June 6th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 I have been optimistic that Major League Baseball would eventually reach an agreement with the MLB Players Association to play a shortened 2020 regular season, followed by a postseason similar to the college baseball world series playoff format. Sure, MLB made a ridiculous first proposal to the Players Association, and the players responded, as expected, with their own absurd counteroffer. But with their respective positions established, it was time to get down to business and hammer out a consensus agreement and get the players into Spring Training-2 by the middle of June.
Simple: Get it done and let’s play ball.
But rather than continue to play the negotiating game and making a more reasonable counteroffer in an effort to move toward a give-and-take middle ground agreement, MLB shutdown bargaining, informing the union that it would not be responding with another proposal.
What happened? Why would MLB force an impasse without attempting good faith bargaining beyond its first proposal? Perhaps MLB commissioner Rob Manfred believes that he has the unilateral authority to stop bargaining, implement a reduced regular schedule, and pay players the prorated salaries based upon games played?
Or does Rob Manfred have a significant internal problem with the lowest revenue baseball franchises (in order of lowest 2019 revenue): Miami Marlins; Oakland Athletics; Kansas City Royals; Baltimore Orioles; Tampa Bay Rays; Toronto Blue Jays; Pittsburgh Pirates; Detroit Tigers; Cincinnati Reds; Arizona Diamondbacks; Chicago White Sox; Cleveland Indians; Milwaukee Brewers; Minnesota Twins; and San Diego Padres. Revenue for each of those 15-teams was below $300 million in 2019. With the projected decrease in each team’s 2020 revenue and the limited (if any) revenue sharing dollars allocated to them from the wealthy clubs like the New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers, the owners of those franchises may be the metaphorical “tail wagging the (MLB) dog.”
Manfred may be faced with an internal negotiation that is much more difficult than bargaining with the union. Voting together, the 15-low revenue teams would have the ability to control the ratification process for any collectively bargained agreement reached with the union; and, continuing to negotiate with the players would be futile, and perhaps considered bad faith bargaining, as long as MLB ownership is divided.
If there is division amongst the MLB owners, what would it take to get their collective support? What else — M-O-N-E-Y! How much? One can only guess, but a starting point for low revenue teams may be the amount each received in 2019 from revenue sharing, roughly $15 to $20 million each.
But wait! If there are no revenues from fans and reduced TV revenues, where would that money come from?
According to a report by J.C. Bradbury, a professor at Kennesaw State University who focuses on the economics of sports, MLB has continued to increase revenues from new non-player revenue sources such as selling BamTech for a massive windfall, partnering with casinos, Korean conglomerates, and various other corporate partners that pay Major League Baseball a lot of money that is not included in teams’ operating revenue.
Whether or not Rob Manfred has a divided ownership group is only conjecture at this point, but it would not be surprising.
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GREAT piece, Jesse!
On Twitter this morning many of the so-called baseball experts are saying that a July 4 return date is all but impossible. I know no one wants to hear it, but it’s time to throw in the towel on 2020 and start focusing on next week’s Draft and on 2021.
Yep, call it a wrap. There will be no baseball in 2020 and as much as I love to be entertained by the Dodgers, I just might have to think about a new hobby like an RV, national parks, fishing and seeing America through the four seasons.
Greed on all sides. I’ve posted on other blogs about how the exorbitant costs for a family to see a game (tickets, food, parking for a family of four= $300-400 for a decent seat) is insane and now a chance to bring some normalcy in an otherwise chaotic world is within the owners and players grasp, but it seems they will let it slip away.
$30 million a year to play a freaking game with guaranteed contracts while cops are getting bottles, rocks thrown at them and even being shot for wearing a uniform and trying to maintain social order. Nurses and doctors and EMT’s all being exposed to COVID-19 while doing some heroic work, a construction worker falls to his death at SoFi Stadium all while the entitled MLBPA and owners can’t come to an agreement to return America’s past time.
Makes you shake your head and wonder what this alternate universe will deal all of us next.
As a faithful Dodger fan, your response is seriously missing important information. Maybe you need to listen to this weeks “Joe and Orel” podcast.
What a reply! I couldn’t agree more, as we constantly see families and small business owners can’t pay their bills/mortgages/rent. Many are losing their homes due to this virus, @MLB arguing over money??????
Establish a payroll for all teams.
Maybe 45-50 million for 30 players.
Then establish who is willing to play. Use your triple A players. Union would never allow it.
Plan 2
Negotiate with the cities to allow With social distancing plan to open stadiums for ticket sales to increase potential revenue. This would help increase revenue and therefore payroll.
Just some ideas.
That is exactly what is needed by all parties in these negotiations, innovative thinking with a common goal to make a season possible. But are the voices of innovative thinkers being drowned-out by small market owners who will be better off financially if there is no season?
Why did MLB and the Players Association give up on a plan to play the season in Florida, Arizona, and possibly Texas? If there will be no fans in the stadiums why not use the spring training facilities and the major league stadiums in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, and Tampa for all of the games? The summer heat would not be an issue at any of those major league stadiums, and at the spring training facilities games could be played in mid-morning followed by night games. There would be plenty of time to sanitize clubhouses and dugouts between games.
I seem to be much more optimistic than some of you. I guess because I’ve seen how MLB negotiates. It is true that some of the teams might be influencing the process, but to what end? No games? That doesn’t really make sense to own a club and want it to be idle. Rather they are all working behind the scenes to come up with a workable plan.
Hey if all of us can see it why think that MLB and the player’s assoc can’t?
The owners are no doubt rethinking how they can come together. I suggest that if players, like David Price, help the minor leaguers than the owners can help each other. And maybe in the future they either eliminate poor teams or come up with a better profit sharing plan.
You make excellent points, and I’ll remain optimistic that they will get this worked out. I don’t see how MLB can cancel a season while NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLS are playing
I agree, Jesse. I remain the eternal optimist and hope to see some baseball played this year. Keep the faith.
As always, great to hear from you!