Once the clock strikes midnight, and with no extension or deal in place, Major League Baseball will likely see its ninth work stoppage, it's first in 27 years. The previous dispute came in 1994 after a player strike caused team owners to cancel the 1994 World Series.
After the 1994 work stoppage, it took baseball a few years to repair its image from a dispute between the billionaire owners versus millionaire players and if there is no deal tonight, it could set back baseball once again in the eyes of its fans and others. The problems remain the same, it's all about money!
"I look at it as a tug of war," said former MLB executive Marty Conway in an interview with CNBC. "There's a marker in the ground and ribbon on the rope. The winner is the one that pulls that ribbon to their side of the mid-line."
According to reports, the MLB Players Association wants players to enter free agency sooner in their career so that they can cash in on big contracts, and Major League Baseball team owners want to retain player control, install a salary floor and add more postseason games.
Back in February, the Associated Press reported that the average MLB average salary fell for the 3rd straight year. "The Major League Baseball Players Association said Thursday the 2020 average would have been $3.89 million if a full season had been played. That was down 4.2% from the 2019 average of $4.05 million and represented a 5.2% decrease from the record average of just under $4.1 million in 2017. The average started to slip in 2018, falling by $1,436. Because the pandemic caused players to receive roughly 37% of pay last year, the actual average plunged to $1.59 million, its lowest since 1998."
But owners could also argue losses over the last two years as games were played without spectators in the 2020 season, costing them billions. Research firm GlobalData also estimates the league lost $1.78 billion in ticket sales as games were partially restricted to start the 2021 season.
At a conference last October, Manfred expressed optimism about reaching an agreement by Wednesday's deadline, but that turned into skepticism.
"Time is becoming an issue. That's a challenge," Manfred said at MLB owner's meetings in Chicago on Nov. 18. "We've had challenges with respect to making labor agreements before and we've got a pretty good track record of overcoming those challenges."
Here's where things stand now
As of last night, there have been multiple CBA proposals however, there doesn't seem to be a deal or even framework of a deal in place. Major League Baseball wants to change the game and expand its audience by "speeding" up the length of the game by having a pitcher's clock, adding a player on second base to start extra innings. Additionally, Major League Baseball would like to see a designed hitter in both the NL and AL, which is supported by the MLBPA as it adds more "jobs," for players.
The union would like to change service time control of players and desires a luxury tax overhaul believing that more teams would be willing to spend on player salaries without harsh penalties.
It seems that all sides need to find common ground plain and simple. For example, if MLBPA wants to overhaul the luxury tax system they need to give something up, that's how it works. We all can't get what we want all the time. If the owners want longer control of players then they also have to give something up. In an interview with The Athletic, MLBPA negotiator Bruce Meyer said: "Players feel like the system has gotten out of whack and really gone too far in favoring the owners... The system isn't operating really the way it was traditionally intended to operate. And that's in part because of the groupthink that we see in front offices and analytics."
I think that the thinking of both the players, Major League Baseball, and the owners are flawed. The system shouldn't be designed to favor them, the system should be designed to favor the fan right?
The fans deserve so much better as they are the ones who all summer long head to stadiums across the country to spend money on food, beverages, tickets, apparel and so much more. Come tomorrow morning, when the lockout begins, it is the fans who are going to suffer if there is no baseball in the spring/summer.
The players will still get paid, the owners will still get money from apparel sales, MLB will still get its money from it's TV contract deals, and the fans are the ones who are stuck trying to figure out why billionaires and multimillionaires fight about getting more money.