CARSON, Calif. -- Todd Dunivant, a member of the executive board of the MLS Players Union, says the organization has sent its first proposal for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to MLS, but has yet to receive a counterproposal from the league.
Speaking ahead of Sunday's MLS Cup final between the L.A. Galaxy and the New England Revolution, the Galaxy defender also said that he wasn't surprised by comments from MLS commissioner Don Garber stating that the league is losing $100 million a year.
"I wouldn't expect him to say anything else," he said. "They're going to focus on their losses and we're going to focus on the revenues. It's pretty simple. I wouldn't expect them to say that they're making tons of money and things are going great. I think you say what you need to say."
The current CBA is set to expire on Jan. 31, 2015, and MLSPU head Bob Foose told ESPNFC.com in a series of interviews that free agency and increased salaries are at the top of the union's wish list. MLS, with its single-entity structure by which all player contracts are with the league instead of individual clubs, has long opposed any form of free agency.
Dunivant said the proposal was submitted to the league two to three weeks ago. He added that after the union's leadership meets next week in Las Vegas, the two sides will meet in New York at the end of December, though it's likely that this will be merely the first of many meetings.
"I know how these things go and I know how the last one went," he said. "There's not movement until the final hour. I wouldn't expect much until February."