With three hours remaining until Major League Baseball’s stated end of February deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement that avoids disruption to the start of the regular season, there seems to be some progress in negotiations. The parties continue to talk deep into the evening, and various reports suggest the league has moved in the Players Association’s direction on a few key areas.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (on Twitter) that the league has offered more player-favorable provisions than it had been in the past on issues like the league minimum salary, the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players and the competitive balance tax. Passan cautions that there hasn’t been enough movement for a deal to be imminent, but it’s possible the sides make enough progress tonight that the league pushes back its deadline to avoid game cancelations to tomorrow so they could continue to negotiate.
As has been the case throughout negotiations, a primary goal of the league’s is to expand the postseason field. MLB has sought a 14-team field; the MLBPA has agreed to go beyond the current-10 team playoff format but has drawn the line at 12 teams thus far. The league has put forth two concurrent proposals to the union on the league minimum and the bonus pool, reports Evan Drellich of the Athletic (Twitter link). In the event of a 12-team playoff, the league is offering an approximate $675K minimum salary and would agree to set aside around $20MM for the bonus pool; if the union agreed to a 14-team postseason, the league would agree to a minimum in the $700K range with approximately $40MM for the bonus pool.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that MLB has also lowered its desired penalties for clubs that exceed the luxury tax threshold. Specifics of MLB’s latest proposal aren’t clear, but the league has pursuit heightened penalties for tax payors in prior asks. The union has been vehemently opposed to that possibility, fearing stronger penalties would cause the CBT thresholds to function more akin to a salary cap. Andy Martino of SNY reports that the league is still seeking higher penalties than existed in the previous CBA but has apparently moved closer towards the status quo than it’d sought in prior offers.
It’s unquestionably a positive development for fans anxiously awaiting any meaningful progress in CBA talks. However, it’s important for fans not to put the cart before the horse. Drellich adds that a deal is still “not close,” and it’s certainly not a given that the momentum will continue to roll towards an agreement in the coming days. A union source tells reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) the parties are “still very far apart on key aspects” needed to reach an agreement.
Indeed, the league’s offers on the minimum and pre-arb bonus pool are more favorable to players than their prior offers (particularly those tied to a 14-team playoff), but they’re still shy of the players’ targets. The union has been seeking a $775K minimum next season that’d rise by $30K each year of the CBA term. The MLBPA has sought a $115MM pool for pre-arb players, $75MM more than the league’s offer tied to a 14-team postseason.
It’s also unclear where specifically the parties stand on the CBT. The union has been seeking a spike to $245MM for the base luxury tax threshold next season, while the league’s latest known offer was at $214MM. It’s possible MLB has expressed some willingness to raise the lowest CBT number, but it’s doubtful they’ve agreed to jump all the way to $245MM. The union has also sought a slight expansion in the number of players eligible for arbitration; the MLBPA is seeking Super Two eligibility for 35% of players with between two and three years of service time, while MLB has steadfastly refused to entertain any jump over the status quo of 22% in that bucket.
Where things go from here remain very much up in the air. It doesn’t seem likely a new CBA will be finalized tonight, but it does at least appear there’s a chance they’ll progress enough to avoid the league formally declaring the cancelation of regular season games. Martino tweets that the sides are preparing for the possibility of negotiations carrying on “deep into the night.”
I wonder how many subscribers MLB TV has lost over the past few days.
Very few, would be my guess. MLB TV subscribers are mostly hardcore fans, and we tend to just lay down and take it and wait for games to start up again. The casuals—who will be turned off by this stupid effing lockout, for sure—weren’t their subscriber base anyway.
“The union is seeking to maintain the status quo in penalties while raising the base threshold significantly.”
In other words: The union is going for all take and no give from their side. What a surprise! That is not negotiating. That is demanding. No wonder the owners imposed a lockout. Demands like that can only be backed up by the union under the threat of a potential strike at the worst time anyway. The owners might as well lock them out and get it out of the way now. What kind of a way is that to negotiate unless you are planning on striking? “I want you to give me stuff. I don’t want to give you anything. How does that sound? Oh… You don’t like that? You must be greedy. Even though I’m the one asking for more and demanding you take less I have decided you are the greedy one!”
This…
Is an incredibly stupid comment.
Are you an owner by chance?
This comment is more suspicious than a Russian political ad.
its not his first and wont be his last
Manfred, is that you?!
No politics
When did the union ever “move closer” to MLB’s ask? Never. Only one party is negotiating in good faith here and it’s obviously not the union. MLB is offering the players a lot more of what they asked for and the union is still bickering about how many players have to play in October. I thought players wanted to play in October. Isn’t that what they play all season for?
The Union started out with a reasonable offer, one that doesn’t even keep players’ share of total revenue as high as it was several years ago. The flaw with that strategy is that players can’t compromise very far without ending up with a real stinker of a deal. Owners are trying to break the union and are in serious danger of killing the golden goose, just to find out there is no gold inside the dead bird. If only they didn’t need the players, the owners’ strategy would be brilliant.
So, Hammer, it seems as the two sides are about to sign a deal, you’re changing your narrative.
@RobM: What are you talking about? What narrative did I have and what did I change? And where are you getting “the two sides are about to sign a deal” from? All I’m reading on Twitter is players saying they are not about to sign a deal.
But the least subscribers can do is cancel their automatic renewal so that MLB doesn’t get any money until the games begin.
Not many because. how many buy this time of year? Renewals likely pick up the closer to the start of the season.
Note to both sides, just get it done already while limiting the hurt to the fans. Maybe a have a half price system for the coming season…reality is with a new deal they bump the cost $20 bucks…
Actually renewals picked up today ironically.
Yeah, and I canceled my auto renewal yesterday. There was a whole string of posters who did the same.
Auto-renewal won’t happen until there’s a CBA in place and the lockout is ended. The league announced that today.
Yes. I’m sure they did announce it today when they realized how many people went in and clicked the “off” option on autorenew. I’ve seen many mention it here, but it was huge on Twitter recent days. The problem they’ll have now is getting all the people who clicked off to renew. That’s the reason to do it no matter what they announced. You’ll get a better offer, or maybe you’ll simply decide you don’t need it this year.
Yee-up, @Hayes.
Man, it’s snow goose season out here. Lots of truck time. I should be listening to spring training games, Right Now. Not being able to is pretty annoying. It ruffles the backdrop of one of my little traditions, or whatever.
But.
The Yanks & Big Blue are just ingrained in me. As soon as the games are back, I will be watching. Bet.
Are there many out there using one of those firesticks where you get basically every channel/streaming service on earth for $10/month, including all the sports packages?
I’m shocked but obviously stand corrected. I just know in my case I have to wait to see if T-Mobile offers the free benefit like in past years. After paying for so many years, it became free for T-Mobile customers. One thing I wish the league and cable subscribers would do is allow non-market fans to ala carte get local channels. I’d get the full NESN broadcast even if Hockey for example was blacked out since I don’t get the Bruins or NHL package. I want the pre and post game shows as well as the non-blocking when a team plays a local market. Radio is already allowed so why not TV?
No word about negotiations in the last half hour. Some say they are far apart. Some say they are getting closer. The question is, is 30 minutes of silence a good thing or a bad thing? We are right at the deadline. Reporters are saying “no news is good news.”
They are back in the meeting room. After the last 13-minute session they would not give reporter any information. No one from either side would talk to the reporters during their last break. Now they are meeting again. It actually does sound like no news is good news. Silence before the big news? When they disagreed before neither side could stop talking about it. Now they are both being totally silent for the first time.
The last meeting is likely over. They just had a 5- minute meeting and stopped. I doubt they finished it in 5 minutes but speculation is MLB will extend their deadline into tomorrow and finish it then. Who knows? I am here at the meetings with the reporters. Very interesting experience. It was the last meeting MLBTR reported on. Then the owners had a 38 minute side session. Then the owners brought the player reps back in. Then they met for 5 more minutes. Then it ended. Prior to the 5 minute meeting, reports were that the sides were much closer. They could possibly hold another meeting tonight. The last session was session number 7. If they hold another meeting tonight it will be session number 8 of the day.
Everyone is saying the fundamental economics are agreed upon. The only disagreement now is the owners want 14 playoff teams and the players only want 12. It seems the owners offered 1 package to the players for 12 teams and one package for 14 teams. The players want the 14 team package but are currently saying only 12 teams. They are trying to get a little more out of the owners for those extra to playoff teams. That seems to be the last holdup. 12 playoff teams or 14. A deal should be very close with at least 12 playoff teams next season.
Bleacher Nation is still giving updates for anyone interested. Last one was about 15 minutes ago 7:10 west coast time.
You’re better than the news outlets!
The last CBA they worked through the night and announced the agreement shortly after 5:30 am. It wouldn’t surprise me if they work through the night, or extend, get some rest, and hammer out the final details tomorrow.
I remain optimistic, but I’ve been optimistic all along.
Last update 8pm west coast. Still lots of resistance to 14 team playoff from the players.
They have continued meeting. They had an 8th session and then a 9th session. Now they just finished their 10th session. 8th meeting was 5 minutes. 9th meeting was 5 minutes. 10th meeting was 10 minutes. We are waiting for the 11th meeting or an announcement. The idea they were going to stop after 7 was clearly untrue. It looks as if they are really trying to get this done tonight. The 12 team vs. 14 team playoff is still the biggest holdup. Many players have gone on Twitter to voice their displeasure with the idea of 14 playoff teams. MLB has said that’s fine but the players need to take the smaller package without the 13th and 14 teams. That’s what they seem to be going over now. Players want the 14 team package with only 12 teams. Owners are saying they only get the 14 team package with 14 teams. I think it will either be a slightly bigger 12 team package or a slightly bigger 14 team package. I would guess it is going to be the biggest package possible at 14 teams and the players will get a little more than the owners initially offered for the 14 team package. I think it is at least a 50% chance this deal gets done before tomorrow morning.
Where are you getting this from, @Nebraska?
11th session just began. I’m in Jupiter, Florida, Ducky. I’m with the reporters. I almost went to New York but then I found out the players asked for a location switch.
Good stuff. Thanks. Good to see you on the board.
Deal might be done. Some people are headed back over like there will be a 12th session but other people are saying MLB is agreeing to 12 team playoffs. Whatever happens, I think this deal is done tonight. Sounds like they are still meeting but it’s going to be a 12 team playoffs instead of 14. They are saying the luxury tax penalties will be similar to last CBA. Maybe no draft pick compensation. I’m not sure if the threshold went up or by how much. I’m sure it did but I don’t know how high. MLB was pushing for $214M and MLBPA was pushing for $245M.
It’s being reported 12 team playoff has been agreed on.
I just said that. We are going to have baseball soon, folks. I think the lockout will end this week! 99% sure.
Sorry, posting at the same time.
Means no Team gets a by.
It’s officially past midnight so the February 28th deadline has passed. They are still meeting. I’m guessing they meant the meetings that started on the 28th had to end with a deal. They have been negotiation on and off today for over 14 hours so far. There has been more progress in the last 14 hours than we have had in 6 months.
@mgomrjsurf
The top two teams in each league would get a bye with 12 teams. The other four teams in each league would play with the two winners advancing to play the top two seeds.
I cancelled 2 weeks ago.
I guess the Cleveland name change didn’t help after all.
At least one, for what it’s worth. I cancelled mine the day they cancelled the first spring training games. I have a family member that depends in a decent part on revenue from grapefruit league games, and if that’s all the owners and players care for her, they don’t need my $130. I won’t pretend it makes a difference, but honestly I’ve been invested a lot less over the past few years anyway as they screwed around with the game. Where I used to catch about half the season between streaming video and audio, I don’t think I caught a dozen games each over the past two seasons. It’s not so much that I’m angry, I just can’t be bothered to care all that much anymore.
OK, so they haven’t completely given up!
Things are changing almost hourly now, it seems.
I’m starting to feel like a dang yo-yo.
Why? Are you truly hanging on each and every released report that closely? It’s not getting done tonight, and likely not in the next few days either. It’ll probably get done in a week or two, delaying the season until late April. And the CBA will likely include 12 playoff teams, a league minimum under $700K, a pre-arb bonus pool of $20M, a CBT of about $225M with harsh financial charges for overages, and some type of lottery for the draft’s first 6 spots.
Well, Tom, I guess I do tend to exaggerate a little.
Trying to cheer myself up, don’tcha know.
Your predictions do sound reasonable to me.
Tom. You don’t know what you are talking about. I am here at the negotiations with reporters. They may or may not get a deal done tonight but what has happened so far is huge. There will almost certainly be a deal this week. I think the deal is done in less than 48 hours. You are used to it dragging on and on but the owners did that intentionally with the goal to make a strong push tonight.
This has been fun to read Steve!
Nebraska hitting dingers tonight! Good stuff.
Someone is a chatty Kathy…
i think we’re within striking distance
Definitely feels like both sides are motivated at this point.
Poor choice of words
But it’s true
An agreement so soon would almost be anticlimactic
I’d climax
Well played sir
This is good news. Keep it up
Please no expanded playoffs
I don’t love 12 but don’t hate it. I do hate 14. That’s almost half the dang league which is excessive.
The playoffs will be meaningless if a sub-.500 team can make the post season.
I wouldn’t mind expansion if they can find a way to really incentivize the higher seeds. Byes for the top seeds, division winners with all home games and starting the series up a win against wild card teams, etc…
KBO model is pretty extreme but you could even have it setup somewhat like that with multiple rounds amongst the wild cards before they even get to a division winner.
Mean the regular season would be meaningless. If half the teams get in the playoffs if it was expanded, teams won’t be trying as hard to win at all costs. For the owners it just means more money, but teams at the trade deadline won’t try so hard to make the big trade if they are having a decent year. The trade deadline during the 60 game season wasn’t much. Also, teams won’t pay the free agent if they think they can be .500 team and the playoffs without making a big money splash.
“the regular season would be meaningless (if) half the teams get in the playoffs…”
That’s way overstating the impact of an expanded PS. The top seed, and home field advantage would still be worth playing for. Plus, if the WC games remain as one game deals, avoiding that WC berth will be huge.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the 12 or 14 game playoff field, but it isn’t anywhere near the negation of the regular season that some think.
The best way to prevent tanking is to have a round robin in each division during Spring Training each year. Eliminate the team that finishes last in each division from playing in the regular season. That way teams will have to stack their rosters beginning in February.
You must be glad the ’94 strike happened, or the playoffs would’ve been rendered meaningless by the Rangers.
If they are going to increase the number of playoff teams, I’d really prefer 12 to 14. But I suspect that the only way the owners give the players anything close to what they want is too get them to agree to 14. But the complication in having 14 is that it makes it easy enough to make the playoffs that teams may feel like they don’t have to spend to get there (which is why the players want 12 rather than 14). So the question is whether the players can find some ways to incentivize spending by mid and smaller market teams. The draft lottery was one attempt at this, but they may need another-teams shouldn’t be able to have a payroll under 80 million and have a losing record every year while still getting revenue sharing money.
Which is why there needs to be a salary floor. Why is this not being offered by anyone?
Agree but it will happen. Baseball’s beauty was the marathon season where developing a full roster was key. This is not the NCAA. one and done is simply not baseball outside of a tie after 162.
Have to be best 2 outta 3 in the wild card round, best 2 teams get into DS
Yes. Terrible idea. Which almost certainly means Womanfred will do it
Yea I really don’t even like 10 – mediocre teams like the Braves getting hot at the right time. Too much luck involved now.
I am fine with 14 teams. It could be done right but the way mlb wants to do it there isn’t any reason for me to watch the regular season. 2nd seed or 7th you are still playing in the wild card.
Great article Anthony- thanks. Owners: STOP BEING WEAK!
You’re such a clown. Stop. Be happy they are getting stuff done. I’d rather watch baseball than watch rich privileged people fight over stupidity. Stop shilling. Be a fan. Not a shill.
Stop feeding him. Notice he never responds to a response to his nonsense. He has no substance other than to try to cause controversy. He’s 42 living in his mom’s basement. Ignore him like his mom does.
I live in my mom’s basement who’s been stuck in her mom’s basement? I could talk politics but I’m not getting paid.
He is indeed in our basement, and my wife has learned to tune him out. Feel free to mute him, it really will help with your overall comment section experience. He has a limited skillset.
Steve, not sure I like the term “privileged,” but it certainly applies to the lucky sperm club that inherited their teams or the wealth to buy them. Thinking about Steinbrenner, Fisher (A’s), Illitch (Tigers). Most owners DID build that, and that is not “privilege.”
Your owners aren’t holding the line. Thoughts and prayers as you navigate this difficult time.
Maybe the idiots on both sides finally figured out how much money both sides will loose by canceling regular season games!
If owners get their 14 team playoffs and players get minimum 6 lottery slots, I think it backfires on the players. The owners will not give up revenue sharing, and teams like the A’s, Marlins, Royals, Reds, Guardians and Twins will have little incentive to tank, yet even less incentive to spend more given their chances to contend for a playoff spot go up. I think this will help the mid-market teams avoid big contracts like never before.
i really like the idea of reverse order of record as half your chances of draft spot then dollar spent as the other half among the non playoff teams. So for someone that has the worst record but spent no money gets lets say 7.5% for the record and 0.5% for payroll and end up with an 8% chance at the first pick but say the 2nd worst record and highest payroll for eligible gets 7% and 7% so they have a 14% chance at the first pick or however the percents work out.
Yes you can tank to get a better chance at pick but you better be spending money to get the best chance. This could even be taking on bad salaries so say the pirates want the best chance at the number one they could take on prospects from the white sox to take on the salary of keuchel and Kimbrel. This will open up the whitesox payroll to spend more on players they could use on free agents to supplement the competitive team and help the pirates speed up the rebuild by basically buying prospects for bad contracts and putting them at a higher percent at the best pick on top of that thereby spreading the money around more
At best the lottery has no effect. I can usually determine what teams are in the running for the number 1 or top 3 or top 5 pick. If I was a worst team 4 through 9 do I want to spend money for a weak chance to play road playoff series or have a chance at a top pick. I think teams that think they need to rebuild will keep rebuilding. Never thought teams tanked for draft picks.
Get ready for a flood of transactions
Heyman has been wrong all along ignore him!
Bust a deal, and face the wheel!
I’m willing to see games get canceled before seeing expanded playoffs. F that noise
Based manfraud. I’d go even further and say playoffs should be contracted
Way too much whining about expanded playoffs. I prefer 12 more than 14 but I don’t care either way.
The more you expand playoffs the more mediocre teams that make it into the playoffs. Why should a team be competitive when a 78-84 record would cut it
I like 14 teams. Will only need to watch playoffs. 1 month instead of 7 now.
Just wake me up before you go-go
Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
March Madness style Playoffs and 3 Leagues West Coast instead of National,Central/Midwest and East Coast instead of American.
International Draft and follow the NHL Draft rules to signing guys..
If this is true then I hope the players can agree and get a deal done soon. I know they’ve conceded a lot already but take the small win now and try again in the next CBA
I think this supports the notion that the owners have been posturing. They will soften when they see the players calling their bluff as they have with the salary pool, offsite training facilities, etc.
Always the way it was going to do. Long as owners keep big pieces they are perfectly fine handing out crumbs.
I cant even begin to describe how much I hate the idea of expanded playoffs. I already think the second wild card team is pushing it!
I am fine with expanded playoffs but not the way mlb wants to do it. Every division winner needs a bye. I don’t care how many wild card teams there is as long as a division still matters. 1 team with best record isn’t enough. Home field advantage or picking opponent isn’t enough and a little gimmicky.
The second wild card was better than the single wild card. With one wild card, there was no advantage to winning a division. Now it improves your odds by 50%.
12 teams is less fair, but meh, entertainment trumps fairness.
Stop draggin’ my heart around!
“I know you really wanna be your own girl.”
“You could never look me in the eye.”
I really hate the idea of a 14 team post season. It seems to me that is would stop teams from going all in which would eventually drive down salaries. It may, however, improve opportunities which means they see more money getting spread around.
Imagine spending the money to win 100+ games and then losing to and under 500 team, though.. when this starts happening on a regular basis it will drive a lot of fans away.
People still watch nba nhl. Think they will keep watching mlb.
They are very different sports.
Why does MLB want nearly have the league in the playoffs. It should be maxed out at 12. Otherwise we get what we got in 2020. 80% of the NLC got into the playoffs. I’d be okay with 14 team playoff when they add two expansion teams……
Maybe but probably not. Add 1 team to each division then do 14 team playoffs.
Ran out of edit time.
6 new teams
West
Nevada
Idaho/Oregon
Central
Oklahoma
Louisiana
East
A lot of states to choose from.
Tennessee
One or both Carolinas
Kentucky
Iowa
Oklahoma City Frackers
New Orleans Floods
Des Moines Corn Detasselers
Raleigh Researchers
Portland Protesters
Boise (Couch) Potatoes
Rhode Island Rock Monsters
Vermont Apples
With 14 one Team gets a by and also means more Games on TV and so TBS would want a Game of CBS.
If expand Orlando needs a Team and Geographical. Also DH and Pitcher in same Lineup.
Sorry if this sounds like being a jerk but Florida has Tampa AND Miami and neither team want to stay in florida why should a 3rd team be added?
More money
“The answer to all your questions is: Money.” – Don Ohlmayer
Who addresses the needs of the fans? Who pays for…everything? The fans. We pay for the salaries, the owners, tv and radio advertising. It is up to owners and players to negotiate with us! Either solve it by Wednesday or forget about our money we are staying away.
Fans don’t pay for everything. Have you ever actually paid attention?
Fans have all the power to speak with their wallets. I doubt enough use it to make a difference but have at it.
Give them all participant ribbon! Don’t hurt Antoine’s feelings.
I don’t understand the extreme reaction to 14 playoff teams. I don’t like the idea. I don’t like even 12 teams making the playoffs, But if it’s the difference between having a full season or not, I can live with either. If teams that aren’t that good make the playoff because they’ve expanded too much, big deal, they won’t get far, so it doesn’t seem that big an issue.
The expanded PS is a concession to the owners to make a few extra bucks. If it means a better deal for the players, higher minimum salary, higher CBT, steps against tanking etc., it seems worth it.
I don’t like the DH. In fact I like the DH even less than a 14 team playoff field, but I recognize the game isn’t going to be exactly as i want it to be. It’s called compromise.
Half the league doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. You’re going to have 2-4 teams every yr with losing records make it.
You missed my point. I’m not arguing in favor of expanded playoffs. For me, it’s something I wouldn’t mind the players giving the owners, if it means a better deal for the players, with no lost games.
Last year 15 teams had above .500 record.
I agree I don’t like expanding the playoffs either, But if it gets a deal done, I can live with it.
Because while it may not make a difference this season or next, 14-team playoffs will undoubtedly result in owners trying to reduce payroll even more because they can still be “competitive” with a worse record. It will be much easier to compete in the postseason with a .500 record, so they won’t need to spend nearly the same money on FA signings.
It will have a negative impact on the game.
@Yankee Clipper Agree. The only difference between the #2 seed and #5 #6 #7 is playing a series at home and picking your opponent. Doesn’t seem that important to me. I am all for more playoff games, have a 3 game wild card and 7 game divisional. Even all for 14 teams. 4 vs 7 and 5 vs 6 1 game. Then winners play 3 game series. Every division winner gets massively rewarded for regular season.
“…it may not make a difference this season or next…”
Well, it’s hard for me to see your point that it will have that big a negative impact if it may not even happen for several seasons.
There are still plenty of teams that want to win a WS title, not just make the PS. And with a better chance of making the PS there’s less incentive to tank, and more incentive to sign players that will get a team to the playoffs.
Well, my point is that many rosters are already set, or close to set, so owners don’t have the opportunity to bypass multiple FA signings for several seasons yet, which will have a cumulative effect on FA & players’ salaries. Moreover, competition for those services will go down, because competition will go down.
It won’t happen right away because teams just signed a bunch of people before the lockout and teams, like the Yankees, have full roster commitments until many come off the books in ‘23, at which point the Yanks can cut, cut, cut because they won’t have to win 94 games to make the WC.
Money has become much more important to most teams than winning the WS. In fact, outside of the Dodgers, Mets, & maybe Padres, I can’t think of anyone else who has prioritized winning over saving money – certainly not the Yanks. They’re pissing away their window every year by not making moves clearly needed and within their grasp.
Clipper, yes. By lowering the bar for entry into the postseason, it means teams may feel less compelled to spend.
I think they finalize a deal tomorrow, after a couple more tweets! The players and owners have made some realistic moves today! The CBT tax seems to be the major sticky point now!
A positive development? IDK, not sure I believe it. They sign something and report to spring training, OK then I’ll believe it.
I get the skepticism, but they’re still closer to a deal than they were, with each side finally making significant concessions to the other. A long road to go, but if you’d told me 24 hours ago this much progress would have been made, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Every season I go to 20+ home games for my team. I throw quite a bit of cash their way in the course of a Summer. This year that number will be “ 0”. Finally tired of all the greed, the bickering, and the entitlement. Will be reallocating my entertainment dollars to other sports and activities. MLB ain’t worth it.
Higher luxury tax penalties benefits nobody but the owners. The tax is already a de facto soft salary cap. Higher taxes just firm that up a little. And subsidizing small market teams has the perverse incentive to allow them to tank.
A competitive balance tax is necessary, but the current tax already sufficient. And to work it has to come with a salary floor and penalties for teams that fail to use it on payroll.
Owners need something to negotiate on to get something else that they actually are passionate about.
Higher-revenue broadcast deals with FOX and ESPN, plus a new deal with Apple, and another one in the works with NBC. Plus, the owners want expanded postseason revenue of $100M+ with this new CBA too, along with advertising on the uniforms. The value of their teams continue to rise along with their revenues. Yet, somehow, the second-wealthiest sports league in the world continues to convince their fanbases they’re poor.
In the end, the owners want the full 14-team playoffs, advertising on uniforms, and an international draft. In return, they’ll grant higher base salaries and a higher CBT. The last one doesn’t even cost them money as it’s elective if they go over the CBT.
Let’s get this new CBA done. As I’ve said, I’ve been optimistic a deal will be arrived at by Wednesday. Maybe we’ll get one by the morning. The wealthy MLB teams though will be vastly wealthier with the new deal.
That what’s most hilarious to me: opponents of the union will say, “Tell then to get a real job if they don’t like their salary as it is!” But, one can just as easily say to the owners, “Own a real non-monopolized business if you don’t want to pay your employees raises or negotiate with them any longer!”
The sword cuts both ways. Both are benefiting off the same system that provides very selective & unique opportunities that most others in this country don’t get; yet folks on one side seem to have one eye closed as it pertains to the germane aspects of the debate.
I said yesterday I think they would extend the deadline citing they are making progress toward a resolution & I stand by that.
When this is all over, I’d love to hear from some people in each camp (anonymously) or what each side really wanted. Each side is digging in knowing that they’ll ultimately cave and meet in the middle- whether it was last week or two weeks from now, we’re going to get virtually the same deal.
The Mets would lose 90 games in an 84-game season.
You’re off they may lose just 84 of an 84 game season.
It’s not that far fetched. The Mets have batted out of order within the last five years. I wouldn’t put anything past them.
Don’t use the fan as leverage, we could care less if the season starts or not. Those two greedy entities need to find common ground and sign an agreement, if not, cancel the season as I could care less if I see baseball or not.
A lot of people complaining about 14 teams making the playoffs.
That’s still less than the NBA. Less than the NHL. And it’d match the NFL.
Yes, MLB has fewer teams than NHL and NFL, but percentage-wise the MLB still has far less playoff teams.
This will *not* ruin the sport.
None of those leagues play even 100 games, much less 162.
I know lots of fans who only watch playoffs because they feel the regular season has little importance. I will feel the same way. Rays Pirates fan. I know the Pirates aren’t making it. I know the Rays will and can care less what seed it is. And if they somehow can’t make it then they aren’t worth watching.
People who only watch the playoffs aren’t really fans of the sport. I watch, or try to watch, every Giants game. That won’t change, expanded playoffs or not. Anyone that watches only the playoffs isn’t interested in how the game is played. They’re only interested in the outcome.
A lot of people comparing 82 and 16 game season sports to leagues with 162 games
Lock them in a room until they agree….
Nothing unites people more than a common enemy. The question is…who is their common enemy?
I think it might be VOICEOFREASON.
The fans? Maybe both sides started looking some Tweeter & saw the fans condemning them for their greed.
They went back in the meeting and said, “Can you believe the nerve? With everything we do for these fans and they want to try to protest & take away OUR money!!!”
I need to see the structure of a 14-team postseason. If they do it NFL-style, with the #1 seeds getting a bye while the remaining teams play (2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5), I hate it, because it gives the lower-tier postseason teams too much opportunity. If, however, they give the 3 division winners in each league a bye, and do a tournament style play-off for the #4 seed, that I could get behind. Perhaps 1-game showdowns of 4 vs 7 and 5 vs 6, with the winners matching up in a best-of-3 series. It opens the door for more teams, but if they want to reach the divisional round they’ll need to fire a lot of bullets.
I seen it on this site. I think best team gets bye. Other 6 play series with higher seed picking opponent. Not finalized but that was mlbs vision.
What’s the point of 162 games if nearly half the teams get into the playoffs?? So dumb.
Unless winning the division has significant value.
MLBPA shouldn’t agree to 14 teams u less they get a significant return. At minimum, tie it into league expansion so they get another 52 jobs and it’s 14 teams shooting for 32 spots.
I would rather have 14 expansion teams than have 14 postseason teams.
Pleasantly surprised. Wonder if the owner’s strategy was to stonewall until the last minute and let the MLBPA make concessions in pursuit of a deal.
Yes.
Come on MLB! It can’t be a take/take scenario with you. You’ve gotta Give! You don’t have to give everything, but you can’t give an insult either. Let’s get this done.
I don’t want to see “ghost wins.” I will, however, allow an expansion team to be named one of the following…
Gotham Ghost Riders
Guam Ghosts
Sleepy Hallow Ghouls?
Oakland Austerity Budgets?
All of this addresses nothing..it’s still the same, just rearranging the money they make. Nothing about addressing changes to the actual game that would help it. How about moving the mound back, or making sure minor leaguers aren’t paid in scraps to learn the game.
Lowering the mound like it used to be.
Better umpires, electric strike and balls.
The mound wasn’t raised, it was lowered in the Bob Gibson and Sandy Kofax error,
I’m paying for access to MLB baseball and minors.
I was never going to cancel.
The owners are some greedy SOB, and if they could do whatever they wanted,they would pay them just like the minor league players.
But the least subscribers can do is cancel their automatic renewal so that MLB doesn’t get any money until the games begin.
It’s a shame that the MLBPA is so short-sighted that they don’t see without a salary cap and floor, small market teams will eventually not be competitive to the point where there will be fewer MLB teams and fewer MLBPA employees.
Glad there’s finally significant movement, but the union is being so dumb on the CBT. Only a handful of teams butt up against it. So their solution to adding to competitive balance is to allow those handful of teams to spend $30M more while all the other teams keep spending more or less the same? Yeah, that’ll make the playing field more level. It should go up by more than the pittance the owners want it to go up (which is actually down after inflation is factored in), but the players can’t really think they’ll push across a 15% increase in the CBT threshold. It’s just not realistic.