Back in March, Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement on service time and prorated salaries for the 2020 regular season, addressing what many believed were the top issues the sides faced.
The deal was completed before March 26, which was the originally scheduled Opening Day of the season. However, in the weeks since, owners have raised over their viability of paying the agreed-upon salaries. Specifically because of the prospect of playing games without fans in attendance.
Team owners have claimed they would lose more money under that scenario as opposed to if the entire 2020 season was cancelled outright. That’s left the league and MLBPA at odds both prior to and since MLB agreed on a proposal that was to be presented to the Players Association.
While the sides met to discuss potential health and safety protocols that would need to be implemented, finances have been left off the table. According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, the Players Association should receive an economic proposal by Friday:
Manfred and MLB attorneys plan to present an economic plan to the union by Friday, two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations told USA TODAY Sports, perhaps outlining with greater detail their projected losses in 2020.
It’s unclear if the proposal will indeed include a 50-50 revenue split, which the union has publicly stated it would not agree to.
Although the Players Association has maintained the March agreement addressed issues owners are now raising, MLB believes an email makes it clear a second round of negotiations would be called for if games were to be fan-less.
Another layer to the friction between the two sides is mistrust in MLB’s claims over projected losses. For the Los Angeles Dodgers, that reportedly is $232 million if players receive prorated salaries and games are played at stadiums without any gate revenue.
Despite MLB and the MLBPA being at odds, commissioner Rob Manfred recently expressed optimism a resolution would be reached. The hope is for an agreement to be in place by the start of June, which would clear the way for Spring Training 2.0 followed by the start of the regular season in July.
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