No MLB leaves Globe Life Field as little more than 2020’s most-costly graduation hall
Globe Life Field officially opened for business Friday afternoon with the first event at the Texas Rangers’ new home.
It wasn’t a Rangers game. It wasn’t a concert or a boat show or a tractor pull.
The record will show that the first event held at the $1.2 billion ballpark was a commencement ceremony for the graduating seniors from Singley Academy, one of four high schools in the Irving Independent School District.
Put that one in the memory bank, trivia buffs.
And good for the Class of 2020. Graduating from high school is a huge deal and deserving of a grand sendoff to the next chapter in life.
It would have never happened, at least not at Globe Life Field, had the coronavirus not made its way to the United States, spread like wildfire, shut down society, and forced Major League Baseball to postpone the 2020 season indefinitely.
If not for the pandemic, the Rangers would have opened a three-game home series Friday night against the Oakland A’s.
But because of the pandemic, and the resulting aftermath, baseball might not be played at Globe Life Field until next spring.
MLB and the MLB Players Association must agree on how to safely play games amid the threat of contracting COVID-19. That makes sense, and it would be an easy sell to bag a season by erring on the side of caution.
The two sides must also come to terms on player compensation. To lose a season over money would be an impossible sell.
Yet, here we are, watching as the sides joust over dollars and cents, billions of them, very publicly through the media. It’s been ugly, and it’s only going to get worse.
The owners have come up with two proposals, both of them low-ball offers bound to be rejected by the players and bound to turn public sentiment against the players if they were to reject it.
The union was so vocal against the first proposal, a revenue split, that owners never forwarded it to the players for consideration. The owners sent another Tuesday, one that cuts salaries on a sliding scale.
All players would see a further pay cut from the one they accepted in late March, when they agreed to a prorated salary based on games played. Under the owners’ new plan some players might see their pay reduced by 80% from the original contract they signed with their clubs.
Some also believe the sliding scale, which would still pay the highest-paid players handsomely, is a way to cause disharmony in the union as they return to the negotiating table next year for a new collective bargaining agreement.
That plan is another non-starter for the players.
The players did not give owners a proposal Friday. They reportedly are seeking a longer season of around 100 games, as opposed to 82, and want to hold ownership to the deal everyone signed in March.
Owners say they are losing money, lots of it. They definitely aren’t making as much money as they would like. Of course, the union will be wary of the owners’ cry for financial help as long as they refuse to share their accounting to prove just how much money is going down the drain.
However, it’s not all down the drain yet. There is still TV money to be had, especially if the season reaches the postseason without a second COVID-19 wave shuttering the season first.
Some ticket revenue might be possible later in the season once more states follow Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead in allowing 25% capacity at sports events in Texas.
Remember, some money is better than no money at all.
Remember, too, that MLB made $10.7 billion in 2019. They made a mere $10.3 billion in 2018. Billions and billions were made in each prior season, too.
Where did that money go?
That’s a fair question, and one players likely want answered.
One thing is certain: They didn’t see any of it despite making most of it for the owners by playing the games that serve as product to the consumer.
Both sides should also know that a financial impasse would crush the potential the long-term effect that could come with baseball’s return.
New fans can be reached as many people continue to shun public gatherings and crave live sports. That means the potential for more tickets, merchandise and hot dogs sold, not today, but down the road.
Baseball would be the only show in town, so to speak, though the NHL and NBA have plans to hold playoffs over this summer. But the first sports fix for fans nationwide would be baseball, and in a fairly large window before the NHL and NBA resume.
Ultimately, the belief here is that an agreement will be reached and games will be played this year at Globe Life Field.
Common sense says the smart thing to do is to play and try to make as much money as possible. There are smart people on both sides who can see the damage they could be doing to themselves and to the sport if the season were to be lost over money.
There are also still enough people around the game who remember what the 1994 strike did to baseball. The sport can’t afford to lose an entire season, at least not over something as ugly as money at a time when there are 40 million newly-unemployed Americans.
Yet, here we are.
