80 game season with expanded playoffs, starting in July

[Andy]

I actually am with the owners in just one very specific respect - I don't see the draw in trying to cram in 114 games and extending the regular season another month past when it usually ends.

Hopefully it lands in the 75-80 range with the full prorated salaries.

[chopsx9]

I actually am with the owners in just one very specific respect - I don't see the draw in trying to cram in 114 games and extending the regular season another month past when it usually ends.

Hopefully it lands in the 75-80 range with the full prorated salaries.

I think they have all but admitted that number is there as a negotiating ploy - "okay fine we'll drop our demand for 114 games in exchange for..." whatever.

[jersey cubs fan]

just do a bigass tournament

The opposing pitcher from Rookie of the Year wins it

[cl smooth]

how would night games work if cities are setting curfews?

[David]

how would night games work if cities are setting curfews?

if the situation is such that curfews are still necessary a month from now, there are far bigger problems than that.

[cl smooth]

how would night games work if cities are setting curfews?

if the situation is such that curfews are still necessary a month from now, there are far bigger problems than that.

i was just talking out loud. i'm indifferent about baseball in 2020 due to obvious reasons.

[CubColtPacer]

Did the players miss an opportunity here? Haven't they only been getting around 40% of the revenue the last few years? What if they had turned around and said, ok we will do a 50/50 split, but we want to lock that in for 10 years. I understand their reluctance for a salary cap, but more money seems good however they accomplish it, and a short-term hit for a year or two is made up by huge gains after that.

[squally1313]

Did the players miss an opportunity here? Haven't they only been getting around 40% of the revenue the last few years? What if they had turned around and said, ok we will do a 50/50 split, but we want to lock that in for 10 years. I understand their reluctance for a salary cap, but more money seems good however they accomplish it, and a short-term hit for a year or two is made up by huge gains after that.

A 50/50 split of what

[Andy]

Did the players miss an opportunity here? Haven't they only been getting around 40% of the revenue the last few years? What if they had turned around and said, ok we will do a 50/50 split, but we want to lock that in for 10 years. I understand their reluctance for a salary cap, but more money seems good however they accomplish it, and a short-term hit for a year or two is made up by huge gains after that.

They'd be getting a 50/50 split of the fake numbers the owners crap out to make it look like they somehow lose money every single year while their franchise values double every decade or less.

[CubColtPacer]

Did the players miss an opportunity here? Haven't they only been getting around 40% of the revenue the last few years? What if they had turned around and said, ok we will do a 50/50 split, but we want to lock that in for 10 years. I understand their reluctance for a salary cap, but more money seems good however they accomplish it, and a short-term hit for a year or two is made up by huge gains after that.

They'd be getting a 50/50 split of the fake numbers the owners crap out to make it look like they somehow lose money every single year while their franchise values double every decade or less.

That's a good point, although the current revenue split that is estimated are based off those same numbers.

I think in this case the owners beat them to the punch on messaging though. If there is no season the players are likely getting the most blame, and that has less to do with the facts and more to do with how simple the owners pitch sounds.

[Andy]

Did the players miss an opportunity here? Haven't they only been getting around 40% of the revenue the last few years? What if they had turned around and said, ok we will do a 50/50 split, but we want to lock that in for 10 years. I understand their reluctance for a salary cap, but more money seems good however they accomplish it, and a short-term hit for a year or two is made up by huge gains after that.

They'd be getting a 50/50 split of the fake numbers the owners crap out to make it look like they somehow lose money every single year while their franchise values double every decade or less.

That's a good point, although the current revenue split that is estimated are based off those same numbers.

I think in this case the owners beat them to the punch on messaging though. If there is no season the players are likely getting the most blame, and that has less to do with the facts and more to do with how simple the owners pitch sounds.

I agree the players will take much of the public blame if there is no season. Unfortunately I don't know what can be done about that. I hope the players do get a deal done, as long as it's something resembling fair. I'm not going to get to go to a baseball game this year anyway, so I'd rather there be no season than the players get screwed (or screw themselves) again.

[Bertz]

Thought this was a good detailed breakdown, but the long story short looks is this:

In other words, the owners’ proposed salary-reduction scheme looks like a clever sleight-of-hand designed to cause a shortened season — in the midst of a life-changing pandemic for millions of Americans — to essentially give them the same profit as they made during a full season in the midst of a baseball boom.

[Cubswin11]

Bang up job, horsefeathering morons. Gonna miss out on an opportunity to potentially grow the game and building long term equity (what most owners should care about more) over not losing cash this year. Missing a year this year and whatever happens in 2 years is going to kill any sort of growth they could’ve picked up on by being the first sport back. Now even if they come back they’ll be going up against the NBA and be NFL/CFF starting. horsefeathering Manfred.

[UMFan83]

Sucks if we lose the season...either massive overhaul for the Cubs in the winter or we’re looking at one last season for the core as we know it.

Also how devastating would it be to launch the Marquee Network during a year with no games? Would also mean no agreement with Comcast meaning their potential audience will be 50% less than anticipated and actual viewership will be like 10% of what they were hoping for. Given how cash strapped the Ricketts pretend to be, they might not even shell out for a Javy extension.

I mean would it be that shocking to see a fire sale and a Theoless rebuild kick off because PTR is crying poor? Probably a little extreme but who knows?

[Andy]

Sucks if we lose the season...either massive overhaul for the Cubs in the winter or we’re looking at one last season for the core as we know it.

Also how devastating would it be to launch the Marquee Network during a year with no games? Would also mean no agreement with Comcast meaning their potential audience will be 50% less than anticipated and actual viewership will be like 10% of what they were hoping for. Given how cash strapped the Ricketts pretend to be, they might not even shell out for a Javy extension.

I mean would it be that shocking to see a fire sale and a Theoless rebuild kick off because PTR is crying poor? Probably a little extreme but who knows?

I've always completely expected to see a post-2021 fire sale anyway, no matter what BS Ricketts said about consistent contention.

[Brian]

I still think there is just too much money in Wrigleyville and the network to do a full on tank. They are going to need people at and around Wrigley and watching games.

edit - also, man this is grim. No season in '20 is going to not help the labor relations for '22. By the mid '20s juicing will be mandatory to save the game.

[Andy]

If the owners would drop this ridiculous 'we have to cut even more if the playoffs don't end up happening', I think this would actually be close to a fair compromise.

[squally1313]

https://twitter.com/karlravechespn/status/1270005587242295310



If the owners would drop this ridiculous 'we have to cut even more if the playoffs don't end up happening', I think this would actually be close to a fair compromise.

It gives them some of what they were looking for, but ultimately you're still looking at roughly 1/3rd of the salaries for almost half the games. This new proposal seems to be abandoning the earlier strategy of winning the support/vote of the lower paid guys if they are just cutting everyone's by the same percent.

[Cubswin11]

They don’t seem that far apart, looking at it from this perspective. Make it ~70 games off of this and let’s go.

[17 Seconds]

just do a bigass tournament

The opposing pitcher from Rookie of the Year wins it

how many famous asses did you think of before you came up with the rookie of the year reference?

[jersey cubs fan]

just do a bigass tournament

The opposing pitcher from Rookie of the Year wins it

how many famous asses did you think of before you came up with the rookie of the year reference?

JLo and that’s it

[Cubswin11]

At least they’re moving closer on amount of games played. 65-70 games with expanded playoffs and it fully pro-rated but with 10-20% of the pro-rated amount escrowed and/or paid back over a 2-3 year period will be my guess on where they end up.


Also, apparently, the networks want the regular season done by September 27th. The 89 games and original 114 proposal by the players was never realistic if that’s a firm date. There’s 85 days between July 4 (which they may have horsefeathers up hitting as a start date at this point) and September 27.

[squally1313]

I think they've got like, a day or two to get this done if they still want any hope of July 4 as a start date (outside of the fact that starting this schedule on a Saturday isn't exactly ideal). I've heard at least 3 weeks of ramp up time, especially for pitchers, and you can't just snap your fingers and have everyone suddenly be at the spring training facility.

[CubinNY]

[Andy]

Another new offer from the owners.

72 games at 70 percent pro rata, 80 if the postseason is completed.

Seems to be some movement in the players' direction.