Salary Cap Rejection Puts Major Soccer League in Jeopardy : MSL: Owners have vowed to fold teams if union turns down proposal.

SAN DIEGO —  As of late Thursday, the Major Soccer League still existed.

That might have changed by now.

John Kerr, head of the MSL Players’ Assn., on Thursday informed Commissioner Earl Foreman that the union rejected a proposal to, among other things, reduce the team salary cap by $105,000 to $550,000.

The proposal was submitted July 25 to Kerr with an ultimatum--accept it by Thursday, the deadline for teams to submit their letters of credit, or the league will fold.

As of Thursday night, however, no members had carried out that threat. No clubs had posted their letters of credit, either.

Sockers Managing General Partner Oscar Ancira said his franchise is still in business.

“I hope this thing is settled soon,” he said. “Or I’m going to be losing my hair. I have appointments scheduled all next week. (Today) I’m supposed to meet with a sponsor. I have a meeting scheduled with our marketing committee, which I’ve already spent $100,000 setting up.”

When asked about the league’s status, Foreman said, “The league is currently negotiating with the players’ association, which is currently negotiating through the newspapers.”

Foreman was particularly miffed that Kerr’s office faxed a new proposal to at least two newspapers Thursday evening. Foreman said he had not seen the proposal himself and added that he did not want to hear what was in it.

“Dealing with the union has been a laborious, frustrating endeavor conducted in a very unbusinesslike manner by the players’ association,” Foreman said. “Communication is almost nonexistent and returned phone calls are unheard of.

“My biggest concern is that this will be a sufficient turn-off for some of the tenuous members in the league to just say ‘Forget it.’ ”

Foreman also contended that Kerr disregarded the results of a players’ poll. Foreman said he heard that a majority of players voted to accept the owners’ proposal unconditionally and that representatives from Tacoma and Dallas faxed a letter to Kerr reminding him of the vote.

Sockers goalie Victor Nogueira said Sockers players, too, voted to accept the salary cut and that they also have sent a fax to Kerr.

One MSL source indicated a move was afoot to remove Kerr immediately and replace him with Joe Papaleo, goalie for the Sidekicks. Papaleo did not return a phone call.

Kerr, however, appeared to be acting in the players’ interest when he sent a new proposal by fax to the league--the one Foreman said he had not received as of 7 p.m.

Kerr’s proposal calls for a $600,000 cap. It also conditionally agrees to several proposals previously made by owners.

The union agreed to:

* A 16-man roster for each team as long as there are no more than 40 games in the season and no more than four preseason games. Last year, rosters stood at 18 for the 52-game season.

* A new maximum individual salary of $60,000, down from $72,000 last season.

* A reduction in the owners’ letter of credit from $500,000 to $350,000 as long as $325,000 was earmarked for the players union.

The players also asked for the elimination of fines for misconduct penalties during games.

Ancira received a copy of the players’ new proposal at his South Bay business.

“It seems like the players’ union is kind of agreeing to what we asked for,” Ancira said.

Owners contacted in Wichita, Tacoma and Baltimore stuck to their guns and said they would close shop if their proposal was not accepted.

Bill Oliver, managing general partner of the Wichita Wings, was reached by Coach Roy Turner.

“I’m sorry, Roy,” Oliver told his coach, who spearheaded a drive that sold 5,000 season tickets and saved the franchise a month ago, “but you know what the next step is.”

Said Fred Enslow, chairman of the board of the Tacoma Stars, “The owners said it was all or nothing. Since it’s nothing, I suppose we’ll all shut down.”

Ancira said MSL owners were adamant at last week’s owners’ meetings in Chicago. “They were saying, ‘Screw it: $550,000 or we close our doors,’ ” Ancira said.

Kerr said players’ salaries have nothing to do with the league’s financial woes.

Kerr related an anecdote of a similar confrontation he had when he was head of the North American Soccer League player union and when the late Howard Samuels was the commissioner.

“I used to tell Howard that players’ salaries were not his problem,” Kerr said. “That his problem was revenue. Well, after the league folded, Howard came up to me and said, ‘I realize now what you have been telling me is true. You know, if we didn’t pay the players anything, we still would have lost money.’ ”

Sockers midfielder Brian Quinn said the players are tired of bearing the brunt of the owners’ financial problems.

“The owners have told us it has got to be $550,000 or nothing,” Quinn said. “That’s a threat, not negotiations.

“I don’t dispute that the owners are losing money. But every time they take money from us, they suffer more losses. They should have realized by now there is no correlation between salary cap cuts and their ability to cut losses.”

The league operated without a cap until the 1987-88 season, when it was established at $1.27 million. The following year it was reduced to $875,000 and before last season it was cut again to $655,000.

“It was a three-year collective bargaining agreement,” Kerr said. “Three years or until the owners decide they need new concessions.”

An announcement from the league on its future was expected today.