Two US sports appear to be headed for “Labor Hell”. Major League Baseball has a CBA that expires proximally to the end of this year’s World Series and if the reporting on the positions for the two sides is accurate, a lockout or a strike seems likely. Since lockouts and strikes are weapons of one side but not the other, let me refer here to “work stoppages” as a neutral term that shows support for and heaps blame upon both sides at the same time.
The owners and the players will assert – loudly to be sure – that they do not want a work stoppage, but it is the intransigence of the other guys that has brought the blight upon us. Deal with that rhetoric when it comes as you will; here is truth:
- Much as the players and the owners protest that they do not want a work stoppage, fans and networks want one even less.
- Fans lose something that they enjoy – – even love; that is why they are fans; that is why they spend discretionary income on “baseball stuff”; they are the economic engine of the sport itself.
- Networks lose something tangible – – the ability to fill a lot of airtime with programming that is attractive to a reliable audience.
We are about 9 months away from the expiration date for the MLB/MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. Already the major battle line is clear:
- Owners want a salary cap – – and some also want a salary floor.
- Players want a salary cap like most folks want abdominal surgery.
That is the conundrum that needs to be resolved in the next nine months to avoid a work stoppage. Rhetoric won’t do it; serious negotiation will.
Here is a key element that needs to be on the back burner as the negotiations proceed:
- Baseball is entertainment. Lack of baseball is not entertainment. Entertainment is something people seek. Players and owners should have a joint interest in continuing to provide entertainment to people lest they seek and find entertainment elsewhere.
I am on record saying that a salary cap and a salary floor will be a benefit to baseball because it will create more competitive balance. Notice, I did not say that I like a “cap-and-floor” because I think the owners are right or that the players are wrong; I think it will improve and enhance baseball; and in my mind that is an unalloyed “good thing”.
The other American sport that is on the precipice of a work stoppage is the WNBA. Those folks find themselves in an unusual situation; this is their offseason and there will be two new expansion teams in the league if/when it starts up, but there is no CBA and the two sides are still “far apart”. About a week ago, the league told the players that there is a deadline coming up soon and if there is no resolution by that deadline there will need to be changes to the 2026 season. I have no idea how rigid such a deadline is – – if it is reality in the first place; nonetheless, it is out there. That deadline is March 10th or eight days from today.
Tentatively, the WNBA season is scheduled to start on May 8th and between now and then, here is a short list of the things that need to be done:
- Negotiations produce a CBA
- Players and owners ratify the CBA
- There needs to be a free agency period for players without a contract
- There needs to be an expansion team draft
- There needs to be a league wide draft for college players moving up
- There needs to be Training Camp time
When I look at that list of things that need to happen by May 8th for the WNBA season to start on time, the “deadline” of March 10th for negotiations to conclude starts to make a bit of sense. I seriously hope that the WNBA players do not overplay their hand here; women’s pro basketball has started to “catch on” in the US; it is still a minor sport to be sure, but it is growing; it is not stagnant. However, like baseball, the WNBA is entertainment and the risk for the WNBA to lose “entertainment seekers” is greater than for baseball which has been part of the sports cosmos in the US for more than 125 years.
Over the weekend, CBSSports.com had a report on the status of the negotiations; here is a link to that report. Indeed, money is the core issue here but there are ancillary issues in this negotiation that are probably not present in the baseball talks.
Finally, an observation by Teddy Roosevelt that might pertain if either of these situations turns into a work stoppage:
“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………