MLS reaches agreement with referees to end month-long lockout

Major League Soccer referees will return to work this weekend after ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement that ends a month-long lockout, the league said Tuesday.

The seven-year agreement between the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) and Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) runs until 2030 and is the longest employment contract for match officials in MLS history, according to the league. PRSA is the union that represents referees who officiate MLS matches. Founded in 2012 in a partnership between MLS and US Soccer, PRO manages MLS match officials.

“We look forward to seeing the PRO match officials return this weekend, and we thank MLS players, coaches and clubs for their professionalism, and our fans for their support throughout the opening month of the season,” said MLS executive vice president Nelson Rodriguez said in a statement.

After the PSRA rejected a proposed new labor pact in mid-February, the PRO ruled out referees ahead of the 2024 MLS season opener with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. At the time, the PSRA said the failed ratification was caused by problems with the compensation and benefits PRO offered, as well as a lack of improvements in travel, scheduling and other quality of life issues.

“The skyrocketing growth of the MLS has significantly increased the demands on public servants both mentally and physically, and as such increased demands on both our professional and personal time,” PSRA President and Chief Negotiator Peter Manikowski said in a statement announcing the exclusion.

Replacement officials from US Soccer’s lower divisions, Jamaica, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Poland, Mexico and Italy were called in to cover the 37-day lockout. PRO last banned MLS referees due to labor talks in 2014, when replacement officials were brought in for the first two weeks of the season. That exclusion was largely without incident, but the early stages of this season were marked by mistakes.

As the weeks passed, managers and players began to express their frustrations with the quality of the replacement officials. “Twenty-two minutes extra, red card for the (Chicago) goalkeeper that is not given, their third goal came from a corner that should not have been scored, their first goal was offside,” CF Montréal head coach Laurent Courtois said afterwards. his team lost 4–3 to Chicago Fire. “Something was taken from my boys.”

On the opening weekend of the season, Mark Delgado was wrongly sent off for the LA Galaxy just minutes before Inter Miami scored the equalizer. The following week, a referee incorrectly awarded a throw-in that led to Philadelphia Union scoring against Sporting KC. “It’s just so infuriating when you work so hard for the time you put in and then a glaring mistake like that really costs you money,” Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell said after the match. “It’s difficult. It leaves a kind of sour taste in your mouth.”

PRO general manager Mark Geiger said in a interview with ESPN earlier this month that the replacement referees used this season did not meet the standard set by union officials in 2023.

As part of the new collective labor agreement, referees, assistant referees and assistant video referees will receive a pay increase. Under the previous CBA, civil servants with less than two years of experience were paid $50,000 per year the Athletics. That will rise to $85,000 under the new terms. Civil servants with more experience will see their pay rise to $142,000, up from the $108,000 they received under the old agreement.

By 2030, salaries for officials with less than 200 games of experience will increase to $110,000. Officials with 200 games or more experience receive $182,000 per year.

“We thank the hundreds of officials across the U.S. and Canada who stood in solidarity with us and showed their strength and professionalism,” Manikowski said in a statement Tuesday. “Together we have made much-needed improvements while demonstrating the value of having the best referees in Major League Soccer on the field.”