Editing Reserve clause (section)

==Soccer==
[[Major League Soccer]] (MLS) is a professional [[association football|soccer]] league representing the sport's highest level in both the [[United States soccer league system|United States]] and [[Canadian soccer league system|Canada]].<ref name=fraser>{{cite court |litigants=Fraser v. Major League Soccer |vol=01 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=1296 |court=1st Cir. |date=2002 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1441684.html}}</ref> MLS constitutes one of the [[Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|major professional sports leagues]] of the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/haydons-soccer-pitch/2013/mar/27/mls-most-diverse-americas-big-five-team-sports/|title=MLS is most diverse of America's big five team sports|access-date=September 20, 2014}}</ref>

Unlike the other four major leagues of North American professional sport, MLS still retains a reserve clause in every player's contract. For Major League Soccer, this was initially to prevent [[MLS#Teams|clubs]] from competing with each other for player contracts, an aspect of single-entity designed to protect it from antitrust lawsuits.<ref name="NY Post">{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2015/02/25/stoppage-time-an-mls-strike-over-free-agency-a-possibility/|title=Stoppage time: MLS players may strike over free agency|work=New York Post|date=25 February 2015|access-date=February 25, 2015}}</ref> MLS is a single entity in which each team is owned and controlled by the league's investors.<ref name="findlaw">{{cite court |litigants=Fraser v. Major League Soccer |vol=01 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=1296 |court=US 1st Cir. |date=March 20, 2002 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1441684.html |quote= MLS owns all of the teams that play in the league (a total of 12 prior to the start of 2002), as well as all intellectual property rights, tickets, supplied equipment, and broadcast rights. … However, MLS has also relinquished some control over team operations to certain investors. MLS contracts with these investors to operate…the league's teams}}</ref> The investor-operators control their teams as owners control teams in other leagues, and are commonly (but inaccurately) referred to as the team's owners.<ref name="Business of Soccer">{{cite web|url=http://www.businessofsoccer.com/2013/08/26/dempsey-transfer-highlights-mls-single-entity-economic-structure/|title=Dempsey Transfer Highlights Influence of MLS Single-Entity Economic Structure|work=Business of Soccer|date=26 August 2013 |access-date=September 20, 2014}}</ref> In MLS's view of the global professional sports marketplace, internal bidding leads to increased costs. The league takes an additional step, imposing the reserve clause for players indefinitely, making player rights a commodity within the team structure for long after the player has left the league.<ref name="US National Soccer Players Union">{{cite web|url=http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/2013/05/corner-the-reserve-clause.html|title=The Reserve Clause in Soccer|work=Labor Union|access-date=February 25, 2015}}</ref>