Major League Baseball canceled more regular-season games after talks with the Players Association broke down Wednesday after several hours of meetings.
MLB said it has canceled a new slate of games after another round of marathon labor talks with players ended in deadlock.
In a statement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the 2022 season would not start until April 14 after the latest negotiations failed to make a breakthrough.
“We worked hard to reach an agreement and offered a fair deal with significant improvements for the players and our fans,” Manfred stressed. “I am saddened by the continued impact of this situation on our game and everyone who is a part of it, especially our loyal fans,” he added.
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The start of the MLB season is delayed
The 2022 season was supposed to start on March 31, but was delayed after unsuccessful negotiations to end a work stoppage ordered by the commissioner and team owners.
The move voids 93 more games, increasing the pressure on players and appearing to close the remaining opportunity to play a full 162-game schedule per team.
MLB announced that two additional series through April 13 have been canceled. That brought the total to 184 games eliminated for the 2,430-game season, or 7.6 percent. Opening day would now be April 14.
Both sides met for 16 hours in New York on Tuesday, a meeting that ended late on Wednesday morning.
A similarly protracted round of late-night talks last week also ended without a deal, prompting MLB bosses to cancel the opening round of games of the season, the first time in 27 years regular-season games have been missed. due to disagreements over a new labor pact.
The origin of the conflict between the teams and the union
Players and team owners have been discussing the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement since February. Players have been locked out by club owners since the previous labor agreement expired on December 1, 2021.
In his statement Wednesday, Manfred said teams had made “every extraordinary effort” to meet the demands of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the baseball players’ union.
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“In a last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season, we have made good faith proposals this week that address the specific concerns expressed by the MLBPA and would have allowed players to return to the field immediately,” Manfred said.
Manfred added that “sadly, after our second overnight trading session in a week, we remain without a deal. Due to the logistical realities of the schedule, two other series will be scrapped from the schedule, meaning Opening Day will be postponed until April 14. We have the utmost respect for our players and hope that they will ultimately choose to accept the fair deal they have been offered.”
One of the hot topics in the negotiations is how to split the profits from billions of dollars in revenue.
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with AFP
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