Major League Baseball players, owners, and the game have a golden opportunity in front of them if they do not piss it away.
It is May 13, and we have not had a live sporting event in over two months. As the number of worldwide deaths due to COVID-19 approaches 300,000, and approximately 25 million others are risking their lives every day to treat and serve patients, it makes my whining about missing sports seem selfish and ignorant. I am grateful for all the frontline folks, from the medical personnel to the grocery workers, to the truck drivers, to the Amazon, or GrubHub, or any other delivery service people.
But that does not make me miss sports any less. Not to mention baseball is the one that flows strongest in my veins. I wait through every God-forsaken winter, the longest five months of the year, with cold sweats and shakes, keeping focused on a baseball-sized light at the end of the tunnel. However, this April 2020, came and went without any relief from my withdrawal.
These are the days that I should be having dinner late every night because I was coaching my son’s little league team since I rushed home from work to get him to either his game or practice. These are the nights that I need to be staying up too late watching MLB. These are the mornings I want to be chatting with co-workers about the previous night’s highlights or missed opportunities.
I love baseball—a lot.
But in real life, we don’t always get what we want, and for me, that means right now we haven’t had our little league draft or a single practice, and my beloved Red Sox are about six weeks overdue for opening day. My dynasty baseball teams are not even a distraction. No college, or high school, or beer-league-old-guys-like-me softball. Instead, it is a whole lot of remote teaching (I am a high school teacher), remote learning (2 kids), and never-ending patience with my overloaded internet service. Lately, my only reprieve, like so many others, I am sure, has been binge-watching Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix, although I have enjoyed watching the KBO recently.
Finally, this past Monday, May 11, news emerged that MLB owners approved a proposal to restart the 2020 season and would be sending the proposal to the MLB Players’ Association on Tuesday. The hope for all sports fans worldwide began mounting that a Spring Training 2.0 in a few weeks, and Opening Day “around” Independence Day was feasible!
“This is beautiful,” I thought to myself, knowing that I will not be going back to work until August at the earliest, I could now quench my thirst for having my beloved baseball reboot the 2020 season. Even though the proposal includes playing in empty stadiums, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, I would be able to watch a lot of games right my couch. That also got me thinking, “this might be a chance for baseball to revive itself.” At home, parched for sports, many people who have written off baseball as a dying sport might be ready to give it another taste, if only to re-hydrate until their game of choice returns.
So, what could baseball do to sink their Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud coated claws into those new or returning eyeballs? Well, I am sure each team has a battalion of highly skilled, highly paid marketing executives who spend their days coming up with ways to sell their franchise. Those folks would be far better at this than me, but here are my ideas:
- Schedule at least two-day games each day. One with a noon (ET) start and one with a 4:00 (ET) start. Put them on MLB Network, or better yet, put them on network tv so that anyone who wants to can watch. If you have not scrolled the daytime television offerings lately, trust me, there is nothing there to offer any competition for ratings.
- Between innings, split the screen between sponsor ads and some old school baseball entertainment: jugglers, stilt walkers, Max Patkin types, sausage races, San Diego Chickens, and the like.
- Between innings could also be a chance for the more personable players to channel their inner Rick Dempsey and provide some of the entertainment themselves. I know it is not in everyone’s wheelhouse, but as players try to market themselves, a little levity goes a long way. I was a 12-year-old when Dempsey was pulling his antics in the early 80s, and I still remember loving it.
- Along the same lines could be blooper clips.
- Baseball has always done an excellent job of honoring heroes at the stadiums, however, rarely are they shown on the broadcasts. Show them! Especially now.
- Have a handful of frontline workers at each game and give them the VIP experience. Have a team ambassador sit with them (at a social distance).
- Fourth of July is canceled, yet MLB is eyeing a return around July 4. It seems like there should be some ways to capitalize on that, especially if they are the first sport to return.
Again, this is not my field of expertise, so I am sure there are many more, much better ideas than these, but I will offer mine to the league free of charge.
But the response from the players’ association does not seem as optimistic as one would hope. In his USA Today article earlier today Bob Nightengale writes:
“Agent Scott Boras, who represents about 100 major-league players, told USA TODAY Sports that all of his players are prepared to play right now and are willing to squeeze in as many as 124 regular-season games through October.
On one condition.
They will not accept a penny less than the prorated salaries they agreed to follow negotiations with the owners on March 26.”
Back on March 26, I thought Amazon was going to deliver my jumbo pack of Charmin ultra-strong, and many of us were under the belief that we would be back to normal the following week. The circumstances have changed, and the players’ lack of awareness of that comes across as tone-deaf at best.
I used to bust my son’s chops about his shortsightedness. When given an option, he would choose 10 minutes of playtime before dinner over 30 minutes of playtime after dinner every time, because he wanted the right-now immediate gratification, even if it meant a net loss later. He has since matured into a more prudent 11-year-old who can see the value of taking a short-term loss for a long-term payoff. Can the MLBPA be more obtuse than a child?
Judging by Blake Snell’s comments today on his twitch channel, he sure seems like he could be as out of touch as can be. “I’m not splitting no revenue; I want all mine.”
“Bro, y’all gotta understand too, cause y’all gonna be like, ‘Bro, Blake, play for the love of the game, man! What’s wrong with you, bro? Money should not be a thing.’
“Bro, I’m risking my life, what do you mean it should not be a thing, it should a hundred percent be a thing. If I’m gonna play I should be getting the money I signed to be getting paid. I should not be getting half of what I’m getting paid because the season’s cut in half, on top of a 33% cut of the half that’s already there — so I’m really getting, like, 25% — on top of that, it’s getting taxed.”
Mr. Snell does not seem to understand that not playing means he will not be paid at all. Something is always better than nothing. Snell would be due $7 million this year, and at this point he is looking at potentially stepping onto the mound a total of 16 times — tops— if the league plays the discussed 82 game season. His poor-mouth cries will fall on deaf ears compared to the concessionaires, ushers, and parking attendants who will remain unemployed while he is “risking his life” out on the mound.
Both sides are discussing the losses they will be taking this year, and yes, they will bear losses. Open your eyes, boys! In an environment where so many people are making life-altering sacrifices, such as:
- Families are emptying their savings accounts just to survive during this pandemic.
- Dairy and egg farmers are dumping millions of eggs and gallons of milk every day.
- More than 36 million people across the country have applied for unemployment, and that number continues to grow.
MLB owners and players alike will take far more of a loss if they ostracize more sports fans by complaining that their multi-million-dollar salaries get cut for a year.
As I understand it, those dairy farmers are first giving away millions of gallons a day to the needy, even while they are wondering if they will be able to make ends meet themselves.
I hope all involved in the MLB decision making give it long consideration and view it from every angle. I love baseball, and this could either be the Death Knell or Elixir of Life.
Feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @gsully8.