MLB Offers New Proposal With 76-Game Season, Up to 75% of Salaries

The third proposal MLB Owners have made to Player's Association

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball team owners made a new offer, its third since coronavirus delayed the initial start to the 2020 season. In the proposal, it outlines a guarantee for 50% of players’ prorated salaries over a 76-game regular season and increase the money to 75% if the postseason is completed, people familiar with the plan told The Associated Press and was first reported by ESPN’s Karl Ravech.

The latest offer would eliminate the loss of draft picks for teams that sign qualified free agents this fall, a change that would be valuable for some players in what is expected to be a difficult market with what could be a shorter offseason. It also would forgive 20% of the $170 million in salaries already advanced to players during April and May.

Players already agreed in March to a deal calling for prorated salaries that depend on games played, a deal in exchange for a guarantee of service time if the season was scrapped.

In last week’s second proposal to the MLBPA, MLB said it can’t afford to play in ballparks without fans. In response to that, laid out a possibility for an 82-game schedule and a sliding scale of pay cuts that would cause the biggest stars to lose a larger percentage of their salaries. The union countered with a 114-game schedule at prorated pay that would extend the regular season by a month through October. That game length was quickly rejected by the MLB and its owners.

One of the many reasons for turning down a 114-game season is that the MLB is worried a second wave of the virus would affect the postseason — when MLB receives $787 million in broadcast revenue.