiating a deal with “less favorable terms”.
Proskauer Rose has earned a reputation for playing hardball in these types of negotiations, having advised the NBA, NHL and NFL in their respective work stoppages over the past three decades. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and former NBA Commissioner David Stern were both former Proskauer lawyers, and the firm represented MLS when it won a landmark antitrust trial in 2000, a move that solidified the league’s entire single-entity business model. He also represented MLS during the 2014 referee lockout.
The PSRA, in response to Garber’s comments earlier this month, characterized the league and PRO’s handling of negotiations as having included “anti-union tactics,” a view reflected by several arbitrators among the members of the PSRA.
“The league actually waited for us,” one said. “I’m not at all surprised that they played dirty here – that’s been their modus operandi in every collective bargaining they’ve had with players or anyone else. I’m very, very curious to see how ugly their next negotiation with the MLSPA will become.
The last collective agreement between MLS players and the league was concluded in early 2020 and runs until January 2028.
“There is power in our union,” said another arbitrator, “but financially there is only a time-limited work stoppage that each of us is equipped to handle .”
Comparison with referee remuneration worldwide
Earlier this month, Garber also suggested that the February tentative agreement rejected by PSRA members would have made its members “some of the highest paid public servants in the world.”
“Think about that — third (highest paid) or whatever the number is,” Garber said. “I think we could all agree that our players are not among the highest paid in the world. We supported the growth of civil servants because it was necessary. We are rebuilding, with energy and resources, the growth of a whole new ecosystem of professional referees who are now on the field with world-class players.
Data on the remuneration of arbitrators around the world is not publicly available, but Athleticism The reports, along with data compiled by the PSRA, present the agreement between the PSRA and the PRO in a favorable light. At the very least, MLS referee salaries are comparable to those in the world’s top leagues on a pure compensation basis, although Spanish and English officials tend to earn more.
However, officials in these leagues also enjoy a robust benefits package, including a significant retirement stipend, which is missing from the agreement between the PSRA and PRO. A senior MLS referee with more than a decade of experience, for example, is only entitled to six months of severance pay.
Referees in the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A are also well paid, with match fees nearly four times that of an MLS referee (although they receive a lower base salary.)
“I think most (owners) in the league feel that referees are now fairly compensated,” said one MLS club commenter, who spoke anonymously to protect their relationships. “But if we pay a globally competitive salary, we want better referees. That, I think, is the general feeling. The referees just need to be better. There are a few owners who think the league is giving these guys too much money, but even these guys will probably do better if the quality improves.
The calculation becomes more complicated, however, when you start to think about other factors – cost of living, inflation, etc.
“On paper, our deal looks great,” said one PSRA member, “but it’s simply cheaper to exist in some places than others – this is true even in the United States, let alone abroad. »
(Photo: Jeremy Olson/ISI Photos/Getty Images)