When Does The Lockout End? Answer: March 10th, 2022

[Thurston Fluff]

Just read this piece that gives a general overview of what both sides have proposed in the lead up to the talks starting this week. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-union-to-meet-thursday-hold-first-substantive-negotiations-since-lockout-began-171356237.html

[TURBO]

Just read this piece that gives a general overview of what both sides have proposed in the lead up to the talks starting this week. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-union-to-meet-thursday-hold-first-substantive-negotiations-since-lockout-began-171356237.html

 

"Among other miscellaneous proposals, the league would package a universal designated hitter with its version of the expanded postseason, and the union pitched allowing the league to put advertisement patches on uniforms to generate further revenue."

 

I HATE the idea of advertisement patches. Just hate it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm fine with advertising patches depending on how much David Gruber is willing to pay.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, it's actually kind of fun watching NBA games and seeing which teams are able to get kushy sponsor patches & which teams have to settle for like, Chico's Bail Bonds, or whatever.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I don't care about a patch as long as it doesn't dominate the uniform. I don't even notice them on the NBA uniforms

[NievesNoNO]

I don't care what they come up with. It's all Monopoly money to most of us. I don't care for advertising patches, but really it's just the next step before the teams don't even use the city names anymore. It's coming: American Family Brewers vs Advocate Health Care Cubs. With all the digital type technology, I wouldn't think sponsors care much about uniforms anymore. Can't they just do the rotating logo thing on the TV broadcast or something?

 

Owners to players: You must adhere to the uniform standard

Owners in discussion: Hey, what do you think about slapping some cheesy looking advertising patches all over our uniforms so they look like an old school youth bowling shirt for a few extra dollars?

 

Maybe you could get away with making a NASCAR comparison. It'd be way better if the players got the uniform adverting deals and got to slap whatever they wanted on them. Walk up music will be changed to advertising jingles, etc.

 

Anyway, I don't think it'll carry on into the season. Hopefully they're all smart enough not to let that happen.

[Thurston Fluff]

Maybe you could get away with making a NASCAR comparison. It'd be way better if the players got the uniform adverting deals and got to slap whatever they wanted on them. Walk up music will be changed to advertising jingles, etc.

 

I can see it now. The star slugger hits a walk off home run then in the post game interview he says something to the effect of "the Pennzoil bat was performing well all day so I thought lets get this game over with. After I hit it I just started jogging in my Bank One shoes. I'll tell you what, when I touched the Hartford insurance home plate I was so excited I almost peed my Brooks Brothers pants."

[sveumrules]

Kinda reminds me of the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japanese League. I always thought that was like thee craziest name. How & why would you even ever want to fight ham in the first place?

 

Then I found out a company called Nippon Ham owns the team & they are Fighters of no specific meat.

[JohnBriggs12]

Back in 1980, both sides agreed to punt as a strike loomed, putting off the issue for another year by extending the contract in effect for one year. It turned out all that did was harden their positions and the 1981 season was disrupted in the middle of summer with a 2 and a half month strike. I just hope they can get some kind of agreement before any of the season is lost. There's certainly middle ground on the substantive issues. Baseball only has so much goodwill left.

[Oxy]

How hard would it be to freeze out the owners and start a new league? I mean, I've recently seen commercials for a new USFL that will start this spring....which is like the 8th pro football league in the last 20 years--and that is while the NFL is actually going on...

 

It's not like this is a super serious post as I realize that the infrastructure in place gives MLB a few advantages...but a lot of those advantages go up in smoke if enough lawyers and TV producers talk real quick like to the MLBPA...

[MrTPlush]

How hard would it be to freeze out the owners and start a new league? I mean, I've recently seen commercials for a new USFL that will start this spring....which is like the 8th pro football league in the last 20 years--and that is while the NFL is actually going on...

 

It's not like this is a super serious post as I realize that the infrastructure in place gives MLB a few advantages...but a lot of those advantages go up in smoke if enough lawyers and TV producers talk real quick like to the MLBPA...

 

A literal zero percent chance. Infrastructure that MLB controls makes it impossible, especially if they can hold MiLB stadiums hostage on top of it.

[monty57]

How hard would it be to freeze out the owners and start a new league? I mean, I've recently seen commercials for a new USFL that will start this spring....which is like the 8th pro football league in the last 20 years--and that is while the NFL is actually going on...

 

It's not like this is a super serious post as I realize that the infrastructure in place gives MLB a few advantages...but a lot of those advantages go up in smoke if enough lawyers and TV producers talk real quick like to the MLBPA...

 

Right now there are winter leagues going on. How many people do you think set their schedule to make sure they don't miss those games? I've flipped to some on TV, and there are generally very few fans in the stands. Fans watch the MLB and their favorite team, most don't just tune in because it's baseball. Players will make far less money playing for the Carolina Gigantes instead of the San Francisco Giants?

 

The players could have Saul Goodman representing them in their negotiations, and they'd still end up much better off than they would be by trying to start a league to compete with MLB. I'd guess the owners would laugh if the union said "we took a vote and the MLBPA members are no longer going to play for the MLB, the union members will play in a start up league." They'd sign the pact, essentially ending the union's presence in the MLB, would have their attorneys write up some new rules and would start calling the players and telling them to drop out of the MLBPA and come back to the new union-free MLB.

[areacodes]

I don't care what they come up with. It's all Monopoly money to most of us. I don't care for advertising patches, but really it's just the next step before the teams don't even use the city names anymore. It's coming: American Family Brewers vs Advocate Health Care Cubs. With all the digital type technology, I wouldn't think sponsors care much about uniforms anymore. Can't they just do the rotating logo thing on the TV broadcast or something?

 

This hypothetical scenario seems way over the top to me. Have NBA teams started removing city names and replaced them with sponsors? What about the Premier League? Their uniforms are covered in sponsors and they haven’t removed city/traditional names.

 

Owners to players: You must adhere to the uniform standard

Owners in discussion: Hey, what do you think about slapping some cheesy looking advertising patches all over our uniforms so they look like an old school youth bowling shirt for a few extra dollars?

 

Per the yahoo article above, didn’t the Union propose that to the owners?

[tmwiese55]

Fine with patches and small things like on NBA jerseys. Heck even a bit more I wouldn't mind. But one thing I've always not understood or turned me off on his europeon soccer jerseys that legit are just the sponsors name across the chest in the center. Like a Messi jersey says Rakuten across the chest rather than "Real Madrid" or whoever he plays for.

 

Don't want it to look like a Nascar car but normal traditional team stuff across the chest but throw a few logos on sleeves, shoulder, collar area, etc it won't bother me. Just think most have a Nike or UA type logo on them and we don't even notice. What's the big deal on one or two others.

[monty57]

While I'd rather not have sponsor names all over the jerseys, I care less about that than I do about things that actually change the game, like runners on second in extra innings, moving the mound back, changing the ball, eliminating shifts, etc.

[Oxy]

How hard would it be to freeze out the owners and start a new league? I mean, I've recently seen commercials for a new USFL that will start this spring....which is like the 8th pro football league in the last 20 years--and that is while the NFL is actually going on...

 

It's not like this is a super serious post as I realize that the infrastructure in place gives MLB a few advantages...but a lot of those advantages go up in smoke if enough lawyers and TV producers talk real quick like to the MLBPA...

 

A literal zero percent chance. Infrastructure that MLB controls makes it impossible, especially if they can hold MiLB stadiums hostage on top of it.

 

A zero percent chance seems low. I guess I'm not sure if they can hold MLB stadiums hostage....plus a new league could maximize star power and partially eliminate poor franchises (unfortunately...that means MKE loses at least half a franchise). So you cut it back to an action packed, star packed 20 team league...2 franchises each in NY, CHI, LA, and the BAY area, then BOS, PHI, DAL, HOU, ATL get a team and then 7 franchises rotate between the rest of the neglected small markets (so, MIL/MIN share a team, STL/KC share a team, SEA/SD share a team, DEN/PHO share a team, CIN/DET share a team, CLE/PIT share a team, BAL/WAS share a team.....screw FLA. They can have Spring training). And by "share a team" I mean they play half their home series in each city. This would equal out the TV and gate revenues for each team/market.

 

Seems like a winner to me.

[jerichoholicninja]

The only way the majority of players would do it would be if they would be getting paid the same. There's no way a new league could raise the capital to pay the current stars or even second tier stars of MLB their current salary. You would basically have a league made up of the bottom half of every 40 man and AAA roster. That's not gonna be a great draw.

[Thurston Fluff]

The only way a new league could make it is if the players started one IMHO. If they did I think it could not only survive but overtake MLB.

[Dean Machine]

The only way a new league could make it is if the players started one IMHO. If they did I think it could not only survive but overtake MLB.

 

The in-fighting would be great watching them try to figure out a salary structure. I don't see anyway where you could get that many people to agree to anything.

[DuWayne Steurer]

logistics would be a nightmare. would never get off the ground.

[JackNicholson1974]

Would you rather watch a league full of the current players, with different or no owners and different team names or would you rather watch a league with the current owners and team names but with replacement players?

 

I know logistics would be a nightmare and that it is 98% unlikely, but thinking outside the box, if the "players" owned the teams, collectively, like a co-op of some sort and hired financial managers with fiduciary duties to the players were hired and paid very well to run the teams finances, it could be done.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Would you rather watch a league full of the current players, with different or no owners and different team names or would you rather watch a league with the current owners and team names but with replacement players?

 

I know logistics would be a nightmare and that it is 98% unlikely, but thinking outside the box, if the "players" owned the teams, collectively, like a co-op of some sort and hired financial managers with fiduciary duties to the players were hired and paid very well to run the teams finances, it could be done.

 

 

Where are they going to play? Who's going to run/own the minor leagues? Which network is going to break their deal with MLB and broadcast games? How quickly could they get all this done? These guys aren't going to give up a year or two of their careers to get a start up league of the ground to 'stick it to the owners', because there's no way you just put the massive infrastructure for baseball in place overnight.

 

They're going to hammer out a deal, both sides will give concessions, and we'll be watching baseball soon enough.

[NievesNoNO]

 

They're going to hammer out a deal, both sides will give concessions, and we'll be watching baseball soon enough.

 

 

Agreed. Both sides are doing just fine financially. They'll tweak some things and be back on the field shortly I think as well.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I was surprised at how close the respective positions are relative to my expectations. I had assumed (based entirely just on gut sense) that there was a massive gulf.

 

Of course, being relatively close doesn't matter if both sides are also very dug in, but it was a small note of hope for reaching some sort of deal before the season gets pushed back too far. I'd say I've adjusted my priors to assume a long delay (missing a month of baseball) is more unlikely.

[Austin Tatious]

Apparently, the owners’ proposal included an international draft. I didn’t see an explanation on how it would be arranged. If it is in the same order as the regular amateur draft (rule 4, I think), the high picking teams could essentially draft two highly ranked players, one from the amateur pool, and one from the international pool. That seems like too much of an advantage. They’d need to mix it up somehow, IMO.