Locked Out
Baseball fans woke up Thursday morning to devastating news — Major League Baseball will experience its first labor stoppage since 1994. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that regulates how MLB, its owners, and its players function ended at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, with no new agreement in place. What is a lockout anyway?
There are two kinds of labor stoppages — a strike and a lockout. A strike is initiated by workers and their union. A lockout is initiated by management, meaning MLB owners initiated the lockout. To put it simply, a strike is just a refusal to work, but a lockout is a refusal to allow work to be done.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) released statements blaming each other for the lockdown. Commissioner Rob Manfred blamed the MLBPA for the lockout and claimed that the players were “unwilling to move from their starting position, compromise, or collaborate on solutions.”
The MLBPA quickly retaliated, accusing the owners of pressuring players to forfeit rights and abandoning good faith negotiation proposals that would benefit the players, the game and the industry as a whole.
A lockout in MLB means free agency will come to a standstill, despite the fact that some major players would still be available. A lockout also means no trades and during the lockout, players may not use team facilities.
Money is at the root of the dispute. MLB is a $10 billion a year industry, and the allocation of that $10 billion is the greatest issue. The lockout will probably end once the MLB and the MLBPA sort out the money situation.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
