Union head: Some teams not worth price of ticket
Players’ union head Tony Clark took the extraordinary step of saying baseball fans should question whether it makes sense to purchase tickets for some teams, responding to commissioner
Rob Manfred’s assertion that freeagent players have failed to adjust their economic demands in a market upended by analytics.
Top free agents Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel remain unsigned with spring training underway.
“Markets change,” Manfred said Sunday. “We’ve had a lot of change in the game. People think about players differently. They analyze players differently. They negotiate differently.”
Clark led negotiations in 2016 for a five-year labor deal. Players have increasingly been outspoken about their unhappiness during a second straight slow free-agent market, one that has seen many veterans take significant pay cuts and others remain without deals.
“Players’ eyes don’t deceive them, nor do fans’,” Clark said in a statement Monday. “As players report to spring training and see respected veterans and valued teammates on the sidelines, they are rightfully frustrated by a two-year attack on free agency.
“Players commit to compete every pitch of every at-bat, and every inning of every game. Yet we’re operating in an environment in which an increasing number of clubs appear to be making little effort to improve their rosters, compete for a championship or justify the price of a ticket.”
Average attendance has dropped for three straight seasons and last year fell below 30,000 per game for the first time since 2003.