Most sports leagues have finalized plans to return this summer — and then there’s MLB
Slowly but surely, most of the American sports world is getting back to action almost three months after coming to a halt due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
NASCAR has been racing for weeks and will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 13 and 14 as the first live professional sporting event in South Florida since sports stopped in mid-March. The NBA and Major League Soccer are set to resume their seasons at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando in July. The NHL is allowing teams to reopen training facilities for individual workouts Monday and has a tentative plan to resume playing in two to-be-determined hub cities with an expanded playoff field. Hockey could start back up by late July or early August if all goes according to plan.
But Major League Baseball? There’s still a lot of work to be done. The league and the MLB Players Association are still at an impasse, unable to come to agreements on a season length and player salaries.
The tentative July 4 start date that was once hoped for now seems all but unlikely given that no deal is in place and players have said they will need at least two to three weeks of a pseudo spring training to be ready for the season.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark released a statement late Thursday night following a conference call with more than 100 players. The central message:
“Players want nothing more than to get back to work and provide baseball fans with the game we all love,” Clark said. “But we cannot do this alone.”
Where things stand
ESPN’s Karl Ravech reported Monday morning that the league’s latest proposal called for a 76-game season in which players would receive 75 percent prorated pay. The regular season would end on Sept. 27 with the postseason running through October like normal. The new proposal would also eliminate the qualifying offer for free agents this postseason.
It’s a movement toward the players’ hope to play as many games as possible, especially since MLB has also wanted players to consider the idea of a 50-game regular season. Either way, the 2020 season will the first time since 1897 that MLB played a season with fewer than 82 games should it be played.
The players have said they would be willing to have the season go through November. Teams, however, don’t want to play past October out of fear that a second wave of the coronavirus could impact a delayed postseason and cause additional revenue loss to what they are already anticipating this season should games be played in empty stadiums. MLB has said that it would lose on average $640,000 for each game played without fans, although the union is disputing those figures.
“The overwhelming consensus of the board is that players are ready to report, ready to get back on the field, and they are willing to do so under unprecedented conditions that could affect the health and safety of not just themselves, but their families as well,” Clark said in the statement. “The league’s demand for additional concessions was resoundingly rejected.”
The financial side of the negotiations has barely moved. All of the league’s proposals to this point have equated to players earning about a third of what their total salaries would have been for the season. The players’ demand: A full prorated salary regardless of how many games are played.
However, the longer the league and players grandstand, the shorter the season is ultimately going to be.
How we got here
MLB last week submitted its first proposal to the players that including an 82-game season with a sliding scale of pay cuts in addition to their already prorated salaries that were agreed to in March. A player making the $563,500 minimum would earn 47 percent of his original salary in 2020 under this proposal. Top stars Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole, each under contract for $36 million this year, would earn closer to 20 percent of their full salary.
The Marlins’ top-two paid players — Jonathan Villar ($8.2 million) and Corey Dickerson ($8 million) — would have received just more than $2 million each under this deal, which was rejected.
The players countered with a plan of 114 regular-season, no pay cuts beyond the prorated salaries they agreed to in that March 26 deal, expanded playoffs for two years and salary deferrals if the postseason could not take place, among other items. The league rejected the deal.
“Important work remains to be done in order to safely resume the season,” Clark said. “We stand ready to complete that work and look forward to getting back on the field.”
Full statement
Clark’s full statement from Thursday night is below.
“In this time of unprecedented suffering at home and abroad, Players want nothing more than to get back to work and provide baseball fans with the game we all love. But we cannot do this alone.
“Earlier this week, Major League Baseball communicated its intention to schedule a dramatically shortened 2020 season unless Players negotiate salary concessions. The concessions being sought are in addition to billions in Player salary reductions that have already been agreed upon.
“The threat came in response to an Association proposal aimed at charting a path forward. Among other things, Players proposed more games, two years of expanded playoffs, salary deferrals in the event of a 2020 playoff cancellation, and the exploration of additional jewel events and broadcast enhancements aimed at creatively bringing our Players to the fans while simultaneously increasing the value of our product. Rather than engage, the league replied it will shorten the season unless Players agree to further salary reductions.
“Earlier today we held a conference call of the Association’s Executive Board and several other MLBPA Player leaders. The overwhelming consensus of the Board is that Players are ready to report, ready to get back on the field, and they are willing to do so under unprecedented conditions that could affect the health and safety of not just themselves, but their families as well. The league’s demand for additional concessions was resoundingly rejected.
“Important work remains to be done in order to safely resume the season. We stand ready to complete that work and look forward to getting back on the field.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
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