It looks like the MLB season is the latest casualty of the Covid 19 pandemic. The players' union voted down the offer by the owners of a 60 game season plus playoffs. While I am no fanatical baseball fan, I do enjoy watching an occasional game, especially when my beloved Yankees play (and beat) the hated Red Sox. But after casually following the negotiations, I have to admit some disgust with the whole process. In the event a truncated season is actually played, I'm not sure I would care about the outcome.
Greed is the proximate cause of this debacle. The owners are sitting on a virtual gold mine, yet they would not agree to pay the players 100% of their pro-rated salary during a shortened season. The owners can afford to take a one season hit on revenue. As an example, the owners of the Kansas City Royals recently sold the club for 1.1 billion dollars. They paid 96 million originally. The Yankees and Red Sox are valued in multiples of billions. Of course, some will say it is the fault of greedy players also.
It is hard to sympathized with a player whose contract calls for a salary of tens or hundreds of thousands per game. However, the players are the ones whose performances generate the revenue which accounts for the valuation of the clubs. The owners seem willing to blacken the game's reputation in order to save money. Instead of the enhanced reputation they might garner by "taking one for the team", they are counting on fans' amnesia regarding their current stance. I may be getting older, but I doubt I will forget the owners' role in this fiasco of a season.
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