For New York Yankees fans and fans of the summer pastime all over the country, you’re going to have to continue to wait to find out if there will be baseball this season. Overjoyed owners accepted the new finalized MLB plan to start baseball on Monday. Yesterday the plan was presented to the MLBPA (players association) for their approval. However, apparently the owners didn’t get the memo. Before the talks even started, the MLBPA said that revenue sharing was a non-starter.
Back in March, the players agreed to a plan that would limit their pay based on how many games were played. The owners never discussed what they call revenue sharing. In other words, that the players would also share in the losses the owners would endure from not having fans in the stand and purchasing high priced hot dogs.
Before the afternoon teleconference MLBPA Executive Director, ex-Yankee Tony Clark, let MLB know that a salary cap was a non-starter. The owners see it as revenue sharing. The players see it as a salary cap, something they have rejected in the 1970s. Every major sport has a salary cap agreement except MLB.
However, yesterday’s meeting didn’t even get that far. According to sources, the financial part of the deal wasn’t even discussed yesterday as they dealt with player health and other issues. That being the case, is it doubtful that any agreement will be reached today either. Ex-Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira said yesterday that the players should accept the deal for the benefit of baseball fans everywhere.
Fans see this as Millionaires fighting with Billionaires while leaving baseball fans in the dust. There is no surety that a compromise can be reached, which would result in fans missing an entire year of baseball, something that would take several years to come back from.
If the plan were adopted it would set the MLB plan in motion to start the baseball season by early July in a season that will be about 82 games, with an expanded postseason of at least 26 games, taking the sport into November. The plan also calls for games to be played in home stadiums when possible with no fans in the stands. It gets rid of the All-Star game and Home Run Derby. Under the agreed-upon plan, the players will accept less pay than agreed upon in March for a shortened season due to lost revenue with no fans in the stands.
Players will need at least three weeks of spring training 2.0 to become game ready. This means that that training should start by June 10th.
The season would shape up like this. There will be three geographic divisions, the East, Central, and West. Teams like the New York Yankees will play their traditional rival Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Tampa Bay Rays. Those teams will all face each other in 4, 3 game series. The season for the New York Yankees would also be 2, 3 game series with the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, and the Florida Marlins.
The MLB season will also feature many possibly seven-inning doubleheaders. The sides need to agree to a universal DH and pay reductions for umpires. There are many other details that will be released, including how the postseason will be expanded. The expansion will allow teams to recoup some of the losses experienced by fewer games being played in the regular season. One must remember is that even when the plan is accepted, there will no doubt be many amendments to the deal before opening day. In the worst-case scenario, the sides will not come together and the season will be canceled.
Stay with EmpireSportsMedia.com for all the latest details as they become available.