The Major League Baseball lockout is entering its fourth month, and the first two series of the regular season of the 2022 schedule have already been lost. Most fans are tired of rolling back and forth, pointing fingers and calling a name, instead they just want to know when they can expect MLB to be part of their daily routine again. The unpleasant reality is that there is no definite answer to this question, as we cannot know for sure when an agreement will be reached – or even when negotiations will resume.
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic points out, local television contracts do not require concessions from teams until approximately 25 games have been lost. Jeff Passan of ESPN adds some details, writing that avoiding discounts requires broadcasting between 138 and 150 games (with slight variations between teams). This affects the owners’ ability to endure, as well as the general fact that their wealth is significantly ahead of that of the players. In states with cold weather, April is a relatively sparsely attended month – at least after the early pressures of the opening series.
On the part of the players in the equation, a member of the MLBPA Executive Subcommittee Andrew Miller told reporters last night that union solidarity is stronger than it has ever seen (a link through Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
“We’re ready,” Miller said. “It simply came to our notice then. This is a pity. This is not new to us. This is not shocking. Our communication, our desire to see the other’s point of view and find solutions and fight for what is right, is not what I have seen before. I can tell you that. “
Both Miller and a fellow member of the subcommittee Max Scherzer radiating strength and desire to improve conditions for future generations. Scherzer frankly said he was more than willing to “sacrifice part of [his] career “, noting that he would not have been able to sign the contract he signed without previous generations of players sacrificing parts of his career for him. At the very least, the MLBPA is setting a strong front.
It’s easier for players like Scherzer, who have made hundreds of millions in career profits, to lose their jobs than for players with little or no MLB experience. However, as noted here in the MLBTR this week, the union has been preparing for this worst-case scenario for some time, separating its licensing revenue from a separate company that allows them to take stakes in third countries.
The MLBPA has offered $ 5,000 scholarships to its members for both February and March, and according to Rosenthal and colleague Evan Drelic, it will begin offering $ 15,000 monthly scholarships on April 1. Most veterans will not apply for these checks, but for those who play closer to the minimum league – or in particular those who are expected to collect salaries from the lower leagues – this is a reasonably significant amount. The union has the means to make ends meet throughout the season by paying these scholarships, although the obvious hope is that the decision will come much sooner.
Now it all depends on how quickly the two parties return to the table and whether one or both will blink at historical levels of tension and public pressure. Clark’s assumption that property is more about “destroying the union” than bringing players back to the field speaks volumes about the gap that remains, and now, on top of that, they will be arguing about potentially distributed wages and service time. .