MLS and Players’ Union agree to new CBA

Despite talk of a strike, it now looks like the 2015 Major League Soccer season will start on schedule.

According to numerous reports Wednesday afternoon, the league and the players’ union have agreed in principle to a new collective bargaining agreement just two days before the L.A. Galaxy and Chicago Fire are scheduled to open the season. The Sounders begin the season at home on Sunday night against New England.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando, the team’s union representative who was in Washington D.C. for the negotiations, more or less confirmed those reports via twitter.

Play ball.

— Nick Rimando (@NickRimando) March 5, 2015

Players had threatened to strike if the league didn’t grant some concessions in the new CBA, most notably some form of free agency, and while they likely didn’t get everything they were asking, the league must have given enough to avoid a work stoppage. Though according to Goal.com’s Ives Galarcep, not all the players are thrilled with the new deal.

So #MLSCBA deal is done. Hearing lots of players unhappy w/final deal. I’m told 7 teams voted against it (KC, RSL, RBNY, NYC, MON, FCD, COL)

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) March 5, 2015

UPDATE: The league and union have announced the agreement in a statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Wednesday, March 4, 2015) – Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Major League Soccer Players Union today announced that they have reached agreement in principle on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) covering five seasons, commencing with the 2015 season and continuing through the 2019 season.

“We are pleased to finalize the framework for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with our players,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “We now enter our 20th season with enormous momentum with our new television partnerships, dynamic star players from the U.S., Canada and abroad, and two new expansion teams in New York City and Orlando that will debut in front of more than 60,000 fans on Sunday in the Citrus Bowl. This agreement will provide a platform for our players, ownership and management to work together to help build Major League Soccer into one of the great soccer leagues in the world.”

The concluding phase of the negotiations was conducted under the auspices of Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Deputy Director of Mediation Services and Field Operations Scot Beckenbaugh and Mediator Peter Donatello.

“We are pleased to announce that we have reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league,” said Bob Foose, Executive Director of the MLS Players Union. “We are pleased to finally turn our fans attention back to our players and the competition on the field as we get started on the 2015 season.”

Major League Soccer’s 20th season kicks off Friday, March 6 when the Chicago Fire take on the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy in a nationally televised match on UniMás at 10 p.m. ET. The other 18 MLS clubs are in action on March 7 and 8, including a tripleheader on “MLS Soccer Sunday” when expansion teams Orlando City SC and New York City FC battle in front of 60,000 fans in the Citrus Bowl (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2), and Fox Sports 1 televises back-to-back MLS matches when Sporting Kansas City host the New York Red Bulls (7 p.m. ET) and Seattle Sounders FC welcome 2014 MLS Cup runners-up, the New England Revolution (9:30 p.m. ET).