Major changes looming for minors
Major changes looming for minors
Seismic shift in baseball, as we know it
Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.
The story broke late Sunday night, confirming what I wrote about sometime ago in this newsletter; minor League baseball players will unionize. The Major League Baseball Players Association, as reported on several media sites, has been lobbying the minor league players to become a part of the MLBPA. An all-day Zoom session was held with the minor league players on Monday.
You can bank on the minor league players moving to unionize. The MLBPA would not have gone to this length, unless it knew the minor leaguers would support this effort. You can also bank on MLB knowing this day was going to happen. Otherwise, why would the owners not have stepped up this season and offered more amenities to the minor league players, such as increased wages, paying for their housing accommodations, wi-fi, clubhouse dues and providing an extra team bus for away games.
There is also more at play here. Remember, the minor league players settled a lawsuit with the owners, worth tens of millions of dollars, even after lawyers fees. Plus, Congress will soon have hearings on why MLB consolidated several minor league franchises two seasons ago, when it assumed total control and operation of the minor leagues. Now MLB’s antitrust exemption is under scrutiny.
What will be the end result of this? We may not know for a year or two, but I am predicting - as I have written before - you can expect more consolidation of the minor leagues, as MLB increasingly turns to collegiate baseball as a feeder system similar to football, basketball and hockey.
I still say it may come down to MLB operating just two minor league clubs for each big league team at the AAA and AA level. I have had scouts tell me MLB will also hang on to one A team. Currently they each have two. Regardless, any effort to consolidate will be challenged in court by the MLBPA, but they could be wasting their resources on that battle.
Also expect a stepped up effort to resolve the Oakland and Tampa Bay stadium issues. By stepped up, I mean as soon as the end of this year. MLB wants those two situations settled, so they can expand by two more clubs. With two expansion franchises expected to net the owners more than $4B to divvy up, plus the ancillary revenue realized from two more teams, they need to move now, particulary with a questionable economy that could jeopardize any idea of building new ballparks. Two more big league clubs also means more minor league clubs.
So the clock is ticking, and it will be fascinating to watch at what time the sport strikes midnight.
Been there, done that
Could not help but enjoy reading Rob Biertemphel’s story in The Athletic (pay wall) about being a mascot (“Al Tuna”) for the Altoona Curve minor league baseball team. It brought back memories of being a mascot one night, during my two-year tenure, broadcasting games for the Kinston Blue Jays. The season was 1984 and the owner of the club, who always wanted to be a broadcaster, said I could be the Blue Jays mascot and he would broadcast the game for one night.
Just as Biertemphel writes about his experience, I can agree it was hot in that Blue Jays costume. In North Carolina, most nights are hot and humid and this night was no exception, as the Winston-Salem Red Sox were in town. What I remember most, however, was Sam Horn, who would eventually go on to play for the Boston Red Sox, repeatedly yelling at me: “I know who you are! I know who you are!”
After the game, I revealed my identity to Horn and we both got a good laugh out of it.
The NFL returns
The NFL’s regular season does not start until next week, but as always, the preseason games are drawing solid ratings on TV, even though they may be “down” some. NFL exhibition games, even those whose ratings are considered “down,” do better than most regular season games in other sports. Throw in more states are permitting the legalization of betting on even preseason games, and you have the recipe for ratings that are the envy other sports. Football and television remain the perfect marriage.
Well, that is it for this week’s newsletter. There will not be a newsletter next week, but it will return in two weeks. As always, thank you for your support and for those in the USA, enjoy the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
SPORTSCASTER DAN