NFL
By: Billy Lewis
As we inch closer to February, Major League Baseball is still in the midst of a lockout. Once the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement ended on December 1, 2021, at 11:59 pm, the owners decided to lockout the players. It is MLB’s first work stoppage since 1994, which cut the 1994 season short, and canceled the World Series.
Sadly, this lockout was not surprising. Looking back to how MLB’s return to play was handled during the Covid-shortened 2020 season, the lockout felt imminent. In 2020, the Owners were concerned with the lack of revenue due to fans not being allowed into stadiums. They were tone-deaf during the return to play in 2020 when it was clear money was the cause for their delayed start.
Towards the end of December Variety released the “Top 100 Telecasts of 2021”. As could be expected last year’s Super Bowl featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the top-rated telecast of the year, getting over 92 million viewers. The top 100 is littered with NFL games, playoffs, or regular season, it is clear that America loves its Football. The top-rated MLB telecast of 2021? World Series Game 6 between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves, which finished as the 40th most-watched telecast with just over 14 million views.
Major League Baseball Should Sell Itself
Commissioner Rob Manfred has been trying to find ways to bring in a younger audience. He seems to forget that baseball is a wonderful game that has been able to captivate an audience for more than a century. Yes, analytics has put a damper on how some fans view “America’s Pastime.” It can feel like there is a lot of time with no action during a game because of the “strikeout or home run” approach. Overall it is still a great game that many love.
One of the best ways to gain new fans would be to get more people into the ballpark to see a game. As a Yankee fan, there is almost nothing better than spending a summer day or night at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, going to a game can be quite expensive. Instead of worrying about gimmicks to speed up the game, Manfred should work on a way to make games more accessible to fans.
Usually, as the calendar turns deep into January we can start looking forward to pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training. As it stands now, the Yankees would be scheduled to play their first Spring Training game on February 26. With pitchers and catchers typically reporting around Valentine’s day, that leaves MLB and the union a little under a month to reach a deal to keep its typical schedule.
Major League Baseball May Alienate Fans
Since the December 2 lockout MLB and the union have met once. In that meeting on January 13, MLB gave its new CBA proposal. The next move was to wait for the union’s counter. However, that was a week ago and they have still not met. But hey, according to Jon Heyman, the players union is preparing to present its counter!
The players union is preparing a response to MLB’s recent proposal to be delivered within days. MLB made an offer to curtail service time manipulation and tanking and pay players w/2-plus years of service time more. Players were disappointed the biggest issues weren’t address.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 19, 2022
I have to imagine Manfred sees how much of a negative impact a lockout would have on baseball. If the lockout cuts into the regular season, which is scheduled to begin March 31, Manfred could almost say goodbye to the would-be fans. Even worse, MLB will more than likely alienate the loyal fan base it already has.
When the owners locked out the players on December, 2, Manfred was quick to release a letter about the lockout. Reading his letter it feels as though he is vilifying the Players’ Association.
“Despite the league’s best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26 year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01am ET on December 2.”
He also goes on to say that he hoped the lockout would jumpstart the negotiations for the new CBA. However, if that was his hope, why did he wait almost six weeks to have the two sides meet? The MLB and union should have been negotiating, or at the very least meeting since early December.
Remaining Optimistic
Since they have so much to lose by missing time, I have to believe the owners and union will reach a deal before it gets to that point. I refuse to believe both sides think they would be able to withstand an extended lockout. Would baseball cease to exist? No, but it would certainly lose its mainstream prowess.
During baseball’s struggle to come to an agreement during the return to play in 2020, the owners were dragging their feet because they were going to have to pay the players but would be missing out on the revenue from fans. However, if they don’t come to an agreement this go around, they’ll be losing money when fans would be allowed in the stands.
Though Spring Training will more than likely be delayed, I still believe they will come to an agreement before any Regular Season games are missed. In the end, they have far too much to lose to not have cooler heads prevail.
