MLB Owners Pretty Much Shooting Down Proposal From Players is a Terrible Sign for 2020 Season
By Scott Rogust
Just when it looked like the baseball season was dead to rights, the MLB Players Association sent a counterproposal to the league on Sunday evening. A 114-game campaign starting June 30 with an expanded playoff would surely get the league to sign on, right? Right? More television revenue, more playoff revenue, deferred salaries in case of a disaster. Good stuff!
Shortly after those reports surfaced, MLB insider Jon Heyman revealed that an ownership source told him that there's "no progress" after the MLBPA counteroffer, and now we can only hope that side reevaluates and proceeds, just like the players did.
Union/player response to MLB proposal calls for 114 games (as opposed to 82). Regular season through October (instead of September), prorated but with some deferrals (instead of steep sliding scale). “No progress,” responds ownership source.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 1, 2020
Well, that's just great.
For the past month, both the league and the players union have been at an impasse when it comes to financial terms for the 2020 season. Owners are set to lose approximately $640,000 per game due to a lack of attendance (they claim), and wanted players to take additional pay cuts, as opposed to the prorated salaries that were promised back in March.
That's why the MLBPA offered to expand the 2020 season from 82 games to 114. To further sweeten the pot, the union caved into the league's desire for an expanded playoff for the next two years, while proposing the creation of postseason and offseason events to make up for the absence of gate revenue.
• Deferral would be ONLY if the postseason is canceled. Would apply to contracts of $10 million above (before being prorated). Payments would be in November 2021 and 2022.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 1, 2020
• Either way, players would get additional salary advance during spring training camp of $100 million.
Maybe, just maybe the ownership source is playing coy with Heyman so they won't lose leverage in negotiations (after all, Max Scherzer's much more vitriolic response made it seem like there would never be a statement coming from their side again). Whatever the case, both sides will have to reach an agreement by week's end if they want to begin the season by the end of this month.