Had the coronavirus pandemic not postponed the start of the MLB season, the Minnesota Twins would’ve had 41 games in the books already. But the waiting continues along with the pandemic, and every game that is wiped off the books is another chunk of revenue lost.
On Monday, MLB team owners agreed on a revenue-sharing proposal that would see league revenue split 50-50 with the Major League Baseball Players Association, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
The #MLB proposal that was agreed upon among the owners and submitted to the union now calls for a 50-50 revenue split. https://t.co/iG7fd7PN4k
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 11, 2020
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that owners will meet with union reps on Tuesday to discuss the proposal. Nightengale adds that a previous deal featured the union agreeing to have players received pro-rated salaries based on how much of the season is played.
MLB owners have approved a proposal for the 2020 season to present to the players’ union, source tells The Athletic. Meeting expected between union and league tomorrow.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2020
Revenue losses would be even more extreme if fans aren’t allowed to attend games.
The proposal, per Nightengale, also includes scheduling details for an 82-game season. In the case of the Twins, they would only play teams from the AL Central Division – the White Sox, Indians, Royals and Tigers – and the NL Central Division – the Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Cardinals and Pirates.
As ex-Twin third baseman Trevor Plouffe reported last week, the return-to-play proposal would see a second iteration of spring training happen in June with hopes of beginning the season in early July.
Nightengale says the playoffs would also be expanded from 10 to 14 teams and all teams would use a designated hitter, meaning games played in NL ballparks wouldn’t see pitchers bat.
“There is a very, very serious effort led by Commissionor Rob Manfred, and the owners to find a path to play baseball in 2020,” Twins President Dave St. Peter told Dave Lee on the WCCO Radio Monday morning. “I’m increasingly optimistic that there will be a path to play, but exactly where that path leads remains to be seen.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is also scheduled to talk over the phone Monday at 5:45 p.m. with Manfred. Walz has said that fans returning to large sporting events will be one of the last things allowed over the course of the pandemic.
“Now is when it starts to get serious,” tweeted ESPN’s Jeff Passan. “And we’ll know soon enough if baseball is actually coming back in 2020.”
