Tony Clark Being Forced Into Villain Role is Exactly What Owners Want
By Michael Luciano
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is the one man who could potentially wield the most power in terms getting the 2020 MLB season up and running. He recently voiced his opposition to the MLB owners' proposal to start the 2020 MLB season in July, as he claims players will not be adequately compensated despite a 50-50 revenue split.
With this in mind, baseball fans might be angry at Clark for potentially killing the most tangible restart plan for the league. And that's what the owners want.
The MLB players' union chief said Monday that he considers the league's proposal to start the season in July to be a non-starter.
— Post-Gazette Sports (@PGSportsNow) May 12, 2020
“A system that restricts player pay based on revenues is a salary cap, period,” Tony Clark said.
https://t.co/Wp0cxt4PeN
Clark is fighting, in an already tense time for labor negotiations given the expiration of the CBA in 2021, to prevent the owners from using this moment as precedent to take even more money away from players in the future.
Giving up and taking whatever the offer the owners give, no matter how slanted it is in favor of them -- a 50-50 split doesn't mean much if overall revenues are cashing and burning -- would be a major disservice to the players he is fighting for. It would be a betrayal of the office he now holds.
The owners should realize: Everyone is mad and a ton of people are broke anyway, so the revenues realized won’t be anywhere near the same.
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) May 11, 2020
Tony Clark and MLBPA should realize: The arrangement is a one off, for a small period of time.
Both sides should: Just get it done.
The owners want baseball back. The players want it back. Clark wants it back. No one here wants to see more eerily quiet stadiums and postponements. Clark needs to make sure that his players are satisfied with the deal rather than giving up instantly and taking the first offer presented to him.