Late Saturday night, Rob Manfred didn’t try to hide his exasperation.
“This is my world, and welcome to it,” he said.
Manfred, Major League Baseball’s lead negotiator, was responding to an earlier exchange between reporters and union leader Donald Fehr.
It began on a conference call, when one reporter told Fehr that Manfred had released the players union’s proposed transfer in revenue sharing, saying it was $172 million in 2003 and $195 million, $217 million and $240 million in subsequent years. “Those numbers are not right,” Fehr said. “I don’t know where [they] get their numbers.”
But later in the call, Fehr said the correct numbers were $172.3 million, $195.6 million, $219 million and $242 million.
That’s a total difference of $4.9 million over a four-year span in which the sport stands to generate more than $15 billion in revenue. Against that backdrop, Manfred and MLB’s negotiators privately wonder if Fehr and the MLB Players Association are capable of closing a deal at the bargaining table.
See the chart below for the latest proposals from both sides.
— Phil Rogers
What’s on the table
Luxury tax
Owners: Currently proposing a $107 million threshold for four years. The first time a team went over the threshold, it would be taxed at a rate of 35 percent, which could grow to 40, 45 and 50 percent if it again crossed the threshold in subsequent years. Based on 2001 salary figures, this proposal would yield about $195 million in taxes over four years, with seven teams paying. The New York Yankees would face about $107 million in taxes.
Players: On Saturday dropped their threshold figure to $125 million in 2003, $135 million in ’04 and $145 million in ’05. The rate would be 15 percent in ’03, 20 percent in ’04 and ’05, with “repeat offender” provisions that would increase the rate to 25 percent if a team was over in both ’03 and ’04 and to 30 percent if it went over for the second time in ’04 or 40 percent if it was over for the third time in ’05. Based on 2001 numbers, this proposal would yield about $27.4 million in taxes, affecting only the Yankees and Texas. The Yankees would be taxed about $26.4 million.
Revenue sharing
Owners: Have proposed increasing the amount of local revenue that is shared to $263 million per year. That figure was $169 million in 2001. Want to use a straight-pool method, with each team contributing the same percentage. That method hits high-revenue teams the heaviest.
Players: While they had agreed to $236 million per year, on Saturday they introduced a phase-in schedule that would yield $172.3 million in 2003, $195.6 million in ’04, $219 million in ’05 and $242 million in ’06. The players said in an internal memo that they have agreed to the straight pool.
Length of agreement
Owners: Proposing four-year agreement.
Players: Also proposing four-year agreement, but have agreed to have a luxury tax only in the first three years. The status of a tax in 2006, the final year of a deal, seems important to both sides.
Steroid testing
Elements of this deal are unclear. Players have strengthened their original proposal for random testing, which was made Aug. 8. According to sources, the deal now covers some supplements and so-called recreational drugs, along with illegal steroids. The union’s proposal, however, calls for testing only for “reasonable cause” after 2004 if no more than 5 percent of players test positive in 2003-04. Owners want to see the level of usage deemed acceptable lowered.
Worldwide draft
Players have agreed to the concept of an international draft, which for the first time would include players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, but many details remain to be worked out. According to MLB negotiator Rob Manfred, the union continues to insist on the draft lasting only 16 rounds. MLB currently drafts for 50 rounds among eligible players from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It’s possible both sides will agree to have their differences resolved by a study committee or an arbitrator.
Contraction
Owners remain intent on eliminating two of the 30 franchises, with Montreal and Minnesota the ones most clearly targeted. In the settlement of a lawsuit, MLB agreed to allow the Twins to play at least through 2003. It appears unlikely any teams will be eliminated before the 2003 season. The union could get MLB to drop, or delay, the folding of any franchises.
— Phil Rogers
