This lockout will be the final straw for some baseball fans. Truth is, I can’t blame them.
My hope is that, before you bid a not-so-fond farewell to the game of your youth, know the truth about which side bears the blame for this unnecessary and disgusting interruption of what used to be America’s favorite pastime. This disastrous stoppage — the first two regular-season series for now — is solely because the owners are putting money over the good of the game and the people who make their living off the sport other than the players.
This isn’t a “both sides” problem. It’s just not, by any objective measure.
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Baseball has been wildly profitable over the past decade, with franchise values soaring and season-over-season revenues skyrocketing. The players wanted to work out a fair and equitable way for both sides to share in the enormous wealth produced by the game; the owners wanted, essentially, a bending of every single knee in the MLBPA.
The players wanted to sit at the table and negotiate a way to end the owner-created lockout; the owners were completely immersed in a laughably transparent PR strategy aimed at deflecting blame on the other side, a marketing campaign that was see-through from the moment in started.
Commissioner Rob Manfred issued his “create urgency” statement in the early moments of Dec. 2, then waited 43 days to make a proposal. He was asked about that during his news conference Tuesday afternoon, and he deflected.
“I think the best answer to that question is the last 10 days,” he said. “We’ve been here, ready to bargain, full committees, owners and players for 10 days, and it got going two days before the deadline. That’s the best explanation I can give you.”
So, basically, ignore the inaction of the previous two-plus months. Gotcha.
The bottom line: The players want to play ball and made considerable concessions that would have resulted in a deal that would have still been overwhelmingly favorable to the owners — again, by any objective measure — but the owners were more concerned about controlling the narrative than actually working out a deal to restart this game fans want to love but are constantly being force-fed reasons to turn away.
The owners made a series of long-overdue, bare minimum upgrades, true. Manfred was careful to talk about those in his news conference at length — such as with the minimum salaries. Manfred trumpeted MLB’s offer of $700,000, a raise of $130,000, failing to mention that the NBA minimum is $925,258, the NHL’s is $750,000 and the NFL’s is $660,000 (and $780,000 for players with one year of experience). Sorry, but a minimum that falls short of the NHL is not something to be proud of. The financials of the two sports are not comparable.
Meanwhile, the owners barely budged on the real money, the Competitive Balance Tax, even while landing a deal with ESPN for an extra $85 million if the playoffs are expanded to 12 teams ($100 million if 14 teams). It’s something that only affects a handful of teams — in 2021, only the Dodgers and Padres exceeded the number and the Phillies, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Astros were within $5 million. The number was $210 million in 2021, and the owners proposed an increase of 5 percent (less than inflation), and stalled that $220 number for two more years.
This is their line in the sand? Owners preventing owners from spending money? This is worth canceling games? Yikes.
What’s the actual PR hit of turning this negotiation into a debacle? Hard to know exactly, but it ain’t good.
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Here’s what I do know: People hate being lied to. They hate being treated like they don’t matter. Listen to the players vent on social media and it’s pretty clear they felt both of those things. And, maybe more importantly, that’s exactly how the owners treated fans of their sport for the past three months.
The words Manfred said sounded good — “create urgency” by starting the lockout on Dec. 2.
“I see missing games as a disastrous outcome” on Feb. 10 — but the actions?
When your actions don’t match your words, people notice. Distrust grows. Resentment blooms. Anger flowers. The only thing worse than anger?
Apathy.
Folks, for a large portion of would-be baseball audience, that’s settled in.
And, yeah, it’s hard to blame them.
