Major league owners made their latest pitch to players Monday: a 76-game season, but not at the prorated salaries on which the players have held firm.
The players would make a collective $200 million more than they would if the league imposed a 50-game season, a person familiar with the proposal told The Times. The owners also pledged to remove free-agent compensation this winter, meaning a team signing a free agent would not have to surrender draft picks in return.
But the owners' proposal translates to the players getting 75% of prorated salaries, with a critical caveat: If the postseason is not completed for any reason _ most likely a second wave of the coronavirus _ the players would instead get 50% of prorated salaries. That would erase the collective $200 million gain.
The players' union is unlikely to accept the proposal. The players could counter with an offer of their own, or the owners could impose a shorter season of about 50 games. So long as the owners pay the prorated salaries provided in a March 26 agreement, that agreement also allows owners to set the schedule.
The players could argue the owners did not negotiate in good faith, but that would require a grievance that likely would be heard long after games would resume.
As the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer have announced plans to return, MLB owners and players have spent a month arguing about how baseball should return. The owners proposed an 82-game schedule with a sliding scale of pay cuts; the players rejected that. The players proposed a 114-game schedule with full prorated salaries; the owners rejected that.
MLB also floated the concept of 50-50 revenue sharing for this season only, in part given the uncertainty of whether fans might attend games at any point this season; the players shot down that idea because of concerns over exactly what revenue would be shared, and MLB never formally proposed it.
