With the clock ticking toward an immensely self-destructive major-league baseball strike, players and owners have shown promising glimmers of good sense in recent days. Maybe both sides have begun to realize that they have a third party sitting at the negotiation table, the fans.
Fan patience is not limitless, as many fans have demonstrated since the last baseball strike forced cancellation of the 1994 playoffs and World Series. Many of them–the ones who didn’t give up on the game altogether–still have bitter memories. Another strike might well chase them from the game for good.
The players union announced Monday that it would hold off on setting a strike date at least until the end of the week. There were reports Wednesday that a tentative strike date has, in fact, quietly been set: Aug. 30. But the players have stayed mum on the subject in public for fear of poisoning their progress.
Tentative agreements already have been reached on some issues, such as minimum salaries. After years of opposition by players, the union also agreed, at least in principle, to mandatory drug testing for steroids, a long-overdue breakthrough.
Both sides have shown movement on revenue sharing, a process for redistributing income from rich teams to poor teams. Tougher for players to swallow is the 50 percent “luxury tax” that owners have proposed on payrolls between $100 million and $115 million. Players don’t like that, for it would slow increases in their salaries, which now average $2.38 million.
Are some players worth that kind of money? Try explaining that to fans who feel like they have to take out a home-equity loan just to buy tickets to a game.
Baseball fans don’t have a negotiator in the talks, but they should have a presence there. If the union and management recognize that, they will find a settlement.
Will baseball go on strike Aug. 30? We fervently hope not. But if that’s the date, the timing holds some bit of good news for sports fans.
The National Football League’s regular season opens just five days later.
