New offer comes with Sunday deadline
Major League Baseball has offered players 80 per cent of their pro-rated salaries and a 72-game schedule beginning July 14 in an effort to start the pandemic-delayed season, according to details of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press.
Players would get 70 per cent of their pro-rated salaries during the regular season and the rest for completion of the postseason under MLB’s plan, given to the union on Friday.
The players’ last offer, on Tuesday, was for an 89-game regular season at full pro-rated pay. The union said it will convene a call of players to discuss its response, but players repeatedly have said they don’t intend to move off their stance for full pro-rated pay.
“This represents our final proposal for a 72-game season,” MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem wrote in a letter to union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer that was obtained by the AP. “You should let us know by the end of the day on June 14 whether players desire to accept it.”
MLB proposed that players be guaranteed about $1.27 billion (U.S.) in salaries, including projected earned bonuses, with an increaseto $1.45 billion if the post-season is completed. The union’s proposal would guarantee players $2.25 billion.
Before the new coronavirus caused opening day to be pushed back from March 26, salaries had been set to total $4 billion. Each side includes a $50-million post-season pool.
Players have insisted they receive 100 per cent of their prorated salaries, the terms the sides agreed to in March. But MLB told the union that playing in empty ballparks without gate revenue would cause a loss of $640,000 for each additional game played and that teams can’t afford 100 per cent prorated pay. The union has said it doubts MLB’s figures but has not received sufficient financial disclosure to make a full evaluation.
Commissioner Rob Manfred has threatened to unilaterally call for a schedule of about 50 games if teams must pay 100 per-cent pro-rated salaries. That would guarantee just under $1.25 billion, close to the new offer, without the post-season portion.
Both sides say they would agree to expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 in 2020 and 2021, but an agreement is needed for that to happen. MLB is to receive $787 million from Fox, Turner and ESPN in its current post-season format.
Expanded playoffs would create new games to sell, the total depending on the format agreed to.
Baseball’s highest-paid players, Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole, would each be guaranteed $11.2 million and have the chance to earn $12.8 million under the new plan. They would receive $19,777,778 under the union plan, down from their original $36 million salaries this year.
Aplayer at the $563,500 minimum would be guaranteed $175,311 under the MLB plan with the chance to rise to $200,356. He would get $309,577 under the union proposal.
In addition, a $50 million post-season players’ pool in each side’s proposal would result in a full share being worth about $250,000 for the World Series winner and $170,000 for the loser. Normally, tickets fund the post-season pool.
MLB has made three proposals, starting with an 82-game schedule on May 26, then cutting it to 76 on Monday and now reducing the season further. Cole and Trout each would have been guaranteed about $5.58 million under MLB’s first proposal and about $8.72 million in the second with the chance to earn $12.19 million if the post-season is completed.
Players started at 114 games on May 31 and dropped to 89 on Tuesday.