.....major league baseball burns.Is it reaching the point where no one cares anymore?
I know I have no interest in the arguments over compensation.
I have no interest in a big spectacle of a draft for players who wont be playing anywhere, anytime soon.
I am more focused on how the rich, white guy owners have mirrored most of society in their attitudes and decisions for 100 years, and not been challenged.
That, in fact, they were granted special anti-trust privileges by a bunch of rich white judges and members of Congress.
That everyone's views were easily deflected by the fact that a number of great players of color were paid tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.
But baseball needs reform just like much of society does. The rewards are far too one-sided. The decisions far too closeted. The lies far too frequent.
And, at the moment, interest in the game..... and what happens this year..... is going up in flames.
Is there any leadership?
The owners don't want a season. Not under these conditions (no fans). It's plain. They've crunched the numbers and it's just not worth it to them. Better just to write off 2020, try to make it look like it was the player's fault, and use that at the bargaining table ahead of a new CBA. So, make offers to the players can't take. Over and over. The definition of bad faith. The themes of "baseball has an opportunity to be a hero" "Coming back soon ahead of other sports will grow the game" "the NBA and soccer will steal more market share if baseball doesn't come back" don't mean shit to the owners. They, much more than we peons, know exactly how precarious their position is in the American entertainment landscape, even prior to coronavirus. Every single one of them is calculating how best to maximize franchise value, and then to sell the franchise at top possible price, before the cable TV money bubble bursts. And burst it will. The owners know it, and they know their franchises won't be worth half of their current worth when it happens. So they are not interested in losing one dime they don't have to lose between now and then. In 2020 they've been hemorrhaging money as is. Playing games at this point, especially with no fans, means they'll lose a lot more. Baseball ain't happening in 2020. I'd love to be wrong, but don't think I am.
ReplyDeleteAddendum...the anti-trust exemption must go away. It is a mortal threat to the future of high quality, general interest professional baseball in the United States.
ReplyDeletePublius, I think you're right. That, or something similar, is what the penny pinching owners must be thinking. But I don't agree with the owners' analysis. I think they're missing out on a great chance to capitalize on the pandemic situation. Don't they know that they have a captive tv audience starved for live sports? Wouldn't the ratings be through the roof this year? Even without the fans in the seats, I think they'd make more money than if they had a printing press, to paraphrase a favorite John Sterling quote from the Toronto Sky Dome. And even if they didn't make huge profits, it would help baseball recover from the decreasing fan base. There's a lot more competition for fan's money today than thirty or forty years ago. If there's no baseball this year, the fan base will be even smaller next year. This will become a dying sport. The owners are miscalculating badly.
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