In a series podcasts to be released throughout the week, Major League Soccer Talk (subscribe) will be talking
to three legal/business/sport experts, getting perspectives on collective bargaining in Major League Soccer and the United States’ sports landscape.
In the first podcast (to be released Tuesday or Wednesday), we will talk about the mechanics of collective bargaining, introducing everybody to the intricacies of the process (i.e., the practical differences between strike and lock-out). Our guest will be Jeffrey Standen, a professor of law at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he teaches Sports Law.
In the second podcast, we will explore existing legal precedent and ask how those cases and concepts – litigated in the context of other labor battles – inform MLS’s bargaining. This is where we’ll get into the arguments the players and owners bring to the table, asking Jeff Maxcy – a sports economist with training in business and labor relations – about the viability of the sides’ positions.
Finally, Major League Soccer Talk’s own Brian Zygo will join us to synthesize the information. Brian – sports media member by night but trained lawyer by day – will bring an MLS-expert’s perspective to the legalities.
Before we start the interviews, Major League Soccer Talk wants to know which issues peak your curiosity. Please use the comments section to submit your questions and opinion, which we will comb pre-interview and potentially pass-on to our experts.
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I look forward to the second installment bringing the issues from both sides to the table. Ranking the order of “demands” etc. as well as possibly bringing up how long the single entity structure will last in MLS or what would be the factors for the league to consider it.
IF the podcasts have not been taped yet, please someone talk about the current trail going before the Supreme Court. NFL vs. American Needle ( not sure I have the parties exactly right ).
Can that issue/trial ruin the MLS setup altogether ? Single entity haters hope so huh ?
This has been an issue that has been at the heart of US sports for a long time. The ‘monopoly’ of the various leagues has been avoided and helped along by politicians for a long time. Could the Supreme court ruin that this session ? What are the implications for MLS ?
Great format. This is why this site is the place for intelligent talk on the issues.
Hi everybody:
I just finished recording the interview with Jeff Maxcy, who was great. We concentrated mostly on business matters – the implications of the labor negotiations. This means we spent almost the entirety of the 15-20 minute podcast talking about single entity.
The podcast will be released either Wednesday or Thursday and will be the second in this series. I was able to reference the concerns/questions brought up by BayVol and Charles. The interview could have gone for a long time, as there was so much to discuss. Alas, I cut it short in the interest of conciseness.
I will be recording with Jeffrey Standen tomorrow. If anybody has questions about the legal mechanics of collective bargaining and labor negotiations, please let me know.
Thanks. Love the podcasts on this site.
One thing though, sometimes the guess volume isn’t very good, since I have your ear;-).
Not a problem if I am listening in the library, but very hard to hear if there is noise even at max volume. I don’t have this problem at other podcasts and I listen to many.
Thanks, Charles. I will try to be conscious of this in producing the shows.
The anti MLS, pro eurosnob pro MLSPU drift continues at “USL talk” after Krishnaiyer was bought off by the brazilians and canadians trying to destroy US soccer.
Huh?
The story that piques my interest the most is how a blogger was working for Traffic behind the scenes while pretending to be impartial and hard-nosed. How his cozy relationship with certain web sites will affect the way news is disseminated and spun will be wonderful to dissect.It’s also interesting to see how websites can be basically controlled by teams/leagues.
I’d love to hear a podcast about this one.
Rey and Rabbie Rouser, I think you guys need to grow up. Kartik was hired to head up PR for NASL last week and wasn’t an employee of NASL or Traffic prior to that. You guys love your conspiracy theories, don’t you?
Cheers,
The Gaffer
I’d be interested to know if the league has the legal ability to hire replacements. Would a strike affect their ability to get work Visas if they want to hire foreign replacements?
Itd be great if you guys posted a podcast link that wasnt itunes for all the rest of us that hate and dont use itunes.
Rey- Believe you me, Canada is too focused destroying its own soccer system/players to be focused on trying to ruin the American system.
Hello OMY: Definitely, when the podcasts are up, we will have the accustomed download link as well as the option to listen through the site or in a pop-out window.
Do you guys have an RSS feed for those of us not using iTunes?
To add to this, just saw the previous post, an RSS feed for automatic downloads, without having to come here to get the files.
The RSS feed for the podcast is http://majorleaguesoccertalk.libsyn.com/rss
Cheers,
The Gaffer