After the Major League Baseball Players’ Association made a public statement that it will no longer negotiate terms for a 2020 season with the league, MLB came back with comments of its own Saturday.

Here is MLB’s statement, in full:

“We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play after MLB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, Clubs and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MLBPA understands that the agreement reached on March 26th was premised on the parties’ mutual understanding that the players would be paid their full salaries only if play resumed in front of fans, and that another negotiation was to take place if Clubs could not generate the billions of dollars of ticket revenue required to pay players.

The MLBPA’s position that players are entitled to virtually all the revenue from a 2020 season played without fans is not fair to the thousands of other baseball employees that Clubs and our office are supporting financially during this very difficult 2020 season. We will evaluate the Union’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the March Agreement, and after consulting with ownership, determine the best course to bring baseball back to our fans.”

The league’s statement follows a statement by the MLBPA that said further dialogue between the parties would be “futile” and that it’s “time to get back to work.”

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman added late Saturday that some owners around the league are fine with scrapping the season.

Source: Sportsnet.ca

Powered by NewsAPI.org