The SuperLiga final is in danger of being a boring affair, now that the players of both clubs have agreed to split the prize money between all of them win or lose.
A statement from the MLS Players Union states:
"The players on the Houston Dynamo and New England Revolution have agreed in advance of tomorrow night's SuperLiga final that they will split evenly the bonus money at stake in the game. The players have made this decision to show their solidarity and in protest of the league's violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with respect to the negotiation of bonuses for this tournament."The "protest" is in reference to MLS's decision to pay the players on the winning team just $150,000 to split among them, instead of the $1 million payout that the league has advertised as the reward.
Therefore, players on the two clubs will pool the $150,000 and the $100,000 given to the runners-up and split it evenly among the players on both squads. With nothing at stake in terms of money or qualification to additional tournaments, one can assume that the level of play may resemble a pick-up game over a couple of beers in the park. I wouldn't be surprised if the two sides started popping open some cold ones right at midfield.
You can't blame the players. This isn't a question of greed. In a league where some players are paid less than $20,000/year, money is still a great motivator. MLS should act fast to remedy the situation by agreeing to award the winning side the $1 million purse or by negotiating an acceptable payout with the union. Otherwise, they run the risk of turning the final of what has been a terrific tournament so far into a super joke.
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