The collective bargaining agreement between the league's owners and the MLB Players Association expires at the beginning of December, and negotiations are expected to be contentious.In fact, the two sides have already exchanged preliminary proposals and based on the response from both sides, they are very far apart.
And not moving closer.MLB's official account on X posted Thursday afternoon about their proposal to reconstruct the structure of the league in order to make owners more money, and predictably, the players aren't happy about it.In a remarkable combination of inaccurate weaponized propaganda, the post claims that "Ultimately the game is about hope," which is both nonsense and inaccurate."Too many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win," it continues.MLB'S SALARY CAP PROPOSAL WON'T FIX THE LEAGUE'S NON-EXISTENT COMPETITIVE BALANCE PROBLEMS"Fans overwhelmingly support a salary cap and floor like in the other leagues because they don't believe a $446 million spending gap from top to bottom is a fair fight," the post reads.
With the "fans" portion of the sentence purposefully in bold."Our proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together.Further, revenue from all local media will be centralized and shared equally, which will allow MLB to address local market blackouts.
We look forward to working with the MLBPA during the bargaining process to continue improving the game for the fans."Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to the media before a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Francisco Giants at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wis., on May 25, 2023.(Stacy Revere/Getty Images)And this is why fans themselves might shoulder some of the blame for the inevitable lockout.
Because the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Los Angeles Dodgers has allowed the league and its owners to make the claim that fans care how reven...