Players union condemns MLS’s Club World Cup prize money offer

Major League Soccer has submitted a new proposal to its players concerning how bonuses for the Club World Cup will be paid, a source familiar with negotiations has told the Guardian. The MLS Players’ Association, the union representing MLS players, later confirmed they had received a proposal.

According to the source, the league’s offer would see players earn 20% of a team’s performance-based prize money at each stage of the tournament with no agreed-upon cap on maximum payout. This means each group of MLS players competing in the tournament would collectively receive $200,000 for a group stage win (from a total prize of $1m), $400,000 for a group stage win (from a total prize of $2m per team, per win), $1.5m for making the Round of 16 (from a total prize of $7.5m) and so on.

The players’ current bonus structure, outlined in the MLSPA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league, allows MLS players to receive half of any prize or participation money awarded to a team competing in an outside tournament, but with a hard cap of $1m. With the Club World Cup’s $9.5m participation prize given to MLS teams, players had already maxed out their maximum payout and would have not been entitled to any more money for progress in the tournament.

Under the proposed terms, in the unlikely event an MLS team wins the Club World Cup, the players would be entitled to split a prize pool that would total up to $23.9m. Alternatively, if an MLS team loses all of its games at the Club World Cup, the players will still only receive a $1m collective bonus.

In their own statement, the MLSPA confirmed that the proposal had been delivered but said that the 20% payout is “below the international standard,” and also said that the league has attempted to “strong-arm” the players into CBA waivers that do not regard the Club World Cup.

The prize money structure was the subject of protest by the Seattle Sounders last weekend, with the squad wearing T-shirts in the warmup reading “Club World Cup Cash Grab.” The MLSPA later said in a statement that the league had “failed to bring forward a reasonable proposal.”

The source said that MLS had originally planned to propose the 20% arrangement on the following Monday, but then elected to delay delivering the proposal until Friday.

The Club World Cup kicks off on 16 June in cities across the United States. The Seattle Sounders, Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC are the three MLS clubs participating in the tournament.