MLB owners make sliding wage scale proposal to players

UPDATE 5/27, 11:51 p.m.: It’s safe to say the players are not pleased with this offer.

Major League Baseball owners and players are negotiating terms for starting the 2020 season, and after much hubbub, the owners have provided their latest economics proposal to the players. The offer does not include the much-panned revenue sharing split, but does include a sliding scale of compensation that would cut salaries of higher paid players the most, and lower paid players the least, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has been adamant about not accepting a revenue sharing system because it would inherently cap salaries. MLB has not had a salary cap, and even amidst some questionable owner decisions in recent seasons, the union prides itself on never having allowed a salary cap to be instituted.

This offer would be a pay cut for players on top of the pay cut they agreed to in March. At that point, the players and owners agreed on a universal agreement for restarting the season once the health and safety issues were resolved. However, there was language in the deal for further discussions if fans were not allowed into stadiums, which would cut into revenues.

This is just the start of negotiations, and there will be questions on both sides about the offer. Some players view this as a way to split the union, according to Jon Heyman. There is no firm deadline for getting a deal done, but regular reports have indicated a deal needs to be done in the next week or so to begin the regular season the first week of July.