MLB Owners, MLBPA on Collision Course as CBA Talks Loom
As far as labor relations in Major League Baseball go, the COVID-19 outbreak is about the worst thing that could have happened. The desperation from owners to make something of a shortened season is exposing the lengths they’re willing to go in order to recoup on their massive investments. When the owners agreed to a proposal to start the season on the Fourth of July to send to the MLB Players Association, they leaked it to the media, letting it hit the news cycle a full 24 hours before actually extending the offer to the union. Naive fans will see this proposal and not think twice about whether or not the deal is fair for the players. If a deal were to not get done, they would blame the players for not agreeing to unsafe work conditions and further reduction in pay. It really is brilliant how many people will take the side of billionaires rather than athletes, many of whom came from nothing.
But this is only the beginning. MLB players already agreed to prorated salaries in 2020, which if an 82-game season is agreed upon, would mean cutting their salaries in half. Now, the owners would like the players to take an even steeper pay cut in return for some revenue sharing. That revenue sharing is certain to fall below the level of the pay cut given that fans won’t be allowed in the stands at the beginning of the year, if not all season. Players like pitcher Phil Hughes have voiced that while it may not be a popular decision with fans, players need to hold out for a deal that’s fair for them and that won’t put them at an elevated safety risk. Each player is more than entitled to take that stand, especially against owners whose net worth is 10 to 100 times higher than theirs.
Where the problem will really manifest is in the negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. The sport’s current CBA runs through the 2021 season, meaning there’s only one more full season separating the players and owners from another potential labor impasse. It certainly appears there will be mud slinging back and forth between owners and players between now and the start of the 2020 season, giving them 18 months to ratchet up friction before the current CBA expires. If that mudslinging gets too serious and labor relations get even more testy in the lead up to new negotiations, the outcome could be disastrous for all parties involved.
Both sides have a lot to lose after 2021, especially given the economic impact of the shortened, if not canceled, 2020 season. Players will have their salaries at least slashed in half and will probably make even less by the time it’s all said and done. Owners are not going to have dependable revenue streams for at least 12 months. Even if the 2021 season goes off without a hitch, it’s not going to be enough to make up for the torturous 2020 campaign. Players and owners will both be hurting by the time they sit down at the negotiating table eager to be compensated for the difficult past two years. If the aforementioned mudslinging clouds each side’s judgment by then, it’s hard to imagine a CBA being agreed upon in short order.
These next few weeks and months will not only ultimately determine if and when we have baseball again in 2020, but how much restraint each side shows in negotiating a fair and safe start to the season may have an impact that reaches into 2022 and beyond.