MLS Commissioner Don Garber (left center) and MLS Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose (right center) shake hands after the joint announcement from the federal mediator’s office in Washington, D.C.(Jose Argueta/MLS)

There will be no players strike happening anytime soon. Major League Soccer and its players union agreed to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement on Saturday. The sides agreed to a new five-year deal.

The deal was reached just a few minutes before the teleconference today.

Many of the details have no been made except for the length of the deal and one vital piece regarding free agency.

There will be no free agency but instead what is being called (for now) a player re-entry draft. Basically it will help out of contract players be able to move around the league a little easier.

Once more details come out I’ll post them here.

Its been fairly quiet all week on the CBA discussions, the snow in the northeast can be blamed for that. But today we are getting some good news from some sources of Duane Rollins over at the 24th Minute.

According to Rollins MLS and the players have come to an agreement on two of the biggest issues in the CBA negotiations, issue of guaranteed contracts and an increase in the salary cap. The last hurdle appears to be over free agency though at this point.

The league feels that adding any sort of free agency would possibly inflate the market as Rollins points out.

Also, on the salary cap and what it will go to Rollins says it will increase from $2.3 million to somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.6 million. A slight increase, not a big one as some were hoping for here. This mainly just means most clubs can go out and sign one or possible two more quality players.

Right now this appears to be a small win for the players. If they some how get what they want in the form of free agency then it could be chalked up as a bigger win for them. The two week extension ends tomorrow so the next 24 hours or so will likely be interesting to watch. I still have a belief that a deal will be reached here and another extension won’t be necessary though with the bad weather it could happen.

The title really says it all. The league and players announced just about a hour ago that they have reached an agreement for an extension on the CBA negotiations. This extension was something a lot of us expected to come down.

The new deadline is now set at February 12.

What should be made of the extension? Honestly not much at all. The players never intended strike while MLS wasn’t ready to actually do a lockout when it could simply extend the negotiations. As I’ve mentioned before, they’ll get it done in time for the new season.

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Don Garber and the owners are hoping to get a CBA done. (Getty Images)

Its really turning into the final countdown here. Sunday is the final day of the current MLS CBA and if a deal isn’t reached between the players and the owners we could be faced with some serious issues on our hand.

Soccer America is reporting this morning that the two sides have been actively working on sorting out the issues. In fact the two sides met yesterday for a very long eight-hour meeting. For two sides that don’t see eye-to-eye at the moment an eight hour meeting is a long time to be in a room with one another.

We’ve been hearing whispers all week that things are getting better for the players side of things. More than likely they are giving up on some of the bigger issues in order to get something done on time. They know the owners aren’t going to cave into their every demands. Being that this is a World Cup year and transferring out of the league right now probably won’t happen the players just need something in order to get on the field in time.

I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see just a modest increase in the salary and the salary cap, along with some semi-guaranteed contracts (or two years guaranteed) to the table. There also is a possibility of some sort of retirement plan added to the table that seems to be a need of the players as well.

Freddie Ljungberg speaks and I listen, simple as that. (Getty Images)

I won’t lie to ya, anytime I see something Freddie Ljungberg says I believe it to be the truth. That is unless something morally tells me not to do so but 98% of the time I take his word for what it is. Today is no different.

We know of the “issues” between Ljungberg and his club Seattle from this week where he was missing from the start of training camp. I didn’t go all crazy over them because I knew he’d eventually come out and address any rumors on his blog…and today he did just that and more.

Earlier we had heard he wasn’t going to show up to camp because of the CBA issue with the players and the league. Well now we know, because he told us so, that he’ll show up on February 1st and that he hears some interesting news about the CBA.

Based on the latest news I’ve heard from both sides,  there wont be a lock out or strike on Feb 1. So from Feb 1 I will be with my team in Seattle trying to help them become the best team in America.

Now I know he said there hasn’t been an agreement made yet but seeing something like that from him or any player that has some knowledge of what is going on with the CBA negotiations lets me believe that a deal is very close here. A player saying there won’t be a strike or a lock out is big. Yes no deal in place yet but I firmly believe one will be here by the end of the week.

Don’t worry though about me, if Ljungberg told me to jump off a bridge I wouldn’t do it.

The deadline is only a few days away but it seems like the more that we hear about the CBA discussions between players and the league the more the two sides are coming together on the issues.

Today another player has come out and said that he is feeling optimistic about a new CBA. Seattle defender Jame Riley, who has at times been out spoken on the CBA and its issues is getting a better feeling on things, though like other players he isn’t saying a whole lot just yet.

He did however say the one main issue is player movement.

I know this isn’t much but to me its getting there between the two sides. Hearing more players say their are optimistic about this sounds like the two are close to figuring this thing out and not having any work stoppages.

This quote leads me to believe the tide is turning a good bit.

“We have advised our players to report to camp as planned. In the meantime, we will continue to meet with the league to determine if an agreement can be reached. As of this date, however, we have no agreement on a new CBA.”

My gut feeling is a deal is getting close to being done here. It may not be right on time but I don’t see a work stoppage happening here.