Columbus Crew players say they are unified over the yet to be agreed collective bargaining agreement between MLS and the Players' Union.

Crew players Brian Carroll, Danny O'Rourke and William Hesmer who acts as the Crew's representative have spoken out about the fact the players want their rights, and it doesn't necessarily mean more money.

Carroll kicked it off by saying a strike looked likely at this stage as the league had not yet moved on the player's requests.

"I'm not really optimistic at this stage," midfielder Carroll said Monday. "Things are not going well. Guys are unified and ready to do what we need to do if we're not going to be treated better than we have been. Guys are fed up and it's about time players are treated better. That just means rights. We're not really talking about money here. We'll see what happens, but I'm prepared to do what I have to do."

O'Rourke added: The league is trying to make it into a monetary thing, so it's pretty comical when they bring that up. I've had numerous people that have read about the basic rights that we want as players and they say, 'You guys didn't really have that already?' It's kind of a joke. We're hoping the league realizes they are treating us bad and they step up."

And goalkeeper Hesner wanted people to know that the players should not be the bad guys in this situation.

"They're always going to make us look like the villains. Any athlete who argues for more money to play a game is always going to look bad," Hesmer said. "We've said over and over again that this is not about money. This is about basic rights and them being more transparent in the way they do business."