Something that’s not getting a lot of discussion is the fact that the collective barganing agreement expires after this season (December 19th to be specific). The last one was really painless, with no work stoppage. After the ugliness of the 80’s and the horror of 1994/1995, that was pretty good. But the word comes now that the new agreement has already been reached, months ahead of time. Here’s what I read over on the website “The Biz of Baseball“..
Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports that we may be on the verge of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in MLB, months in advance of the Dec. 19th deadline.
As Madden reports: According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the owners and players have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor deal which will be announced by Selig at the World Series next week.
This is quite good news. Now there are several bullet points in this negotiation that I’ll be curious to see the particulars of. One is the substance abuse program, it was changed several times under the old one, I wonder if the new one will be changed even further. The situation regarding compensation regarding departing free agents and arbitration is another. One lesser talked about one is the tying of home field advantage to the All Star game. There’s plenty more, so I will definitely be interested in seeing the particulars of this; especially for HOW LONG. :)