Soon, the closing costs became real: Max Scherzer would lose $232,975 for every day lost in the regular season, and Gerrit Cole would lose $193,548.
Based on last year’s base salaries of just over $3.8 billion, Major League players will lose $20.5 million for each day wiped off their regular season’s 186-day schedule.
Major League Baseball told the players’ union that a working agreement must be reached by Monday so that opening day can begin as scheduled on March 31 and the 162-game season remain. The union did not say if it thought that deadline, and there will likely be some leeway depending on the timing after the 1990 shutdown, the 1994-95 strike and the postponement of the pandemic into 2020.
Talks resumed this week in the second longest layoff in baseball history, which began on December 2.
A player in management’s minimum $630,000 will lose $3,387 for each day he’s not on the big league roster, up to $4,167 under the league’s minimum bid of $775,000.
While medical insurance will expire after March 31 for players in major leagues when last season ends, the federation will pay Cobra payments to continue its coverage and will also cover support normally paid for medical coverage for former players.
It’s hard to calculate what 30-team owners would lose if they lost games, but a similar amount is likely. While players received about half of the industry’s $9.7 billion in revenue in 2019 (a percentage that includes spending on draft picks and international amateurs), they are paid during the regular season, and teams take a large percentage of the revenue from the post-season period. .
For players, the cost is obvious: they each get 1/186 of their base salary every day.
Scherzer and Cole are members of the union’s eight-man sub-executive committee, which oversees the negotiations. Among other things in the Union Leadership Kit, the daily rate is $172,043 for Francisco Lindor, $134,409 for Marcus Simin, $75,269 for Zac Britton, $32,258 for James Paxton and $20,161 for Jason Castro . Andrew Miller, the other member, is among hundreds of players who remained unsigned before the transaction freeze that began with the shutdown began.
Downtime costs will be compounded in future seasons by Major League service time that will not be accrued. Once you miss 15 days of the regular season, free agent eligibility for some players will be delayed by one year unless management agrees to give credit in a definitive agreement, which it hasn’t done in the past.
This will delay free agent eligibility for Shohei Ohtani from 2023 to 2024, Pete Alonso from 2024 to 2025, Jake Cronenworth from 2025 to 2026, and Jonathan India from 2026 to 2027.
Others at risk of free agency delays after 15 lost days – players currently with major league service expiring in .000 days – include Tejay Anton, Jordan Hicks, Christian Jaffer, Brad Keeler, Isaiah Keener Valiva, Chris Badack, Brady Singer, Andrew Vaughn and Garrett Whitlock.
In Lindor’s case, due to deferred compensation in his contract, he will lose money this year and a contract from now. He will lose $145,161 per day of the $27 million he owes this season and $26,882 per day of the $5 million owed on July 1, 2032.
Players may also find it more difficult to access clauses in their contracts to guarantee future seasons resulting from stats such as board appearances, games and roles, but the two sides have agreed to split those clauses in previous settlements.
Clubs will lose broadcast revenue and ticket money, although the impact is somewhat lopsided. Some teams make less profit from the April games than they produce in the summer, and there are likely to be different contractual arrangements regarding streaming broadcast fees, credits, refunds, and late/forfeited payments.
Additionally, a large percentage of broadcast revenue is earmarked for post-season. MLB gave the union a slide two years ago that the contracts required $787 million in media money from the 2020 postseason: $370 million from Fox, $310 million from Turner, $27 million from ESPN, $30 million from MLB Network and $50 million from international and others. .
The prospect of a somewhat extended hiatus will likely result in lower ticket sales among fans who are apprehensive about buying tickets for games that may not be played.
There is no public knowledge of debt financing between clubs and the amount of increased liabilities during a pandemic that has caused a huge loss of revenue.
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