GAME OVER! "I don't like it. People won't be able to come to these games anymore, and I don't like that". A sad nine - year - old fan voices his concerns on the 1994 major League Baseball strike. The '94 baseball season has come to an abrupt end. Players have ceased play because they feel they are being treated unfairly with the owner's plan to impose a salary cap. Owners are finding it difficult to come to terms with their own disagreements. Small market teams are rising to power with their demands while large market team owners are finding it hard to deal with the teams and their issues, while still trying to please the players. In essence, it is a three - way battle between the two si ...view middle of the document...
The main concern the owners have is that players salaries are eating up an increased percentage of the owners revenues. Small market owners are now insisting that all twenty-eight ball clubs share their income equally, not only to maintain parity in the league, but also so the smaller clubs can survive.Money began disappearing from baseball in 1989 when owners, found guilty of collusion, boycotted free agent markets, and were ordered to pay players 10.5 million dollars. Then, in 1990, a huge television deal was set that was going to accumulate more than one - billion dollars throughout major league baseball. The TV package failed, and the owners lost all the money they were counting on. Finally, in 1992, Fay Vincent, the commissioner of baseball at the time, tried to intervene and help out with labor negotiations, only to be forced to resign by the owners who thought he was out of his place. Now, there is not a commissioner to resolve any problems that baseball has. At this moment, small market teams are coming into control. Last January, the small market owners introduced a revenue - sharing proposal by threatening the big market teams to share radio income with the small market teams. The plan would only be set forth if players agreed to a salary cap, which is where they are now.The large market teams such as Los Angeles, both New York teams, and both Chicago teams, are disregarding the smaller teams problems. They do not believe revenue should be shared among teams. They say it's a business. Revenue sharing would break the business. The truth is that teams with smaller revenues cannot keep up with players salaries, while the teams who can pay them more receive the high price, high talented players, who increase chances of winning and bring in more money. Smaller teams make a good point in saying that a business is not always a competition. They say that this business will not prosper until all aspects, and all job positions in the game are profiting. The only thing both sides agree on is that baseball must have a salary cap, which would reduce team's spending for salaries from 58 to 50 percent of baseball revenues. This would cumulate more money to please small market teams, and more profit to make the whole baseball industry more secure. The large market teams are proposing plans to the small market teams, but it is not going to matter when the large market teams do not comply with small market pleas to have revenue sharing. The small market owners promise to block any settlement that they believe does not let them compete with wealthier teams."Salary cap!" Insist the owners. "NO WAY!" Reply the players. The players are not flinching on this issue.The play...
