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It’s been more than 80 days since League Owners have instated a lockout on baseball players to limit their communication. All of these started when league owners and the Major League Baseball Player Association (MLBPA) failed to reach a new CBA or Collective Bargaining Agreement on Dec. 2, 2021.
Multiple reasons caused the meeting to fail between the two parties, from salary mismanagement to revenue sharing and others. On Jan. 24, 2021, MLBPA was expected to offer a counterargument where nothing major happened.
Currently, the league owners are threatening to cancel the 2022 season, Opening Day on Mar. 31, for a month. Already the Spring training for this season didn’t start on Feb. 16. This will lead to this century’s first time baseball season won’t start at its supposed date.
After 42 days since the lockout, the two sides sat down to discuss, but nothing significant happened. To help you understand the reasons for the current MLB lockout by the owners, here are some of the common issues being discussed.
Player Looking For Greater Salary
One of the owners’ main reasons for the current MLB lockout is that the MLBPA and the players themselves are demanding payout. Over the last few years, the MLB, in general, has seen record breaking revenue year after year.
However, from 2019 to 2021, baseball players’ salary has seen a drop by as much as 4.8%. This salary drop is on top of baseball players’ having the lowest salary among major American sports.
Therefore the MLBPA is asking for an increase in their minimum salary from $575,500 to $750,00 while still being the lowest. But this will represent a significant increment.
Along with increasing the players’ payroll, the MLBPA wants to increase the team’s luxury tax or Competitive Balance Tax (CBA) threshold to $245 million. They are demanding this increment so that teams are incentivized to the competition.
The owners, after hearing the demand of the MLBPA, replied by saying they won’t be meeting them. Instead, they replied with two options and nothing further. These options are:
- Fourteen playoff teams, a minimum payout of around $700,000 and about $40,000,000 in a bonus pool divided amongst the best pre-arbitration players.
- Twelve playoff teams, a minimum payout of around $675,000 and around $20,000,000 in the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
Alter The Revenue Sharing Structure
Another hot topic in the discussion between the MLBPA and MLB owners is revenue sharing which has been going on for decades. At this time, all the teams have about half the revenue they earn to share amongst themselves.
Since 1990 the amount being shared amongst the team hasn’t seen any significant increase while the owners are seeing record setting increment. From one source, it’s been stated that in 2019 MLB earned about $10.3 billion.
Yet the teams and their players didn’t see that much money. Even though teams such as New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs helps the owner earn a lot yet, they don’t see all that much of the earning.
Most of the earnings come from tv, streaming contracts, and ticket sales labeled as local revenue. The constituent teams have to share 48% of the revenue out of the total revenue.
There have been some accusations towards small teams such as the Oakland Athletics and Pittsburg pirates over the use of revenue-sharing income. Similarly, large teams such as Boston Red Sox say they are putting their revenue-sharing income to good use but aren’t.
The MLBPA asks for an alteration in sharing revenue income for appropriate usage. One way to do so would be stricter regulation on the smaller teams to force them to work in good faith. On the larger teams, owners need to put less emphasis on the roster so that players’ value isn’t decreased.
Amend The Free Agency Requirement
Another point of discussion between the league owners and MLBPA is altering the requirements of allowing a player to become a free agent. The owners are now demanding that players stay with them for 6 years before allowing them to become free agents.
For the most part, the reasoning behind the player demand for changes on becoming a free agent is for an increase in their demand. The demand for a player is only there if the player is at the top of their game.
After a player plays for a single team at the MLB level for six years and then becomes a free agent, they will be near the end of their career. As such, their demand for other teams will be gone.
Aside from the free agency requirement, the player asked for the introduction of Designated Hitter or DH in the National League. The reasoning behind this was to increase the demand for veteran players.
In the end, the owners and their side weren’t all that agreeable, especially on lowering the conditions to become a free agent. At the same time, the owners were ok with bringing DHs in the National League, so there is some hope.
According to some, allowing players to become free agents earlier is one of the reasons for the current MLB lockout by the owners could have been solved.
There is a discussion going on that will hopefully allow the 2022 seasons to start on the Opening Day of Mar. 31. There has been some compromising on the reasons for the current MLB lockout by the owners from both sides. Bestbaseballreviews is one of the best website you can visit for baseball information.
Yet some bigger issues such as CBA, increased payoff, and reduced free agency requirement haven’t been solved. In conclusion, the start of the season being postponed for the second time since 2019 is guaranteed.
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