The Major League Baseball Players Association offered a counterproposal Thursday to the league that includes a 70-game regular season and expanded playoffs in 2020 and 2021.
The schedule would run from July 19 through Sept. 30. According to ESPN, the union’s latest offer also calls for $50 million in playoff bonuses, a 50/50 split of new postseason television revenues in 2021, salary-advance forgiveness, use of a universal designated hitter and a mutual waiver of the right to file a grievance.
“We believe this offer represents the basis for an agreement on resumption of play,” MLBPA union chief Tony Clark said in a statement.
The MLPA proposal comes in response to the 60-game framework that MLB officials reportedly thought both sides had agreed to earlier this week.
Commissioner Rob Manfred had sounded optimistic following face-to-face talks Tuesday with Clark in Phoenix. The groundwork for a deal, which would have made July 19 or July 20 Opening Day following a three-week training camp, was set in Manfred’s opinion.
“At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours in Phoenix,” Manfred said Wednesday. “We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents.”
The union disagreed with Manfred’s assessment of the negotiations, however, with many players saying that a 60-game season was too short.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, several owners were “incensed” by the terms in the 70-game proposal by the MLBPA, which includes forgiving $170 million in upfront money players received before May 24.
Manfred has the authority, if negotiations again break off, to call for a 50-game schedule and traditional playoffs.
–Field Level Media
