For the analogy-prone lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, Arena Football League players are like movie stars and soccer players are like hubcaps.

“I’m sure General Motors would like to keep costs down by fixing the price of auto parts, but it’s illegal,” said Kessler, who represents the players in their antitrust lawsuit against MLS, in regard to the suit that is backed by the National Football League Players Association.

Here’s Kessler on Feb. 4 when he filed an antitrust suit for Arena Football League players: “It’s as if a group of movie studios got together and said, ‘Let’s fix the price of talent.'”

Twenty days later, the AFL owners responded by canceling their season, but let’s stick to soccer.

Soccer is not the car industry. Americans need cars. Pro soccer they can take or leave. And the owners, whom Kessler would like to portray as the Iron Heel crushing the opportunities of the American players, in fact had resurrected the pro game after 12 years in dormancy. They’ve employed hundreds of American soccer players who would get laughed out of higher-paying pro leagues in the rest of the world.

You want to play the analogy game? Don’t bite the hand that feeds you if you have nowhere else to eat.

Yes, the minimum salary is too low. But it would have been raised had the players opted to bargain instead of suing. Besides, MLS has a good record of improving salaries of low-wage players who prove themselves. There are dozens of examples, including Eddie Pope, Carlos Llamosa, Jason Kreis and Josh Wolff.

Still, MLS owners have taken a nine-figure loss and could pull the plug at any moment. It’s time for the players to get smart.

Unite and end the lawsuit. If you win, your lawyers will collect, but you may not.

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