New York Yankees fans and fans all around the country are tiring of thinking if there will be an MLB baseball season this year and if there is when it might start. The complications in getting a deal done evolve around health concerns and money. On the money issue, the center of the discussion is on who losses the most money. One thing is for sure; baseball will not be a profitable situation for either party in the negotiations.
Since March, when MLB baseball was shut down, the offers and counteroffers to get the season going amid the coronavirus have mostly fallen on deaf ears. The only thing that appears to be solid is that a deal to have players accept a 50% pay reduction based on games played remains at the center of the deal. Owners wanted a revenue-sharing agreement in addition, but the players union called that dead on arrival. Later the union proposed a 114 game season to increase their pay, which was met with an owner’s veto.
Ultimately the owners will decide on how many games are played. As recently as Sunday afternoon, the owners suggested a season with as few as 40-50 MLB games and an expanded postseason as a way to complete a season that will see all revenue come from TV deals as there will be no fans in the stands and no concession revenues. This way the postseason wouldn’t conflict with other sports played later in the year when TV revenues would be greatly contracted.
In this writer’s view, this is the newest MLB bargaining chip to possibly get a deal done that is more in the liking of the owners. Call it a threat if you will, but the move could get the players back to a 60-80 game season. Every game beyond that will cause the owners to lose more money. The problem for most observers is that we can’t tell if progress is being made or if the sides are even further apart.
The health concerns seem to have now taken a back seat as MLB has, for the most part, addressed those concerns with a 67-page health initiative. To get a deal done and start baseball, both sides most compromise, and they must come to that compromise pretty quickly as the time is ticking on getting any kind of season accomplished.
With the cancelation of the season, neither side will benefit. With that in mind, I offer this opinion: There will be an MLB baseball season with 60-80 games played in the regular season and a three to four-week spring training preceding it. There will be an expanded postseason. Owners will go back to the agreed-upon 50% pay cut, based on the number of games played. This will allow the players not to have further cuts and at the same time reduce owner losses playing fewer games. With the season ending at about the same time as normal, the owners will also recoup some of their losses with normal playoff revenues.
At this point, no resolution will be a happy one for either entity and wherever emerges from the negotiations the season will have a giant asterisk after it. Amid all the problems Americans are enduring at the moment, a baseball season no matter what it will look like would provide some hope and diversion for all baseball fans. Owners, players, are you listening?