Strike?

[CoachT]

The players' decision today to put off a strike vote is encouraging for the short term but may just put the inevitable off until playoff time.

 

I know how I feel about a strike and what it will do to baseball but then I look at a guy like Tom Glavine who, as the Braves player rep, has never shown himself to be a greedy person. He didn't take himself onto the free agent path when he could have demanded huge bucks (not that he isn't doing OK where he is).

 

Where do you think they go from here?

 

PS- anyone that wants to moderate this board please send me a PM and let me know.

[Opperman]

Posted by coacht:

The players' decision today to put off a strike vote is encouraging for the short term but may just put the inevitable off until playoff time.

 

Well, the ball is in the owners' court...if they actually negotiate, there's no strike, period. If they try to stonewall the players long enough to be able to declare an impasse and impose their own terms in lieu of a CBA (their strategy in '95, overturned by the NLRB because they really weren't bargaining in good faith), the players go on strike.

 

Posted by coacht:

I know how I feel about a strike and what it will do to baseball but then I look at a guy like Tom Glavine who, as the Braves player rep, has never shown himself to be a greedy person. He didn't take himself onto the free agent path when he could have demanded huge bucks (not that he isn't doing OK where he is).

 

Well, the main problem here is the owners. They're running around crying that something's broke, but they're using *OBVIOUSLY* bogus numbers to "prove" that something's broke. According to MLB's numbers, the Cubs and Braves make less local TV/radio money than Seattle, the White Sox, and the Rangers. Seeing as how the parent companies of both teams also own the media outlets, there's some undervaluing of the revenue there. According to MLB's numbers, the Braves only made $900k more in radio/tv money than the Tigers. I realize we're closer to the Braves' target area than the Tigers', but there's no way the Tigers' media rights even compare to the Braves'.

 

The owners are trying to say the players make too much money, yet *THEIR OWN NUMBERS* say that the players are making a lower percentage of revenue now than they were in 1995. The "Non-player expenses" column has risen 134%, while player salaries have increased 113% and revenues have increased 156% in the same time span.

 

I'm not opposed to some changes if the current system really is broke, but there needs to be some real (read: no Arthur Andersen-style accounting) evidence before I'll even begin to support the owners on this issue.

 

For a site with a lot of good information about baseball's labor situation, go to http://www.baseballprospectus.com/business/ . BP is a site that publishes baseball analysis year-round, and the The Numbers series analyzes the report MLB released detailing its losses...it's definitely worth reading.

[TankTalk]

Man what a mess. And the owners can be blamed.

 

But to be honest, now that football is here, my last baseball game of the year has been watched.

[donhaney]

And a fine board.. I believe that the true culprit in this mess is our federal government. If they would come out of the 1950s and do away with MLB's antitrust exemption, you would see things clear up in a hurry. As long as MLB is playing by a different set of rules than other professional sports, there is gonna be the same old song every 5-7 years, no matter the outcome of this season.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

Strike Day has been set for August 30th. Which is the friday of Labor Day weekend...talk about hitting them where it hurts!

[Sequatchie]

Posted by TheEgoHasLanded:

Strike Day has been set for August 30th. Which is the friday of Labor Day weekend...talk about hitting them where it hurts!

 

 

Fans should start TODAY boycotting the games!

[Opperman]

Posted by TheEgoHasLanded:

Strike Day has been set for August 30th. Which is the friday of Labor Day weekend...talk about hitting them where it hurts!

 

Yep. The players made a serious concession in the negotiations yesterday morning, agreeing to a very limited payroll tax. The owners responded by staying put. That's absolute BS negotiation, and I can't fault the players for walking out. If the WS is played without a labor agreement in place, the owners *WILL* lock the players out, and the owners *WILL* impose new work rules unilaterally. A strike is the players' only recourse to try to force the owners to actually negotiate. I wish it didn't have to come to this, but as long as there's a used car salesman by the name of Selig in charge, the ownership side will be trying to break the union, not trying to come to a reasonable labor agreement.

 

And don't give me any of this "But the players make enough money already" BS...if it was me out there, I'd want to be able to make as much money as somebody was willing to pay me and not have some arbitrary limit set on it...and I think pretty much everyone else would too, whether they'll admit it or not.

[OnlineLC]

I can honestly say that I am indifferent to a baseball strike, but for those of you who think you might miss it, here is a website that offers about the same level of excitement.

 

http://www.sudftw.com/paintcam.htm

[Opperman]

Posted by OnlineLC:

I can honestly say that I am indifferent to a baseball strike, but for those of you who think you might miss it, here is a website that offers about the same level of excitement.

 

Same level of excitement for you...for those of us who actually enjoy baseball, it's a good bit more exciting than your webcam.

[donhaney]

I am a passionate baseball fan. James Earl Jones' speech in Field of Dreams pretty much sums it up, baseball has always been that one constant through the last 140 years. It saddens me greatly to see what has and is happening. I am 44 years old and obviously, my active life is past as far as athletics. I can only remember how things were when I was a little tow headed boy riding his bike to the park for a Dixie Youth game.

 

How proud I was the first time I got that real uniform, sponsored by the local Henry I. Siegel garment factory. Now the HIS plant has long closed and headed to Mexico and wearing the pinstripe uniform is but a memory as well. And when a bunch of owners, players, government etc... doesn't care about the history or importance of the game, it's really pretty sad.

 

I am drawn to baseball, from April to October, it has been a part of my life since I can remember. Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Graig Nettles, Bucky Dent, Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs.... and to think that they are about to break our hearts again... what a sad, sad thought!

[Edited by donhaney on 8-19-02 1:01P]

 

[OnlineLC]

Though I don't share all of your enthusiasm for baseball, I do understand that different sports appeal to different people. What amazes me in this current process is the fact that baseball has not yet fully recovered from the last strike and is left to compete for entertainment dollars (and time) with the NHL, NBA and NFL. Surely, anyone with sense would realize that if your sport is suffering a little and that the last thing you can afford is to bicker amongst yourselves and threaten strike for something that is losing mindshare. Like a good business, you have to create the killer product that everybody wants before you demand high financial rewards (Both management and players). All a strike will accomplish is to let people realize they can find other options to baseball and they may or may not come back after it is all over. This is a time to work together to be proponents of the game, get the revenues up and then see how the spoils would be divided.

[Opperman]

Posted by OnlineLC:

Though I don't share all of your enthusiasm for baseball, I do understand that different sports appeal to different people. What amazes me in this current process is the fact that baseball has not yet fully recovered from the last strike and is left to compete for entertainment dollars (and time) with the NHL, NBA and NFL. Surely, anyone with sense would realize that if your sport is suffering a little and that the last thing you can afford is to bicker amongst yourselves and threaten strike for something that is losing mindshare. Like a good business, you have to create the killer product that everybody wants before you demand high financial rewards (Both management and players). All a strike will accomplish is to let people realize they can find other options to baseball and they may or may not come back after it is all over. This is a time to work together to be proponents of the game, get the revenues up and then see how the spoils would be divided.

 

Baseball hasn't fully recovered from the last strike? Please explain why its attendance was at an all-time high last year and 2001 revenues were roughly double those of 1993, the last season before the strike. The sport is not suffering.

 

Baseball has ALWAYS had to compete with the NFL and NBA for time and money...the NHL isn't on the same level as those three, nor is it particularly close right now, except in certain markets.