Mar 29, 2021; Mesa, Arizona, USA; A general view of game action between the Chicago Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fourth inning of a spring training game at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
As we head into the final week of February, dozens of MLB All-Stars are currently unemployed. Spring training trucks sit idle in their respective Arizona/Florida cities and the only competitive baseball this month is happening at the negotiating tables between MLB and the players’ union.
Millions of Americans and Chicago Cubs fans will have to wait a bit longer to hear that crisp pop of a glove and the piercing crack of a bat that inevitably stirs up feelings of warm weather, cold beer and hot days in the Wrigley Field bleachers.
As of Wednesday, the league and union were still worlds apart on the most important issues surrounding the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Those issues, being referred to as the “core economic issues,” will shape the finances surrounding baseball for years to come.
They’re pivotal issues that will define many years of payrolls and paychecks but how they’re resolved doesn’t just affect the league itself. It also will affect the millions of fans waiting for baseball to return.
The Chicago Cubs, MLB owners need to get this lockout figured out quickly.
At the surface, Major League Baseball is thriving. The league posted a record-setting $10.7 billion in revenue in 2019 despite payrolls continuing to decrease. Media deals, increased ticket prices, and numerous other factors help the league to draw in tens of billions of dollars, and the faucet remains a steady flow. At least for now.
Looking beyond the dollar amounts, the game of baseball is struggling. America’s youth is becoming increasingly disinterested in the game. The owners and commissioner seem to have no care in the world about ensuring that future generations remain passionate about America’s Pastime.
In cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, many households don’t even have access to their local team because of blackout restrictions or major TV carriers refusing to pick up the networks that the games are on.
Ticket prices continue to soar, even among teams that are bad regularly. The average American family can afford to attend a baseball game less than ever. In 2021, the average price for a family of four to attend an MLB game was $253.
The number of black kids around the country playing baseball continues to remain low or even decline and the popularity of other sports in the US continues to increase across many demographics.
Then there sits baseball, idling its tires like the Cubs spring training truck stuck in the Colorado snow on the way to Mesa, AZ instead of doing what it can to help grow the game.