The start of the professional baseball league (MLB) season will not take place on March 31 as planned, due to the lack of an agreement between the players’ union (MLBPA) and the franchise owners, on the terms of a new collective agreement. “We will not be able to play the first two series of the regular season and these matches are officially canceledMLB boss Rob Manfred announced Tuesday at a press conference in Jupiter, Florida.
The two sides had until Tuesday afternoon to reach common ground, after nine days of deadlocked negotiations, failing which the league threatened to cancel the league opener as scheduled. Negotiations have stalled as the players’ union rejected the owners’ latest offer to end the “lock-outwhich was decreed on December 2, when the last collective agreement expired.
Ongoing disagreements include the sharing of ticketing revenue, the cap on players’ payroll, their minimum wage, their tax rate, the period during which they may be eligible for salary arbitration and, in terms of sports, the extension of the number of play-off matches. “Our position is that players will not be paid for matches that are not playedManfred said of the canceled fixtures.
