Baseball is dealing with its first work stoppage in almost 30 years. The current lockout, which so far has canceled opening day and some early-season games, is a lesson in the complicated business of America’s pastime.
When it comes to confusing concepts like salary arbitration and the competitive balance tax – intended to keep the highest-earning teams from dominating with money alone – the players and owners feel that what’s good for one side is bad for the other.
Why We Wrote This
Baseball was already struggling before players and owners recently reached an impasse. How the negotiations are handled could bring needed changes – or affect baseball’s viability long term.
Beyond that, the two sides – which have made some concessions this week in an effort to prevent more cancellations – are debating proposals to expand the number of teams in the playoffs, how much revenue big-market teams should share with smaller markets, and a host of rule changes from pitch clocks to bigger bases. Game play, though, is less important right now to negotiations than is revenue.
What’s ultimately good for players, owners, and fans is to stop canceling games and reach a deal, sports economists say – especially since the sport has been struggling with record low viewership.
“It’s really a game of chicken here,” says J.C. Bradbury, an expert on baseball economics at Kennesaw State University. “Who’s going to flinch first?”
Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and its players’ union have been one, two, three strikes and out – pushing the sport to its first work stoppage in almost 30 years.
The current lockout – which so far has canceled opening day and some early season games – is a lesson in the complicated business of baseball. When it comes to confusing concepts like arbitration and the competitive balance tax, the players and owners feel that…