Have you ever had an argument at work or at home when neither side was willing to try to come to some kind of settlement? It's an amazingly frustrating experience because it makes both sides look like selfish and immature children, each waiting for the other to appear weaker by making the first move.
Right now the Major League Baseball owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association are doing just that. Neither has made any effort to bring the two sides together to negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and neither appears to be showing any concern that the Spring Training schedule is set for about five weeks into the future.
While fans and media are more concerned with which players are signed as free agents, which teams can be contacted for prospective trades and which players may be cut loose from the roster, the fact is that no player action can or will take place until there is a new CBA. We heard from both sides that they would get to work on that in January, but here we are ten days into the new year and not a single meeting has been scheduled to take place.
At this point fans are probably already losing their tenuous grip on their Spring, Summer and Fall obsession with the wooden bat, the round white ball and the cowhide gloves used to snare the batted balls. People are fed up with the pandemic, the stagnation of the economy and the hollow whines of multi millionaires. Consequently I hear folks talking about summer plans for extended camping trips, visits to popular tourist destinations and outdoor activities with their friends and families. The longer the stubborn stalemate continues without any efforts being made, the more important those alternatives to baseball become and the more difficult it will be for the owners and players to reaffirm the fans' connection to the game we grew up loving.
No one is suggesting one side is right and one side is wrong. Those kinds of debates are like trying to find sense in the red side and the blue sides in Congress. No, what people want to see here is at least some indication of effort to make things change. No one is seeing that and as a result the already weak grip baseball has on its fan base and the media becomes more and more vulnerable.
Do the owners realize that once the season is scheduled to begin and there is no incoming revenue from ticket sales, merchandise sales, parking fees, television revenues, radio revenues, internet revenues and unsold refreshments that they are fighting a losing battle?
Similarly, do the players and their designated head honchos understand that they are not going to see their massive paychecks if the games are not played and that a shorter season that may or may not result will proportionately scale down the size of what they get on payday?
It is time for media and fans to gang up on both sides and let them know how childish they are being by not negotiating and what they are doing long term to the future of their game. It's not good.
5 comments:
I'm not sure if fan pressure would work here; however, hurling gasoline soaked, lit, fireballs over the walls might not hurt.
When my father worked as a steamfitter, and a few times the union went on strike, and the parents had several kids, I'd wonder if everything would be OK. Dad wasn't worried, because he knew the strikes would not last long.
These guys have to get their acts together. If they are delaying to intentionally wish to delay spring training and the season a bit to get past this latest "everyone gets COVID" variant, but don't want people to think that's the reason, fine. But otherwise, it is just stupid to sit there and do nothing.
I don't see waiting as shifting the final outcome more than a tad in one direction or another, so just sit down and do a deal.
Baseball is supposed to be FUN, and a distraction from the difficulties of life. They DO risk fans getting turned off. For many former NBA and NFL fans, it didn't take much for them to turn off the TVs. They also have to be careful not to lose more kids as fans than the ones they are already losing to on-line escapism.
Fellas, pretend there is a real deadline of January 31, and hammer it out by then. Be adults.
The first Mets Spring training game is scheduled for 2/26. Maybe it takes place with replace-Mets. My guess is that it will be cancelled, spring training will be delayed and shortened and we will have a 140-ish game season.
Thanks once again Rob Manfred.
I agree with John's take. Never expected any movement in January.
Remember, please, this is an owner's lockout. At a time of record-breaking TV revenues, they are working to squeeze the players.
No one gets hurt in January. No one really believes in the long Spring Training. And most of the TV money is postseason cash. So a shortened season and expanded playoffs serves the owners perfectly.
As for the headline, "We believed you," that was your first mistake.
Jimmy
If the NHL could take advantage of MLB’s missing, they can really sell their product. Too bad the NBA wants to stay a winter sport, for some reason. Hockey and football are perfect for the winter. Basketball and baseball would be perfect for the summer.
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