PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥� The head of baseball’s players’ union chastised management on Tuesday for its advertising campaign in support of a salary cap.
Bruce Meyer, who said the sport was thriving.
鈥淭he supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince those same fans that they don鈥檛 have hope or they shouldn鈥檛 have hope or that the product that they鈥檙e paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 perverse.鈥�
Attendance has averaged 29,230 this season, up 1.2% from 28,895 through similar dates last year. MLB is on pace for its highest attendance since 2017.
Management in May proposed a salary cap system, which players say they will never accept. MLB鈥檚 鈥淟evel the Field鈥� campaign claims fans support a salary cap, a system baseball players have long rejected.
鈥淚 believe that this system is bad for players and would be for generations to come,鈥� Meyer said.
Baseball鈥檚 five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to immediately start a lockout, the sport鈥檚 10th work stoppage since 1972. No games have been lost since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 caused the World Series to be canceled for the first in 90 years.
鈥淭eams in every market across the league can afford to compete,” Meyer said. 鈥淢any of them are choosing not to.鈥�
Meyer said unions for players in the NFL, NBA and NHL agreed to caps under duress.
鈥淚n one way or other they were broken or forced into it,鈥� he said.
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