After failing to agree with the players on a new contract yesterday, Rob Manfred was asked by reporters how his sport was going to compete with other entertainment options for ball fans , who do not have an infinite leisure dollar.
And the question is relevant: how to get out of it?
During the last work stoppage in 1994-1995, it took several years, racing the circuits of 1998 and steroids to bring fun back to the world of sport.
But in 2022, Rob Manfred cannot wait several years. He will have to find a solution quickly to bring the fun back to the place.
Will it go through bullets that travel farther? This is my prediction.
After all, at the moment, popular opinion does not favor the management side at all. Even the big baseball journalists have been positioning themselves in favor of the players for the past few days.
The major-league owners had every advantage, and still it wasn’t enough. Column: https://t.co/Zyt2aSW8MU
—Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 2, 2022
Baseball is not dying, but it is fading.
“At the very least, MLB did discover on Tuesday what it takes to get mentioned on ESPN.”
✍️ @ByMcCullough https://t.co/Fpw37rUHWZ
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 2, 2022
MLB did this. The owners’ arrogance. The mistreatment of players. As the league threatens to turn its lockout into a canceled Opening Day, the story of how something so very avoidable grew into Rob Manfred’s disastrous outcome.
Free and unlocked at ESPN:https://t.co/5WXA1tCHSl pic.twitter.com/HuAZgvZsrp
—Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 28, 2022
With the players who will fight for their rights, we understand that the techniques used by MLB are unfair. Starting with cutting the players’ press conference in the middle of the MLB Network broadcast yesterday…
Blue Jays union rep Ross Stripling has also explained to Sportsnet how unfair the limit imposed by the owners was.
so frustrating 😠 #mlb #BlueJays https://t.co/7fAfTrND5O pic.twitter.com/ktclql0t6u
—Joe Siddall (@SiddallJoe) March 2, 2022
But the real question in all of this is whether baseball fans will be upset over this work stoppage.
After all, right now ball fans want to plan trips to Arizona and Florida. They want to open MLB.tv in order to put in the background a Pamplemousses game at 1 p.m. and es Cactus at 4 p.m. while working. They want a normal season after 24 intense months in the company.
But the bosses sparked a lockout (which wasn’t mandatory since both parties can negotiate without work stoppage from the owners) and they haven’t submitted an offer to the players for weeks.
The latter, of course, are angry.
The last time there was a work stoppage, Twitter didn’t exist. Players couldn’t instantly give their thoughts on the situation to millions online.
This time, MLB players have social media. And they are using it to their advantage.
✍️ @Britt_Ghirolihttps://t.co/5uGG5MH3MC pic.twitter.com/0vDO1D45oL
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) March 2, 2022
Why act like this? Why didn’t you negotiate before? These are legitimate questions.
How is MLB going to recover from all of this, then? I really do not know. It will be necessary to rebuild a bond of trust with the supporters, which is more difficult to do than to say, clearly.
In fact, you know what? There is a solution to begin to mend the broken pots: get along quickly. Negotiate in good faith and save the 150+ games left in the season.
But don’t hold your breath: it might not happen quickly.
