Should MLS players feel unhappy with new tournaments?

Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan #1 saves the ball during the first half of the first leg match between Atlanta United FC and Club America in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, on Wednesday March 11, 2020. (Photo by Jacob Gonzalez/Atlanta United)

Credit: Brad Guzan

Credit: Brad Guzan

Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan #1 saves the ball during the first half of the first leg match between Atlanta United FC and Club America in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, on Wednesday March 11, 2020. (Photo by Jacob Gonzalez/Atlanta United)

Let’s say you are a player on a relatively successful MLS team in 2024.

You start looking at your playing calendar.

There are 34 regular-season games. OK, used to that.

There are as many as eight games in the new Leagues Cup. OK, not used to that but there is supposed to some bonus money. But unlikely to receive enough of that because clubs from Mexico likely will dominate.

There are as many as nine games in the Champions League. OK, unlikely but we will see. Plus, there’s a small pool of $500,000 that goes to the winning team to split as it sees fit. But, again, unlikely to receive that because Mexico dominates.

There are as many as six games in the U.S. Open Cup.

That’s a total of 57 games.

Wait, what?

Oh, and the MLS playoffs. That’s as many as four more games.

That brings the total to as many as 61 games.

Funny, my paycheck hasn’t gotten any bigger even though the games have almost doubled.

The rosters haven’t grown in size to accommodate the glut of games.

The playing season hasn’t expanded. Instead of averaging 0.79 games per week (34 games in 43 weeks) my team could average 1.42 games per week.

To be fair, a moderately successful MLS team will play its 34 games, plus probably four in the Champions League, two in the U.S. Open Cup and let’s say three in the playoffs. That total is 43, or 1 per week.

My body may not be able to do this.

The collective bargaining agreement runs through 2027, so nothing is changing until then.

Nothing in the information provided by CONCACAF, MLS or LIGA MX in its press releases regarding the new Leagues Cup and expanded Champions League mentioned anything about expanded bonuses or tournament monies.

If I’m that MLS player I’m upset. Very, very upset.

Discussions may be in the works to expand tournament pay and bonuses for the players. Of course, there will also be twice as much work for most personnel in clubs to make all of these games happen, too.

Will the tournaments be fun? It’s hard to say. Mexico dominates and it seems likely to continue dominating until MLS owners decide as a larger group that they want to compete. That won’t happen until the next round of CBA negotiations.

Could these tournaments goose the broadcast monies MLS hopes to receive in its next negotiations? Possibly. Players are supposed to receive a larger slice of that. But, again, so many games.

I hope more answers come out soon about how to fairly compensate not only the players but everyone whose work will increase because of this increase in games.