Ideas to avoid a work stoppage in 2027.

Let the lockout happen. Baseball needs to be revamped on it's salary/contracts and a half year to a full year off may do the trick.

 

You greatly underestimate the damage missing significant games would do to the future of mlb.

It greatly harmed viewership after the last work stoppage that cost regular season games, and over half of the current MLB players were not even alive then

In the emotionally explosive era of social media that we live in, baseball would be giving itself a Mike Tyson blow to the jaw if they do that

 

There aren't enough owners who would support a long work stoppage in order to get that done. In reality many of them could care less about a salary cap. Sure they will say the right thing to the media, but many small market owners care way more about putting revenue sharing dollars in their pockets than they do actually being able to compete with high spending teams like the Dodgers

 

And yet salaries are higher than they have ever been, and mlb owners are making larger profits than they ever have

 

Except his first assistant took over and he was the lead negotiator for the previous deal

 

This 100%

Fans want to "fix" things to make all teams play in an imaginary world with no money. Everyone has a perfectly level playing field so everyone has the exact same chance

Problem is, fans don't get a vote

Owners want to make more money and most would not give up extra profits for more parity. Maybe a few would, but most would not

Players want to make more money and right now player salaries are exploding.

Owners and Players get to vote, so the thought that the #1 issue in the actual negotiations is bringing parity to MLB is simply not true

 

I agree

I would also say that if a significant portion of the 2027 season is going to be missed by a work stoppage like many think, 2028 would be an awful time to be negotiating a huge media rights deal

 

I really don't think fans are worried what harm would happen to the league. The only ones that this concerns are the owners and players and if they can't figure this out then a work stoppage is fine by me. No one cried for the players when they were making $2-$4 mil a season before and they certainly won't be with them making $25- $30 mil

 

Again, fans don’t get a vote in the CBA negotiations

The players and owners, who do get a vote, don’t care if missing games is fine by you or not. They care about the bottom line after a new CBA is agreed to

 

Exactly, so what do I care if it hurts the league somehow? My opinion is I hope they have one to sort out the mess if needed. If the owners and players don't want to "hurt" the sport then get a deal done beforehand.

 

My feelings exactly. I couldn’t care less if millionaires and billionaires can’t figure it out. As usual with pro sports somehow they managed to **** it all up and cause a stoppage, sounds like a them problem. Boo ****ing hoo. Let us know when you guys stop fighting over mountains of money and make a deal.

Sure I’ll miss the games but like anything else that goes away, and I mean this in the nicest way, if you’ve got any kind of life something always fills that void……

 

I think the better question to ask is you would prefer:

1. Baseball paper over its problems and come up with an extension or minor tweaks to their current system and buy themselves 5 more years until repeating this again.

2. Shut down for 50 or 100 games or a full season, but come out of it with a more comprehensive long-term strategy for the game.

There's no right answer here, but with what we've seen of the Dodgers the last couple of years, I'd rather shut things down and try to fix it than just do minor tweaks and always be under the threat of stoppages.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of a comprehensive fix without a work stoppage feels pretty low because both sides are going to feel they get more leverage when creating that scary deadline. And then once things ARE shutdown, there's less motivation to immediately fix it. We've seen this politically with government shutdowns these last few months. Everyone wants to force the other side to capitulate to avoid a shutdown. When it doesn't happen and life goes on for people, there's less motivation to try to stop it - until their eventually is. In November, that was Thanksgiving travel. Right now with DHS, who knows. With baseball, it would probably be when they get to the point an entire season would get cancelled.

 

The problem is leverage. The two sides can certainly talk. But both sides want to squeeze the other, and the threat of losing games is what they rely on to accomplish that. So basically, no one is going to budge from their stance until there's actually something to lose. So if one side is right that the other will eventually budge, the smart strategy is push them into a corner until they cave. The problem happens when both sides are unwilling to budge.

It's basically the prisoner's dilemma problem.

 

I honor your opinion the same, however I think what may be getting lost is that my opinion is based on a "stoppage", not a termination of the game altogether.

I did say "let us know when you guys stop fighting" and I'll miss the games". Like you I've been through stoppages, and my love of the game never goes away, but guess what, the game has always come back and me with it.

Now, if MLB did go away forever I like you would be devastated. I've just learned to cope in these times knowing it'll be back at some point. It just pisses me off to no end and you said as much with your frustration to as why they can't fix this while still playing the games.

As for filling voids, in my opinon that's for the subject that's mentally holding the door closed to relent and let what is hollow inside be filled again by what's just on the other side of that door. I had to embrace this and let my guard down, not up, to stop drinking. So, if MLB did go away I could cope, but I as you would be terribly sad about it.