MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confident owners, players will reach deal to play

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday that he’s confident the league will reach an agreement with players to play a shortened 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and claimed owners would lose up to $4 billion if the season is not played at all.

Appearing on a CNN coronavirus town hall, Manfred said he was “hopeful we will have some Major League Baseball this summer,” and that their hopes to stage an 82-game season will be dependent on the public-health situation and whether it’s safe for players and employees to return to work.

He said players will be tested for COVID-19 multiple times per week and promised a 24-hour turnaround time in results, with MLB striking a deal with a lab in Utah it typically uses for minor-league drug testing results. Manfred confirmed MLB will not shut down if a player tests positive, saying the player will be quarantined until he tests negative for COVID-19 twice in 24 hours.

“Our experts are advising us that we don’t need a 14-day quarantine,” says Manfred. “The positive indivudal will be removed from the group, quarantined, then contact tracing with the individual and point of care testing with the individuals to minimize the chance there’s been a spread.”

Owners approved a plan that would provide they and players a 50-50 split of revenues in this truncated season, which may be played in its entirety without fans, reducing revenues by about 40% to 60% per team. MLB Players’ Association executive director Tony Clark will not accept that plan, believing a pro-rated percentage of salaries was agreed upon by both sides in March.

Manfred and ownership did not present economic issues to the MLBPA in a call on Tuesday, instead laying out the specifics of player safety while playing in a pandemic; Manfred said 80 pages of health protocols covered everything from testing to the cleaning of airplanes, buses and other necessities.

“Whenever there’s a discussion about economics, people characterize it as a fight,” he said. “I have great confidence we’ll reach agreement with the players association – both on making it safe to come back to work, and the economic issues involved.”

He said he talked to the governors of all 18 states that host an MLB franchise and said “most governors expressed hopes we’d be able to use facilities, without fans,” while noting contingency plans are in place. States such as California – home to five MLB franchises – with stricter stay-at-home orders may force the league to relocate teams. Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona and Ron DeSantis of Florida both said they are prepared to welcome sports teams to play without fans beginning this month.

Roughly one month remains until teams would have to gather for a compressed spring training, and seven weeks until the hoped-for early July start – health conditions and economic harmony willing.

At stake is a significant portion of the industry’s estimated $10.7 billion in annual revenue.

“The economic effects are devastating, frankly for the clubs,” Manfred said if the season does not get off the ground. “We’re a big business but we’re a seasonal business. If we don’t play a season, the losses for the owners could approach $4 billion.”