It’s been over two months since the global coronavirus pandemic brought U.S. professional sports to a complete standstill. And while the major U.S. pro leagues have yet to return to action, framework for season restarts are being worked out in the NBA and NHL.
Major League Baseball — a sport that generally rules the summer months — has been unable to overcome financial disagreements between the owners and the players union. Thus far, the MLBPA is only willing to return with guaranteed prorated salaries for a shortened season.
The owners, though, wanted the players to take tiered pay reductions that would see the game’s highest-paid, most marketable players taking nearly 80 percent pay cuts.
Well, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the proposal can be blamed on the notion that some MLB owners don’t want a 2020 season played at all because a closed-door season will cost them too much money.
Are there really some #MLB owners who would prefer there not be a 2020 season?
You won't believe what @JeffPassan told us on this issue: pic.twitter.com/QjZRAHSLcZ
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) May 28, 2020
Passan said on The Rich Eisen Show:
“It’s gonna come down to the owners. I believe when the players say, ‘We want to play.’ I do actually believe that. I think there are some owners who don’t. … I think there are some owners who worry that playing is going to cost them too much. They’re gonna lose too much money. And that they would rather just punt the 2020 season. That’s a scary thing to hear.”
As disappointing as that is, the proposal from the owners did increasingly suggest that they would rather see the MLB season canceled, deflect blame onto the player and hope to make up for it when fans are allowed back.
And doing so would be completely shortsighted as it ignores the lasting damage a canceled season would inflict on the game of baseball — a sport with already-dwindling popularity.
But we should probably prepare for that scenario unless one side caves.
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