2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion Thread

[AdamGreenwood]

TV revenue is one of the biggest revenue streams that gets shared through revenue sharing, so anything the Dodgers and the biggest markets would pull in this year would still be shared as normal to the clubs with lesser TV deals. Shouldn't be a problem.


However, teams should be quite worried down the road that TV deals are going to be drying up to a point. People are simply cutting the cord on cable TV and choosing streaming options far more often these days. The multi-billion dollar local TV deals are likely a thing of the past.

I don't think so. Live sports is heavily in demand for advertisers. It's one of the few things, you can't illegally download or stream to avoid all of the commercials.

[itaos]

I don't think so. Live sports is heavily in demand for advertisers. It's one of the few things, you can't illegally download or stream to avoid all of the commercials.

Thankfully this is not true, love my live sports streamed without commercials.

[John_Havok]

I don't think so. Live sports is heavily in demand for advertisers. It's one of the few things, you can't illegally download or stream to avoid all of the commercials.

It’s not about that, it’s about people not wanting to pay what cable companies charge for their subscriptions, and the subsequent sports packages. More and more viewership every year is switching to streaming services for sports consumption. Not the illegal stuff, the legal ones. People don’t want to pay for shit they don’t use anymore.

[connorp]

Thankfully this is not true, love my live sports streamed without commercials.

Is the viewing experience that much better? Games are formatted for commercial breaks, so either you’re going to change the channel for the break, or ignore the tv for that time. If you just like the quiet visuals, turn the commercials on mute lol

[AdamGreenwood]

Thankfully this is not true, love my live sports streamed without commercials.

Live sports have commercial breaks built in. What exactly happens during your live-sports streams?

[Spanky99]

Live sports have commercial breaks built in. What exactly happens during your live-sports streams?

*Commercial Break in Progress*

[itaos]

Is the viewing experience that much better? Games are formatted for commercial breaks, so either you’re going to change the channel for the break, or ignore the tv for that time. If you just like the quiet visuals, turn the commercials on mute lol

I tend to have games on in the background when I'm working. So not hearing the same Gronk commercial at an elevated volume repeatedly is nice. Missing the food commercials helps cut down on snacking too.

[Spanky99]

I tend to have games on in the background when I'm working. So not hearing the same Gronk commercial at an elevated volume repeatedly is nice. Missing the food commercials helps cut down on snacking too.

The latter is truth. Commercial in progress works so well.

[John_Havok]

Live sports have commercial breaks built in. What exactly happens during your live-sports streams?

There’s just a timed gap with stuff on the screen that says “commercial in progress.” MLB used to put short highlights on from years past to fill those gaps, but they don’t anymore.

[jerb]

Jeff Passan
@JeffPassan

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association plan to hold a bargaining session Thursday, sources tell ESPN. MLB is expected to make a core-economics proposal at the session, which would be the first between the sides since the league locked out the players on Dec. 2.

[Jimcanuck]

'bout frigging time

The delay is just tactics by the owners.

[John_Havok]

'bout frigging time

The delay is just tactics by the owners.

Yeah. If I was the negotiator for the PA, i would have been putting out a tweet or release every day stating that he/they were ready to negotiate and has reached out to the owners, waiting for their reply - while of course knowing they wouldn't.

Obvious tactic to try and keep public sentiment on their side, but can be quite effective.

[Grant77]

MLB is expected to offer an increase in minimum salary to 600-700k and some superficial changes to qualifying offers. They are not going to address service time concerns at all.

The PA is going to love that.

[John_Havok]

MLB is expected to offer an increase in minimum salary to 600-700k and some superficial changes to qualifying offers. They are not going to address service time concerns at all.

The PA is going to love that.

Yeah, that's a laughable increase. Last season the minimum was 575,000 and likely would have increased to 590,000 on it's own due to the built in way it already increased. If they even think an extra 10K is some massive gesture... they're smoking the good shit.

[AdamGreenwood]

Most of the stuff seems like small potatoes.
The two big things are:

Minimum/Maximum salaries:
The two sides still seem pretty far apart on these. Sounds like the owners are OK adding a pretty heft minimum, but despite this the union still wants a huge boost to the maximum. They should recognize the average team spend will get a massive boost from the minimum alone and accept a smaller maximum increase.

COVID
They really have to address what happens to player salaries in the event that:
1) Games are cancelled: I think currently this is pro-rated.
2) Public is not allowed in, or attendance is restricted. The union should share the revenue loss in this instance, since the owners will get far less revenue. I haven't heard this mentioned at all.

[Brownie19]

Yeah, that's a laughable increase. Last season the minimum was 575,000 and likely would have increased to 590,000 on it's own due to the built in way it already increased. If they even think an extra 10K is some massive gesture... they're smoking the good shit.

I mean $700,000 from $575,000 is still a 21.7% increase. I guess you could argue it's been too low forever and a 50% increase is appropriate, but if they got to the high end of that report, it's not awful. I don't think you can expect the Owners to agree to some massive increase all in one year. I could see them setting it at $700K, with yearly escalation clauses that allow it to approach the 'right' number over the next 5-10 years. $700K with a 5% annual increase gets them to $1M in 8 years.