Newest MLS CBA set to extend through 2027 season

In news that is actually important for Sacramento Republic even if it won’t fully matter until 2023, MLS and the MLS Players Association announced Friday night they had a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, heading off a threat from MLS team owners to lockout players.

The newest CBA is set to run through the 2027 season, one of the main concessions the team owners were looking for. As a result, that will be the CBA (theoretically) on file when Sac Republic enters MLS in 2023, so they won’t have to worry about lockout or strike threats, thankfully.

In exchange, the players reportedly received improved free agency terms — which will kick in after Republic FC are in the top flight — and some improved financial terms. Now, the full MLSPA membership has to vote to ratify the CBA, as does the full MLS team owner pool. I think that includes Sac Republic’s ownership.

Labor relations are extremely important but truthfully generally very boring to cover or follow. That this was the third separate CBA agreement made in a year in MLS made this go-round far more tedious, as was the threat of a lockout. And honestly, if there had been a lockout that dragged on, I’m not sure how that would have impacted USL — it’s possible MLS-owned teams may have sat out USL competition while a lockout continued — but we don’t have to think about worst-case scenarios, and hopefully we don’t have to think about CBA negotiations until 2028 now.

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