Major League Baseball owners are, once again, jeopardizing the sport they run.
It was the MLB owners who decided to lockout the players and exercise what they thought was leverage.
The MLBPA seems to be dug into their position and they should be.
The MLB owners seem to think that baseball holds a place in America that it no longer has. It was evicted out of the number one sport in the country a generation ago. It’s been replaced by the NFL and, no matter how much that league proves to be the home of the Neanderthal, it isn’t going to lose the number one spot anytime soon.
That’s part of the reason why locking the players out doesn’t provide the leverage the owners think it does. The current generation and generations to come don’t hold the league in their heart. In an era of highlights, social media hot takes, and players controlling their own brand, MLB owners still won’t acknowledge the value of their players being a partner ala the NBA.
Again, the NFL is the exception not the rule.
Leagues that think they can operate in that heavy-handed fashion are being unrealistic about their position.
Heck, at least, the NBA has taken advantage of the growing footprint of gambling and it’s value added in popularity. And, even though the NFL, won’t admit it, it plays even a bigger role in that sport’s popularity.
MLB thinks the way to increase popularity is to do buffoonish things like starting a guy on second in extra innings and having a pitcher’s clock. Oye…
The answer is simple. You need to develop a partnership with the players and leverage the changing societal opinion on gambling.
It almost seems too simple… if only the MLB owners could read.
