The Major League Baseball Players’ Association is done negotiating with the MLB owners, and have asked for the league to set a schedule for the 2020 season rather than accept or offer a counterproposal to the 72-game season at 75 percent pro-rated salary the league recently proposed.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark released a statement on Saturday night that said, “further dialogue with the league would be futile. It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where.”
The union’s lead negotiator, Bruce Meyer, sent a letter to MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem that demanded the league inform them of plans by the close of business on Monday, June 15, per ESPN.
An agreement between the players and owners back in March allows MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally schedule a season for however many games he sees fit with players receiving full prorated salaries.
It is that same March agreement that has been at the heart of the labor dispute between the owners and players. The players have argued that they agreed to full prorated salaries for a shortened season at the time and refuse to take any additional pay cuts.
The owners, however, argue that there was an understanding if the season were to be played without fans additional cuts would be on the table.
The MLB responded to Clark with their own statement late Saturday night:
“We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play after LMB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, Clubs and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read. “The MLBPA understands that the agreement reached on March 26th was premised on the parties’ mutual understanding that the players would be paid their full salaries only if play resumed in front of fans, and that another negotiation was to take place if Clubs could not generate the billions of dollars of ticket revenue required to pay players.
“The MLBPA’s position that players are entitled to virtually all the revenue from a 2020 season played without fans is not fair to the thousands of other baseball employees that Clubs and our office are supporting financially during this very difficult 2020 season. We will evaluate the Union’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the March Agreement, and after consulting with ownership, determine the best course to bring baseball back to our fans.”
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM Sports
Twitter | Facebook I Instagram