Unlike the other professional sports leagues attempting to restart in North American amid the ongoing pandemic, things are not going swimmingly for Major League Baseball.
Owners sent for a financial proposal to players earlier this month. To say that the players were not happy with said proposal would be an understatement. In addition to taking prorated salaries for a truncated 82-game season, the league would like for players to take further pay cuts.
At issue here is the fact that owners are claiming they would take a $4 billion revenue hit simply by playing games without fans in attendance this season. The New York Yankees themselves would take the largest hit.
As part of their counter to MLB’s offer, the MLBPA told its members in a memo on Friday that they are demanding that the league reveal its finances pertaining to said $4 billion revenue hit.
The gap between what MLB has offered and what the players want can be summed up in what Los Angeles Angeles star Mike Trout would earn under the league’s proposal.
Trout was slated to make $36 million for a full 162-game slate this season. Under MLB’s proposal, he’d earn just under $5.6 million.
No one is going to feel too bad for millionaires playing a game and earning north of $5 million during the ongoing pandemic-related financial downturn.
With that said, we’re also seeing billionaire owners furlough employees at a crazy clip when said furloughs don’t impact their bottom lines all that much.
Either way, it would be an incredibly bad look for both the players and the league if the 2020 season is canceled. Both would look greedy given the current economic circumstances in the United States and around the world.