And the MLB 2020 season negotiations begin

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

It doesn't have anything to do with being "controlled by the government", whatever that means. Members of the baseball cartel are mostly private companies or individuals, so there is nothing legally requiring their disclosure of actual/audited financial info beyond their occasional "boo hoo we lose money every year" complaints.



The Barves are owned by Liberty Media, a publicly-traded company, so you can find their financials. That should be the same answer for the Jays too but I don't know how Canadian financial disclosures work.

The question regarded FOIA and that applies only to information in the government's hands.

[Brad K]

Universal DH and I'm done with baseball.

[Reed]

And now the holdup seems to be the players want a longer season. And foolish me thought it was all about the players wanting full prorated.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Reed

And now the holdup seems to be the players want a longer season. And foolish me thought it was all about the players wanting full prorated.

Well, they want full prorated salaries, but they also want more money in total. 60 games would only give them 37% of the $4 billion total they would have gotten with a normal season.

For whatever stupid reason the seasons are normally set up in such a way that the regular season is the money-maker for players, while the post-season is the money-maker for the owners, rather than both the regular and the post-season working for both players and owners. Thus, the players looking for a longer regular season right now and owners trying to ensure there actually is a post-season that isn't canceled by the coronavirus. It's a counter-productive setup to say the least.

[cephasjames]

More details on MLB's proposal: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...s-leaders-meet

The conversation between Manfred and Clark centered on a 60-game season that would start July 19 or 20 and end Sept. 27, sources told ESPN. Players would be paid their full prorated salaries -- a total of $1.5 billion, or about 37% of their full-season salaries -- and would receive another $25 million for postseason play and $33 million in forgiveness on the $170 million advance they received in the March agreement.

The postseason would expand from 10 to 16 teams for the next two seasons, and a designated hitter would be added to the National League in both years as well. The league would donate $10 million to social justice initiatives and teams would be allowed to add advertisements to their uniforms, according to sources.

In a settlement, both sides would agree to waive their right to grieve...

Yuck to the bold! Particularly when stuff like that is added, its not going to go away.

[Leo_The_Lip]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

Throughout this process I have heard the owners refuse to “open the books” but I do not know what that means? I mean, I get the implication that they don’t want to share how much they actually are profiting but my real question is how is that legal? Doesn’t that fall under FOIA? I would be curious if someone that knowns about these things could chime in.

As for the fan stuff. They will be back. I wasn’t born in 1972 but they came back. I was not old enough to remember 1981 but they came back. I vividly remember 1994 and they came back. Nothing will be different this time. Just like city tax payers will continue to fund stadiums. The fans continually take it on the chin from owners and come back begging for more.

Pretty much everything in this list is wrong:

By "books" the owners are refusing to show their 'tax return information'. If you aren't publicly traded--that is your stock is on an exchange--you don't have to reveal anyting. Think of it this way: Can I demand you post your 2019 tax filings in your response to this? No, I cannot.

As has already been posted, FOIA only applies to governments.

As to coming back, baseball was still highly popular in the years cited. Now, it is not so much. MLB attendance has been on a 12-year downward skid. There were One million more empty seats last season than 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/s...ttendance.html

Negotiations with the players need to resume. It is not at all impossible that could lead to missing 2022 due to a strike. So no baseball for 2 out of 3 years--with 2021 dependent on The Virus being whipped by a vaccine. So missing three consecutive seasons could make MLB go the way of the Federal League.

Add in minor league contraction and the loss of local baseball in many towns, and you add to the collapse potential.

I can only speak personally, but that second NHL season lost to a strike killed my interest in hockey and I doubt it will ever come back.

[low]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Universal DH and I'm done with baseball.

It's coming, sooner or later.

[Boomcoach]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Universal DH and I'm done with baseball.

I don't like the DH, but at a certain point, having two halves of the sport playing with different rules just doesn't make sense. I would prefer eliminating the DH, but I know that is just never going to happen.

[mitchkenn]

Originally Posted by Boomcoach

I don't like the DH, but at a certain point, having two halves of the sport playing with different rules just doesn't make sense. I would prefer eliminating the DH, but I know that is just never going to happen.

no they'll just eliminate the whole sport instead - at least with the way they are going lately.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

no they'll just eliminate the whole sport instead - at least with the way they are going lately.

What sport? I haven't seen any goddamn sport lately.

[madjac74]

I'm good without baseball. Its been fine just playing ootp and living life. The players have shown they could care less about playing any baseball for the fans and are only worried about their bloated salaries.

The owners are right. They wont get much revenue from fans and shouldnt have to pay players as much as they expect. I dont care if they are rich. That is just business. Companies lay hard working people off when times are tough and they cant pay them.

Many minor leaguers would jump in and play for nothing. I'm sickened by it all and wont watch if it comes back. If the minor leaguers jump in and start a league...i will watch.

[dkgo]

People who get laid off don't then keep working anyway without being paid.

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Pretty much everything in this list is wrong:

By "books" the owners are refusing to show their 'tax return information'. If you aren't publicly traded--that is your stock is on an exchange--you don't have to reveal anyting. Think of it this way: Can I demand you post your 2019 tax filings in your response to this? No, I cannot.

As has already been posted, FOIA only applies to governments.

As to coming back, baseball was still highly popular in the years cited. Now, it is not so much. MLB attendance has been on a 12-year downward skid. There were One million more empty seats last season than 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/s...ttendance.html

Negotiations with the players need to resume. It is not at all impossible that could lead to missing 2022 due to a strike. So no baseball for 2 out of 3 years--with 2021 dependent on The Virus being whipped by a vaccine. So missing three consecutive seasons could make MLB go the way of the Federal League.

Add in minor league contraction and the loss of local baseball in many towns, and you add to the collapse potential.

I can only speak personally, but that second NHL season lost to a strike killed my interest in hockey and I doubt it will ever come back.

Thank you for everyone that educated me on FOIA. I asked the question to learn, and plenty of people helped me with that. As to the article cited, I guess I need to look deeper into the situation. I’m not sold that baseball is in a worse situation fan wise than it was in any of the years I commented on before. I keep hearing about attendance records and tv deals but that may not mean that what I think it means.

[CBeisbol]

Five players and three coaches from the Phillies tested positive for coronavirus

https://twitter.com/JSalisburyNBCS/s...639866880?s=19

[bailey]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

Five players and three coaches from the Phillies tested positive for coronavirus

https://twitter.com/JSalisburyNBCS/s...639866880?s=19

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Now, I understand what that means.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by bailey

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Now, I understand what that means.

I doubt it

[cephasjames]

At the risk of getting this thread moved to OTD as well (which I have opted out of don't miss at all!), I'm beginning to wonder if COVID-19 is going to end up canceling this season in the end. I guess it depends on how seriously the league and players take it.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

At the risk of getting this thread moved to OTD as well (which I have opted out of don't miss at all!), I'm beginning to wonder if COVID-19 is going to end up canceling this season in the end. I guess it depends on how seriously the league and players take it.

40 cases among players and staff members last week
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/sta...593152512?s=19

[CBeisbol]

MLBPA rejects the latest proposal

Looks like it's up to Manfred to impose a season (when and where) or for the owners to cancel it.

[cephasjames]

MLB commissioner will impose 2020 season after failing to strike deal with union

According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, a 60-game schedule is what MLB is looking to impose.