Seth Herrold
@HerroldTimes
Almost on a daily basis there is news regarding the return of sports. The National Hockey League and Major League Soccer are phasing in small group training and have set plans and timelines for their returns. The NBA is working toward a return as well. They have a location and up to three different plans are being considered when it comes to their return.
Then there is Major League Baseball. It seems like most of the news concerning that sport’s return has revolved around bumps in the road between owners and players.
For whatever reason, baseball seems to be the one sport that isn’t making return to play a priority. Everyone in every one of these professional sports want safety and rightfully so. But baseball players seem to be using health concerns as a cover for not wanting to take anymore of a pay cut.
For those who don’t know, baseball owners sent players a return proposal that essentially asked players to split revenue 50-50 with the owners in lieu of their regular salaries. That comes after players already agreed to get paid on a prorated scale for however many games were actually played. With no fans expected when baseball returns, a 50 percent share of revenue doesn’t look that appetizing to players. No ticket sales, no concessions sold, no jacked up merchandise sold at stadiums on game day.
The owners know they are losing money this year. They have accepted it and are looking to minimize the damage by playing whatever games they can. There are still TV contracts that would pay and, with the country’s growing appetite for sports, MLB stands to see many more national broadcasts this year, even in a shortened season. That’s money – some money at least – and at this point, whatever the league can get is acceptable.
So there’s the proposal, a 50-50 split between owners and players. The owners say it’s about salvaging something and giving the country something to watch, something to get behind, something to believe in.
But safety comes first and the players didn’t like the lack of written measures the league would take in the initial proposal. So MLB responded. Players were sent a 67-page document on May 15, outlining health and safety protocols for preventing the spread of the coronavirus during a return for the sport.
The ball was back in the players’ court. There was some backing down on the players’ issues with that topic, but they still weren’t ready to make a deal. Why? The real root of the problem all along… money.
So the players’ union and owners will go back into negotiations while other sports start phasing in their respective return plans. Baseball is behind and I’m not shocked. Players and owners have been at war in every major sport over the years. But here is the thing. When this virus threw the world into flux, players and owners rallied together in the NBA, MLS and NHL. They know the importance their sport has with the country. Major League Baseball has been the ugly one in this picture.
The NFL, meanwhile, has the convenience of being in its offseason and, despite that sport basically having a year-long calendar these days, most of its big events have been able to roll along digitally, such as the draft and free agency. There isn’t a bigger money-printing machine in America than the NFL and fans or not, I expect those games to come as scheduled this fall.
But I’m beginning to lose faith that I will get to watch a single Royals game this year. They say the two sides are closer than when they started, but that doesn’t mean they are close.
According to reports on The Athletic, the owners have gone back to the drawing board on a salary proposal. These guys are all billionaires and, typically, people don’t get that kind of money by giving it away. They are in salvage mode, though, so who knows. I don’t know, my optimism on the subject isn’t high.
That’s not to say there isn’t some positive news coming out in the baseball world. The Tampa Bay Rays opened their stadium to players for workouts and had 14 individuals take part. The Houston Astros are doing the same and the Los Angeles Angels are set to follow. There are, it appears, at least some players who just want to get back to playing baseball and as a fan of the game, that is encouraging.
One thing is for sure, even if it looks bleak, this situation has shown us that things change a lot and quickly. A week from now I may be more optimistic for a baseball return.
This week’s recommendations are…
Read: Wright Thompson wrote a fantastic feature story on Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on ESPN.com a while back. He planned to spend the day with Kershaw for the story and the day for his ‘ride along’ happened to be the day players were sent home due to the coronavirus. It made for a fantastic story with two timelines and it is definitely worth a read. If you search ‘Clayton Kershaw’ in the ESPN.com search bar, it comes right up. And it is free, too.
Watch: Dead To Me. The wife and I have a handful of shows we watch together and this one has quickly become one of our favorites. It streams on Netflix and we are currently about halfway through season 2. We watched season 1 last year, so if you are new to the show, you have two seasons you can binge.
Eat: Over Memorial Day weekend our grill basically worked full time. Obviously, baseball’s return appears to be quite a ways off, but we grilled hot dogs one evening, prepared some other ballpark favorites and dodged rain storms to eat outside. It wasn’t sitting at Kauffman Stadium, but it kind of gave us the feel of being at the ballpark.