As Major League Baseball works toward finding the best means to go about staging some semblance of a 2020 regular season, they are at odds with the Players Association over the financial terms for the year.
From the perspective of the MLBPA, that issue was addressed as part of a March agreement. Service time terms were agreed to in that deal, along with owners and players settling on prorated salaries for the 2020 season.
However, as it has become clear games are to be played without fans in attendance — thus eliminating a revenue stream for owners — they have sought further financial concessions from players. The union has maintained those negotiations are over, and that a 50-50 revenue split, believed to be the owners’ preference, was a non-starter.
The disagreement has now taken another turn, as according to Joel Sherman of The New York Post, an email between MLB and members of the union outlined the need for new talks if it became evident regular-season games would be played without fans:
An email from an MLB lawyer to top league officials dated 10:41 a.m. on March 26 was obtained by The Post. A conversation was had earlier on the morning of March 26 between two MLB officials and two Players Association officials, according to the email, to cover a variety of issues raised about the negotiation that would cover rules without the season starting on time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Included in the seven points covered by the email is that MLB explained to the union officials that MLB would need a second negotiation if games were not played before fans to determine pay and that the union officials understood that concept.
Under the current deal, owners claim they would lose more money by paying players prorated salaries for games in empty stadiums as opposed to losses if the 2020 regular season was cancelled altogether.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred estimated owners collectively could lose upwards of $4 billion if the season is lost. The Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly would face north of $230 million in losses by paying prorated salaries for fan-less games, which is the second-highest total in baseball.
Despite friction between the two sides, Manfred is confident a resolution will be found. Clayton Kershaw expressed a similar sentiment on a Dodgers Zoom Party as well.
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