Last week, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred canceled the first two series of the regular season after the owners and the MLB Players Association failed to reach a new collective agreement before the league’s deadline. The two sides met on Sunday and the MLBPA made a new offer, but a deal doesn’t seem imminent and other regular season games could be canceled this week. At the very least, this is the first time in league history that the schedule has been disrupted due to an owner-mandated lockout.
When CBS Sports described the reasons why the deal didn’t come through, the throughline showed how the owners created leverage with the players. They imposed a lockout as soon as they could to block the possibility of a strike. They waited over six weeks to make their first offer to create impatience. They set deadlines to create an artificial sense of urgency. They even, in the eyes of the players, organized a disinformation campaign in an attempt to earn last-minute points for public relations.
Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and a veteran labor struggle, once said, “A savvy negotiator builds leverage.” He believes that an inexperienced negotiator gives up leverage. By canceling the games instead of making a reasonable offer, the owners may have created an opportunity for the players to regain leverage in these negotiations.
If all the other side cares about is money, then they keep track that the best organ to attack is their wallet. In recent years, the owners have successfully separated their profitability from the quality of the product on the field and from ticket revenues. What’s more important now is the local TV deal and the windfall from the league playoff broadcast deal. The union has a chance to put pressure on both.
Missing more games is not an ideal outcome for players or fans, but missing a certain number of games can cause anxiety for owners. Like Jameson Tylon, right-handed pitcher for the New York Yankees recently tweeted: “The actions of the owners made it clear from the beginning that they have a certain number of games where they still make a profit / receive money from TV.” The exact number is unknown, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested that teams may have to provide discounts after missing 25 games.
Players can also do good or at least use their threat to take the extended postseason off the table if they weren’t allowed to play 162 games. The league pushed for 14 teams to play in the postseason, which would generate an additional $100 million in revenue. The union was more open to a 12-team format that would still generate $85 million in new revenue. The owners seemed to pay more attention to the extended off-season throughout the negotiations, suggesting that the union could still give them a 12-team deal… just at a higher price than before.
What exactly the union may require from the league, one can only guess. Perhaps they could provide payment for the entire season, or at least the service time. Players will sacrifice everyone with every missed game. The owners know this and expect that the losses will be too big for the players. They almost certainly hope that the players will flinch and give up before the owners are affected.
However, at some point the equation changes. The players will still lose, probably to a greater extent than the hosts, but the hosts will also suffer losses. When that happens, they will lose some of the leverage that gave them the audacity to put forward completely unfounded proposals for the past three months.
Former Marlins chief executive David Samson discussed the latest MLB shutout Monday on Nothing Personal with David Samson. Listen below:
Leverage tends to dictate who comes out ahead in trades. In this regard, the league played its part well throughout the process. From the players’ point of view, they have to adopt the mindset that if games are missed, then make sure they count.