Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
MLB players counter, Manfred rejects offer
Baseball players proposed a 70-game regular-season schedule Thursday, a plan immediately rejected by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred with the sides 10 games and about $275 million apart on plans to start the coronavirus-delayed season.
As part of the union proposal, players would wear advertisement patches on their uniforms during all games for the first time in major league history.
“This need to be over,” Manfred said. “Until I speak with owners, I can’t give you a firm deadline.”
While the gap has narrowed, both sides remain opposed to additional concessions and the path toward an agreement remains uncertain and difficult.
“We delivered to Major League Baseball today a counter-proposal based on a 70-game regular season which, among a number of issues, includes expanded playoffs for both 2020 and 2021,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “We believe this offer represents the basis for an agreement on resumption of play.”
After Manfred met with Clark in Arizona, MLB said Wednesday that there was a framework for the season. That plan included a 60-game regular-season schedule that would have $1.48 billion in salaries plus a $25 million players’ postseason pool, people familiar with that proposal told AP.
Manfred said Clark called him Wednesday night and said he was not going to present the framework to the union’s eight-man executive subcommittee.
“I told him 70 games was simply impossible given the calendar and the public health situation, and he went ahead and made that proposal anyway,” Manfred said.
The union proposal would have $1.73 billion in salaries, plus a $50 million postseason pool, people familiar with that plan said.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcements of the details were made.
MLB’s plan would have players receive about 37% of salaries that originally totaled $4 billion, and the union’s proposal would have them get roughly 43%.
Both MLB and the union proposed starting the season on July 19, and players said it should end Sept. 30, three days later than management.
Baseball’s postseason would expand from 10 teams to 16 this year, and the two wild-card games would transform into eight best-of-three series. That would create a minimum of 14 new playoff games whose broadcast rights could be sold, and MLB would have the option of 14 or 16 postseason teams in 2021.