Socker Negotiations Await Decision on Deferred Pay

The Sockers have put contract negotiations on hold until league owners decide whether deferred performance bonuses and salary payments count toward next year’s reduced salary cap of $900,000 per Major Indoor Soccer League team.

A conference call among the 11 owners is scheduled for Monday to decide what is a crucial matter for the Sockers, who have 12 players who could receive performance bonuses after this season and three highly paid players (Juli Veee, Fernando Clavijo and Gus Mokalis) whose contracts expire Sept. 30.

“If they (deferred bonuses and deferred salary payments) count toward next season’s salary cap, it will be impossible for us to operate,” Ron Cady, Socker president, said. “It would be devastating to San Diego.”

Cady said deferred bonuses and salaries on the Sockers add up to a “big six-figure number.” If the deferred bonuses had not been approved by the league before the 1987-88 season, the Sockers would have violated the $1.275-million cap.

Now if deferred bonuses and salary payments are applied toward the $900,000 cap, the Sockers will have even more trouble than they anticipated keeping five highly paid players with guaranteed contracts. They are Branko Segota, Brian Quinn, Zoltan Toth, Brian Schmetzer and Jim Gorsek (the only one of the five without a no-trade clause).

In a preliminary discussion during a conference call among owners held this week, Cady said, 8 of the 10 owners said they believe deferred bonuses should not count toward the $900,000 cap, reduced from $1.275 million in an agreement reached between the owners and players just before a midnight deadline April 15.

As for salaries that extend beyond the final pay period of this season--June 30--Cady said one proposal calls for the salary payments from July 1 through Sept. 30 counting toward the new salary cap if the player is re-signed but not counting if the player is not re-signed.

“I’m not for that, but it is a compromise,” Cady said.

Socker Notes

Kansas City goalkeeper Alan Mayer will start Game 1 of the Western Division finals Saturday night in San Diego because Ed Gettemeier suffered ligament damage on the middle finger of his left hand in the third playoff game against the Lazers last Wednesday. . . . Socker midfielder Branko Segota, who missed the last three playoff games against Tacoma with a pulled quadricep, did not practice Wednesday after practicing Tuesday. He is “still a long way from being ready,” Coach Ron Newman said. Hugo Perez is expected to play Saturday, Newman said. Perez missed the last two games against Tacoma with a pulled quadricep. Both Zoran Karic (pulled lower abdomen muscle) and Keder (partially torn knee ligaments) are practicing, but Newman said that after missing so many games, they “need to get back in the rhythm.” . . . Socker president Ron Cady is one of five owners on the Oversight Committee, which will meet with MISL Commissioner Bill Kentling and league officials Tuesday and Wednesday in New York. The other owners are Bert Wolstein of Cleveland, Claudia Best of Tacoma, Chris Clouser of Kansas City and Bill Oliver of Wichita. Issues that will be discussed include the relocation of the league office from New York to Kansas City or Dallas, marketing proposals and an analysis of the league. “For us, it’s important to prospective investors to know what is going on,” Cady said. When the Sockers filed for Chapter 11 under the bankruptcy code on April 25, the management also said it was looking for new investors. “Nothing has materialized that I can talk about,” Cady said. “We’ve had a number of inquiries, but no serious inquiries.” . . . John Kerr, the MISL Players Assn. director, is scheduled to meet with Kentling today to discuss an interpretation of the right of first refusal agreed to in the new collective bargaining agreement, Cady said.