Report: MLB players expected to reject 72-game season proposal
Jun 12, 2020, 1:00 PM | Updated: 1:36 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
MLB owners submitted a proposal to players Friday for a 72-game season in which players would receive 70% of their prorated salaries and 80% if the postseason is completed, USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported.
The players union has until Sunday night to make a decision on the offer. The union is expected to reject it, according to Nightengale.
It remains far from player salary demands submitted Tuesday. Players asked for full prorated salaries for an 89-game season.
According to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, the new proposal would pay players about the same they would receive from a fully prorated 50-game season.
The newest proposal from owners would have Opening Day around July 14 and the regular season end Sept. 27.
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Teams would be allowed to roster 29 players over the first month of the season.
Athletes would be allowed to opt out of playing, though they would not get paid unless they are high-risk to coronavirus infection.
The proposal expands the playoffs to as many as eight teams per league, according to Rosenthal. Wild Card playoff rounds would be best-of-three instead of a single-elimination game, according to Nightengale.
Told by a player on the new proposal "Doesn't move the needle. Unless they are willing to guarantee the money for the postseason it is the same thing. I don't see us moving off of 100% pro rated salaries. We are pretty unified on this. We can't concede here and set precedent"
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 12, 2020
Without fans, teams would miss about $640,000 in gate-related revenue for every game, according to the Associated Press.
Players were expected to earn about $4 billion in salaries this season prior to the halt caused by the coronavirus.
The newest offer would give players about $1.27 billion during the regular season and increase to about $1.5 billion if the postseason is played, according to Nightengale.
Teams continue to worry about a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall and would prefer to not have the World Series extend past October.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
