DALLAS — On the opening day of the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) season, locked out referees picketed over a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA), the labor union representing professional referees in North America and Canada, announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that its members would be picketing outside the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) offices in New York City. This picket comes after MLS announced over the weekend the league was informed by PRO it would be locking out match officials after the PSRA voted down the proposed CBA.
MLS officials said in a release that the two organizations previously reached an agreement, which included the largest compensation increase in PRO referee CBA history, representing a 25% overall increase over 2023 when comparing salaries, game fees, benefits, plus the addition of business class travel for certain matches.
The Athletic reported that leadership for both groups agreed to the CBA, but the PSRA members overwhelmingly voted 95.8% "no."
The agreement would have made PRO members among the highest paid soccer match officials in the world, MLS officials added in the release. On Monday, PSRA said the claims made by MLS and PRO are misleading.
"The 100% figure you may have read is for guaranteed pay, but that's not at all the same as total pay," PSRA said on X. "One PSRA member recently shared their guaranteed pay in 2023 was only $3,100. Even a 100% increase on that inadequate amount would still be a ridiculously small number for a professional working at the highest level in North America. The total pay increases that MLS/PRO proposed are much smaller, in many instances less than 5% and for some officials as low as 2%. That doesn't even match inflation."
Later Wednesday afternoon, PSRA held a picket in Dallas, as well. WFAA spoke with two referees at the picket, Joe Dickerson and Allen Chapman. Chapman has been an MLS referee for over a decade, officiating two MLS Cups (2017, 2019). Dickerson has been an MLS referee since 2017, serving as the MLS All-Star Game referee in 2017 and the fourth referee for the 2022 MLS Cup.
Dickerson told WFAA the issue at hand doesn't solely lie on the compensation, but also their lack of benefits. Dickerson also noted the amount of unseen work that goes into being a professional referee.
"I don't think many people understand the amount work that goes into it," Dickerson told WFAA. "You have your game Saturday. Sunday is generally family time ... often tired from taking a long flight home. and then work begins again Monday morning, analyzing our game from Saturday. We're training two to three hours per day, physically, to prepare. Then, your assignment for the next game begins as soon as your analysis from the previous one ends. To study the teams on the next assignment and their tactics."
Chapman told WFAA the lockout has been frustrating and "he's pissed" to have to be standing in a picket having this conversation about contract negotiations.
Chapman has the unique experience of going through a lockout in the past. In 2014, MLS referees were locked out for 2 weeks before the CBA was settled using assistance from federal mediators. That lockout ended with a five-year deal, according to the Associated Press.
In a press release, PSRA said "MLS and PRO have chosen to mischaracterize the tentative agreement publicly, utilizing percentages rather than providing the necessary context." PSRA said the following information has been misrepresented:
- The highest pay increases would have benefited few officials, not the whole membership. Averages are deceiving when workers are paid so little. For example, some officials are paid $2,000 for off-field work commitments. Increasing these 100% to $4,000 does not capture the increases in the workload and does not remotely keep up with the growth around them. Meanwhile, in the last 5 years, all referees have endured an additional 10% more days on the road.
- When divided by team, the increase in wage costs in the rejected agreement would have been less than $40,000 per team in the first year of the agreement. This amounts to MLS/PRO putting less than $1M total into new wages in the first year for the workgroup of approximately 100 officials.
- During negotiations, PRO rejected every comparator to referees across the world, instead comparing the referees to camera operators in terms of their value to the game. Meanwhile, now MLS is saying their offer is “among the highest in the world.” Contrasted with the referees of Germany, who are paid approximately 100,000 Euro base per season and 5,000 Euro per match, MLS/PRO’s offer was not remotely close to those kinds of wages.
- MLS/PRO’s offer would have kept travel benefits for the 490+ regular season matches each year mostly unchanged from 5 years ago. PRO’s touted “improvement” would cover less than 4.5% of matches of the entire season.
- MLS/PRO’s offer did not provide a proper health care plan or cost-effective benefits to 70 of the officials, as compared to benefits offered by serious employers to professional employees – especially those who live, train and work as athletes.
The MLS Players Association (MLSPA) has released a statement in support of the MLS referee union on Tuesday, saying:
"We are extremely disappointed that the Professional Referees Organization (PRO) and Major League Soccer (MLS) have failed to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA). The lockout imposed on PSRA members and deployment of replacement referees is a step backward for MLS. All workers deserve a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the ability to collectively bargain in good faith.
On the eve of the 2024 MLS season. attention should be focused on the competition on the field. The use of replacement referees will not only negatively impact the quality and result of our matches, it may also jeopardize the health and safety of players. We urge PRO and MLS to return to the table and bargain in good faith with PSRA to work towards a timely and fair agreement."
Dickerson and Chapman told WFAA the endorsement from the MLSPA means the world to them. Dickerson added that the development of the working relationship with the players is one of the most rewarding parts of his job.
The MLS season kicked off Wednesday, Feb. 21, as Inter Miami defeated Real Salt Lake, 2-0.
Before the match, MLS Season Pass correspondent Taylor Twellman asked MLS Commissioner Don Garber about the lockout. Garber, in part, said "I don't even know what it is that they want at this point." Listen to his response in the interview here:
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