While the NFLPA plans to appeal the defeat of its lawsuits against MLS, a new group has emerged that proposes to represent the players and stress collective bargaining rather than litigation.

A pair of Boston-area lawyers are researching the feasibility of taking over the representation of MLS players.

Steve Gans and Neil Jacobs have been discussing with agents, players and executives the formation of a new organization that would replace the players’ current representative, the MLS Players’ Association (MLSPA), a subsidiary of the NFL Players’ Association.

Concurrently, the NFLPA is holding meetings and conducting conference calls with players and agents to keep them informed of what the organization plans to do next.

MLSPA president John Kerr said an appeal will be filed contesting both of its losses in court.

Last December, a jury ruled that sanctioning of MLS by U.S. Soccer as the only American Division I soccer league did not violate U.S. antitrust statutes. Last April, Federal Court Judge George O’Toole threw out the NFLPA’s claim that the MLS single-entity structure was illegal.

Gans and Jacobs believe the time is right for the players and the league to bargain, and that only by forming an alternative to the NFLPA can the players make any headway.

“I’ve watched the history of labor movement in soccer and I don’t think it’s had a positive effect, either for the players or for the growth of the game,” said Gans. “The players have to be realistic. They’ve probably never had less leverage or bargaining position. But my hope is the owners as well will think with some perspicacity and realize that someone coming in with this kind of background and this kind of vision ultimately will be a positive thing.”

Gans is a former player at Cornell who was drafted by the MISL Baltimore Blast and worked in the team’s front office before embarking on a legal career that included work on Foxboro Stadium’s successful bid to host 1994 World Cup matches.

He also conducted contract negotiations for former Revs’ players Mike Burns and Paul Keegan without compensation.

PRIORITIES. “The three things players would look for right now is raising the minimum salary, which is an abomination six years into the league, with no cost-of-living adjustment; some form of limited free agency within the single-entity concept; and pursue the idea of some kind of retirement benefit,” said Gans.

“I think those are reasonable requests.”

Gans, who serves in an Of Counsel position with the Boston law firm of Broude & Hochberg, L.L.P., holds titles of president, chief operating officer and general manager in four publishing enterprises.

The unsuccessful NFLPA lawsuit and tales of acrimony between the league and players prompted him to seek a firm willing to take on the case load.

Jacobs is a senior partner at Hale and Dorr, a general practice firm with offices in four U.S. cities as well as London and Munich. He is chief counsel for the NBA Boston Celtics.

“There is a need for the players to get a collective bargaining agreement, and not being led to a higher-risk strategy, which at this point doesn’t appear to have worked,” said Jacobs. “If they would have won the litigation, it would have been a Pyrrhic victory at best. ‘Great. We’ve won!! Now what do we do?'”

“There’s a very great danger of permanent damage to the league if this lawsuit is won.”

Agent Richard Motzkin, who represents more than two dozen MLS players, said, “It’s long overdue for the players to sit down with MLS and begin negotiations that will lead to a favorable collective bargaining agreement.

“The lack of communication between the players and the league has been detrimental to the growth of the league, the growth of player salaries and the growth of the sport in general.”

Dan Segal, who represents about 20 players including Josh Wolff and Ben Olsen, concurs. “Who knows how much better off the players would be if the two sides spent the last four years discussing the issues rather than in litigation?” he said.

KERR’S VIEW. Kerr says he has the backing of the players representatives and the majority of the players themselves. The players voted for NFL representation in 1996; the lawsuit was filed in February, 1997.

Conducting contract negotiations for former Rev Mike Burns provided Steve Gans with some of the insight that has inspired him to consider forming a new organization to represent MLS players. Steve Gans is Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Jessica’s Biscuit/ecookbooks.com, a mail-order/Internet cookbook business, and New England Mobile Book Fair, one of the country’s venerable independent bookstores. He is President of Biscuit Books. He serves in an Of Counsel position with the Boston law firm of Broude & Hochberg. Gans worked for the MISL Baltimore Blast, for whom he briefly played in the early ’80s.

“Now that the trial is over, we’ll be going for single-entity, which we believe will be overturned on appeal,” said Kerr.

He also maintains his organization is willing to talk, although he talks of settlement, not negotiation.

“We’ve never shirked away from that,” he said. “We’ve made it clear to the league’s attorneys that we’re willing to discuss a settlement. But in the absence of a settlement, we have to go forward.”

Gans finds himself in the awkward position of selling his ideas to both sides so they can be brought together.

“The aim is to have a collective bargaining agreement, an arrangement that reflects mutuality rather than division,” he said. “We still have a lot of due diligence ahead of us. If I’m not welcome, I’m not going to devote a lot of my time. There are a lot of altruistic causes I believe in and this is one of them.

“If it’s clear I’m not welcome, ultimately, by either side, and I don’t see a way to help it or further that vision, we won’t pursue it.”

by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney.