Can the Preakness’ venue save a downtrodden Baltimore neighborhood?
-
Michael A. Fletcher, ESPN
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s childhood memories of the Preakness Stakes are more about the hardships the famed horse race imposed on his Park Heights neighborhood than any benefits the community reaped from the event. Sure, some enterprising residents and business owners made a few bucks selling water, letting fans park on their lawns and even charging for the use of their bathroom as throngs descended on the aging Pimlico Race Course for the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown.
But mostly, Scott said, he associates the Preakness with choking traffic, onerous parking restrictions and indiscriminate police sweeps aimed at making outsiders feel safe. “On the day before Preakness, you wouldn’t even go outside because they would come and roust people off the corner,” Scott recalled. “When I was growing up, we felt like Preakness was in Park Heights but not for Park Heights.”
Maryland political leaders are wagering $400 million that they can change the decades-old, arm’s-length relationship between the track and the neighborhood. The state legislature has approved a risky plan to use the struggling sport of horse racing to improve struggling Park Heights, a community living in the shadow of Pimlico and long burdened by rampant poverty, crime and disinvestment.
Last week, Gov. Wes Moore signed legislation to let a state-created nonprofit buy crumbling Pimlico from its private owners for $1, raze it and rebuild it with the neighborhood in mind as a profit-sharing partner. Before the community gets its cut, though, the state is obligated to pay $3 million annually to the current owners for rights to the Preakness, plus 2% of betting proceeds from the race — roughly another $2 million. The state also will use some of the $400 million outlay to build a separate horse training facility at one of several proposed sites in the Maryland suburbs.
With meager or no profits to show in recent years, a big question is how much would be left for Park Heights.
State officials said a big part of the track’s problem is its run-down condition. Pimlico dates back to 1870 and is widely recognized as the nation’s second-oldest race course. The facility is showing its age, having not undergone a major renovation in more than a half century. The clubhouse’s ceiling tiles are faded and water-stained. There is no working kitchen, and five years ago, a 6,700-seat section of its grandstand was closed because of safety concerns.
“It is not like anybody’s sneaking out and going to the race track, because it’s not inviting,” said Greg Cross, chair of the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, which developed the Pimlico rebuilding plan. “I mean, why would you want to go there? Our task is to put the sexy back into Pimlico.” Through the years, Maryland lawmakers have made other efforts to prop up horse racing, but Cross said they amounted to “half-steps” that neither elevated the track-going experience nor helped the surrounding community. This time, he said, things will be different.
The commitment to rebuild the track will keep Baltimore as the home of the Preakness — a race that officials long worried could flee the city, and perhaps even the state. Pimlico also will become Maryland’s thoroughbred racing hub, with a new synthetic track touted as the safest surface for horses. Races would be run 140 days a year, up from the 23 dates in 2023. The goal is to uplift the sport’s sagging image and attract a new generation of horse racing fans with modern amenities, including a new clubhouse and a modern sportsbook.
For the community, there will be a 1,000-person event space that could host proms and other large parties, which officials say will create a new income stream for Pimlico. The project includes $10 million in housing for track workers. And Pimlico’s infield would be available for community events like festivals and concerts. There is also the possibility of a hotel, parking garages, retail and other development on the site. The plan calls for allocating 10% of the track’s profits to the neighborhood and exposing local students to racing and hospitality careers.
“The state is betting on itself — and we’re going all in,” Moore responded to an email query. He labeled the investment a “transformative deal” that would benefit both Pimlico and the local community.
Such urban-focused sports and entertainment developments around the country have yielded mixed results. Some investments have worked, but others haven’t paid off for surrounding neighborhoods. And there’s always the danger that success could bring unwanted gentrification. Nevertheless, community leaders agree with Moore that it’s worth a try.
Moore’s optimistic outlook contrasts with the currently bleak state of horse racing, suggesting that Maryland’s bet on Pimlico is far from a sure thing. The sport’s popularity has been declining, with the industry reporting the number of races, fans and betting revenue dwindling across the country as other legal gambling options proliferate. The danger racing poses to horses is a major hurdle in the sport’s bid to generate a new fan base. An estimated 2,000 horses die each year from racing-related injuries, according to Horseracing Wrongs, which advocates abolition of the sport.
In a 2019 poll commissioned by The Jockey Club, an industry group, nearly seven in 10 likely voters called horse fatalities a “very important” issue for the sport.
Attendance at Maryland’s two thoroughbred tracks, Laurel Race Course and Pimlico, was down 66% between 2013 and 2022, even as the number of racing days increased, according to the Maryland Racing Commission, which oversees the state’s horse racing industry. Over the past decade, the tracks averaged just 2,500 fans per day, not including the coronavirus years of 2020 and 2021, according to a state consultant’s report.
Meanwhile, the Stronach Group, the private owner of Pimlico and Laurel, has consistently reported to state officials that it is losing money. Over the past two years, the company said that it did not turn a profit on its most popular event, the Preakness.
So if horse racing is bleeding fans and money, how can it help Park Heights?
Pimlico Race Course sprawls over 140 acres of northwest Baltimore. The grounds are surrounded by tall fences, lined with trees and hedges, offering only glimpses of the concentric racing ovals and bucolic infield from the surrounding streets. The effect has been to wall off the community from what for years was a major economic asset. Pimlico is the most famous building in the neighborhood, but it stands apart from the rest of Park Heights.
The community is home to about 22,000 people, and for generations it has struggled with a host of challenges, including violent crime, widespread drug addiction, truancy and substandard housing.
“When I was a kid, every corner from Park Circle [on the neighborhood’s southern end] up to Rodgers [on the northern end, near Pimlico], was its own different drug shop,” said Scott, who recently turned 40. “The reason I am in public service is because the first time I saw someone shot, I was outside playing basketball at like 6 or 7 years old.”
There are many fine blocks in the neighborhood, some lined with stone-front row homes and tidy lawns. New development, including several apartment buildings and streets filled with rebuilt townhomes, have sprung up in recent years. But more obvious are the hundreds of decaying buildings and acres of vacant lots that scar Park Heights. Some of the vacant land extends for entire blocks, in part the result of a city effort that demolished more than 400 structures in the area since 2010, according to local development officials.
The commercial strips closest to Pimlico are mostly a collection of convenience stores, barber shops, carry-outs and small West Indian restaurants.
Community leaders have long complained that the track does nothing for local businesses. The sprinkling of racing fans who show up during the short spring meet are virtually invisible outside Pimlico’s gates. Even on Preakness weekend, when tens of thousands of racing fans stream into the track, betting millions of dollars, the action does not spill over appreciably into the neighborhood.
“Here’s a fun fact that is a challenge for me sometimes to swallow …” said Yolanda E. Jiggetts, chief executive officer of Park Heights Renaissance, a community development organization. “These businesses in Park Heights actually lose money historically during the Preakness.”
Elizabeth Wiseman, board co-chair of the Pimlico Community Redevelopment Compact, explained that during Preakness it is impossible to park on the street. Plus, she said, few Preakness goers even think to spend time or money in the neighborhood. “There is not the type of synergy we’d like to see in the future where people are walking fluidly from the track to the stores and restaurants,” she said.
Community leaders say they aren’t solely relying on the Pimlico project to uplift the neighborhood. A rebuilt Pimlico could be the catalyst Park Heights needs to boost its image and speed ongoing improvements, but in recent years, Jiggetts’ organization also has guided the building of several new housing developments and deployed a team of workers that cuts overgrown lawns, cleans alleys and annually removes more than a hundred tons of trash dumped in the neighborhood.
The group has also assembled a list of initiatives it hopes to complete over the next five years, including giving home-preservation grants to nearly 2,000 residents, launching new job training programs and developing additional new housing.
In all, the wish list of upgrades carries a price tag of more than $100 million, and community leaders believe a rebuilt Pimlico can help generate the momentum — and money — needed to fulfill it.
“It is something much larger than just horse racing,” said Desiree Eades, a real estate and development consultant for Park Heights Renaissance. “That’s why development [of the track] is so important.”
After years of feeling locked out of the business of the race track, many say they are encouraged that the neighborhood’s perspective is finally being considered alongside the needs of horse racing.
“For people in a community that most of the time feels like they’re not heard, they were heard,” said Bishop Troy Randall, founder of @The House, a social service program. “And not only heard, they were respected.”
Still, there is cause for skepticism. Given the declining popularity of horse racing, the fear is that Pimlico’s facelift might be coming too late to help Park Heights.
May 11, a Saturday, was the third day of Pimlico’s spring meet, aided by pleasant weather with the sun peeking through the clouds. Yet hardly anybody was at the track. All but a handful of the long lines of betting windows were closed. The couple hundred horse players in the place were able to spread out at banquet tables and benches facing simulcast screens and red picnic tables lined up near the rail next to the track’s home stretch.
“When we were pulling up to the parking lot, it was a little bleak to see so many empty parking spaces,” said Atlas Pyke, who was at the track with his mother, Joyce Lombardi. “We basically drove right up to the rail.” Both Pyke and Lombardi said they hoped a rebuilt track would draw more people to Pimlico. But the reality may be that horse racing is simply not popular anymore, they said.
“I’m not sure that it’s a sport that everyone can relate to or even condone,” said Lombardi, who grew up riding thoroughbreds in rural Maryland. “It’s not great for horses.”
Maryland’s equine industry generates $2 billion annually in economic impact, state officials say, with $600 million of it tied to horse racing. The industry is widely regarded as a cultural pillar of Maryland, which Cross, of the racetrack authority, said has more horses per capita than any other state in the country. Overall, the equine business is responsible for a quarter of Maryland’s greenspace, he added.
“There’s a disproportionate state impact in the continuation of the business,” Cross said. “But in order to have that economic impact be sustainable and continue, you need a big investment of capital. And the returns on the capital just aren’t enough for a private, for-profit operator to put in $400 million to $500 million, as we’re about to do.”
Under terms of the deal, the Preakness will stay at Pimlico this year and next, then move 21 miles southwest to Laurel while the facility is rebuilt. The hope is to return the event to Pimlico by 2027. After that, Laurel — located on more than 200 acres of prime land in the prosperous suburbs between Baltimore and Washington. D.C. — is slated to close.
Maryland officials expressed confidence they will be able to do what the Stronach Group could not in recent years: make money with Pimlico. “We think it will be more than profitable,” Cross said.
A financially healthy Pimlico that shares its bounty with the surrounding neighborhood is something local leaders are counting on.
Long before running the local development board, Jiggetts grew up in Park Heights. As a little girl, she would accompany her grandmother to the track so frequently that she got to know many of the people who worked there. Some of them would keep an eye on her while her grandmother placed bets. The track taught Jiggetts to love horses, but it also taught her the dangers of gambling. She says her grandmother fell into debt because of losses at the track.
“You know, that was her favorite pastime but also her addiction,” Jiggetts said. Now, she hopes the track can give something back. She wants to see people coming to Pimlico visiting local coffee shops, or dining at local restaurants after the races.
Banking on horse racing to help struggling Park Heights might be a long shot, but for many people from the neighborhood it looks like their best bet.
“You can see that stuff’s starting to happen,” Scott said. “People want to come back. Investment is happening. Reopening the rec center. Renovating the pool for the first time since it was built. Doing all of those things. Pimlico will just help us to unlock that.”
-
Dan Wetzel
As victims go, Lane Kiffin doesn’t seem like one.
He could have stayed at Ole Miss, made over $10 million a year, led his 11-1 team into a home playoff game and become an icon at a place he supposedly found personal tranquility. Or he could’ve left for LSU to make over $10 million a year leading a program that has won three national titles this century.
Fortunate would be one description of such a fork in life’s road. The result of endless work and talent would be another.
But apparently no one knows a man’s burdens until they’ve walked a mile in his hot yoga pants.
Per his resignation statement on social media, it was spiritual, familial and mentor guidance that led Kiffin to go to LSU, not all those five-star recruits in New Orleans.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” he wrote.
In an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith, Kiffin noted “my heart was [at Ole Miss] but I talked to some mentors, Coach [Pete] Carroll, Coach [Nick] Saban. Especially when Coach Carroll said, ‘Your dad would tell you to go. Take the shot.'” Kiffin later added: “I talked to God, and he told me it’s time to take a new step.”
After following everyone else’s advice, Kiffin discovered those mean folks at Ole Miss wouldn’t let him keep coaching the Rebels through the College Football Playoff on account of the fact Kiffin was now, you know, the coach of rival LSU.
Apparently quitting means different things to different people. Shame on Ole Miss for having some self-esteem.
“I was hoping to complete a historic six-season run … ,” Kiffin said. “My request to do so was denied by [Rebels athletic director] Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
Well, if he hoped enough, Kiffin could have just stayed and done it. He didn’t. Trying to paint this as an Ole Miss decision, not a Lane Kiffin decision, is absurd. You are either in or you are out.
Leaving was Kiffin’s right, of course. He chose what he believes are greener pastures. It might work out; LSU, despite its political dysfunction, is a great place to coach ball.
Kiffin should have just put out a statement saying his dream is to win a national title, and as good as Ole Miss has become, he thinks his chance to do it is so much better at LSU that it was worth giving up on his current players, who formed his best and, really, first nationally relevant team.
At least it would be his honest opinion.
Lately, the 50-year-old Kiffin has done all he can to paint himself as a more mature version of a once immature person. In the end, though, he is who he is. That includes traits that make him a very talented football coach. He is unique.
He might never live down being known as the coach who bailed on a title contender. It’s his life, though. It’s his reputation.
One of college sports’ original sins was turning playcallers into life-changers. Yeah, that can happen, boys can become men. A coach’s job is to win, though.
A great coach doesn’t have to be loyal or thoughtful or an example of how life should be lived.
This is the dichotomy of what you get when you hire Kiffin. He was on a heater in Oxford, winning in a way he never did with USC or Tennessee or the Oakland Raiders.
That seemingly should continue at resource-rich LSU. Along the way, you get a colorful circus, a wrestling character with a whistle, a high-wire act that could always break bad. It rarely ends well — from airport firings to near-riot-inducing resignations to an exasperated Nick Saban.
LSU should just embrace it — the good and the not so good. What’s more fun than being the villain? Kiffin might be a problem child, but he’s your problem child. It will probably get you a few more victories on Saturdays. He will certainly get you a few more laughs on social media.
It worked for Ole Miss, at least until it didn’t. Then the Rebels had to finally push him aside. This is Lane Kiffin. You can hardly trust him in the good times.
If anything, Carter had been too nice. He probably should have demanded Kiffin pledge his allegiance weeks back, after Kiffin’s family visited Gainesville, Florida, and Baton Rouge.
Instead, Kiffin hemmed and hawed and extended the soap opera, gaining leverage along the way.
Blame was thrown on the “calendar,” even though it was coaches such as Kiffin who created it. And leaving a championship contender is an individual choice that no one else is making.
Blame was put on Ole Miss, like it should just accept desperate second-class hostage status. Better to promote defensive coordinator Pete Golding and try to win with the people who want to be there.
To Kiffin, the idea of winning is seemingly all that matters. Not necessarily winning, but the idea of winning. Potential playoff teams count for more than current ones. Tomorrow means more than today. Next is better than now.
Maybe that mindset is what got him here, got him all these incredible opportunities, including his new one at LSU, where he must believe he is going to win national title after national title.
So go do that, unapologetically. Own it. Own the decision. Own the quitting. Own the fallout. Everything is possible in Baton Rouge, just not the Victim Lane act.
Closer Ryan Helsley and the Baltimore Orioles are in agreement on a two-year, $28 million contract that includes an opt-out after the first season, sources told ESPN, continuing the remaking of Baltimore’s beleaguered pitching staff with one of the most sought-after relievers on the free agent market.
While multiple teams sought to sign Helsley as a starter, the 31-year-old right-hander chose to remain in the role that made him a two-time All-Star and will hand him the ninth inning for the Orioles while retaining the ability to reach the open market after 2026.
Helsley, whose deal is pending a physical, is the second bullpen addition of the winter for Baltimore, which reacquired right-hander Andrew Kittredge from the Cubs after dealing him to Chicago at the trade deadline. With a moribund pitching staff, the Orioles went 75-87 and finished in last place in the American League East after consecutive postseason berths.
Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias trawled the free agent market for a late-inning option and landed on Helsley, who over his seven-year career has a 2.96 ERA in 319⅔ innings with 377 strikeouts, 133 walks and 105 saves.
Among the lowest points were the final two months of Helsley’s 2025 season, when, following a deadline deal from St. Louis to the New York Mets, he posted a 7.20 ERA and allowed 36 baserunners in 20 innings. Coming off an All-Star showing for St. Louis in 2024, which included a National League-leading 49 saves and a 2.04 ERA, Helsley saved 21 games with a solid 3.00 ERA for the Cardinals before the deadline, when he was sent to the Mets for three prospects.
Acquired to deepen a New York bullpen anchored by closer and fellow free agent Edwin Diaz, Helsley struggled badly during his time with the Mets. He blew saves in three straight appearances in mid-August and spent most of the past month working in low-leverage situations as New York collapsed down the stretch and missed the postseason.
Baltimore saw more noise than signal in Helsley’s downturn and is banking on Helsley’s stuff — which pitch-quality metrics rate as some of the best in the game — returning him to dominance. Helsley deploys one of baseball’s hardest fastballs, which averaged 99.3 mph in 2025, according to Statcast, ranking in the 99th percentile of all pitchers.
With incumbent closer Felix Bautista expected to miss the 2026 seasons following rotator cuff and labrum surgeries in August, the Orioles entered the winter with only right-hander Yennier Cano and left-hander Keegan Akin as veteran bullpen options. Beyond Helsley and Kittredge, Baltimore could add another reliever, sources said. The Orioles’ need for pitching help isn’t limited to their bullpen, either. Following the trade of Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels for left fielder Taylor Ward, Baltimore continues to pursue starting-pitching options to join left-hander Trevor Rogers and right-hander Kyle Bradish at the top of their rotation, sources said.
A fifth-round pick out of Northeastern State in Oklahoma, Helsley was a full-time starter throughout the minor leagues until he joined the Cardinals’ big league roster. From 2022 to ’24, he was arguably the most valuable reliever in the NL, alongside right-hander Devin Williams, a free agent with whom the Orioles spoke as well.
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.
Sports
Will there be baseball in 2027? Is a salary cap coming? What you need to know about MLB’s looming labor battle
Is Major League Baseball headed for disaster?
One year from today — on Dec. 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, to be exact — the league’s current labor agreement expires.
As the owners and players look to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, there are major hurdles to clear and some key areas of disagreement.
Will we see a work stoppage in 2027? Is a salary cap coming? ESPN MLB experts Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers and Alden Gonzalez field some of the biggest questions looming over the sport.
Is there any chance that the two sides could come to an agreement before next December’s deadline — and what happens if they don’t?
Sure. There’s always a chance. It’s akin to the chance that Lloyd Christmas had with Mary Swanson, but it’s a chance nonetheless.
The greater likelihood, if past is indeed prologue, points toward the league locking out the players Dec. 1, 2026. A lockout would shut down free agency and trades, as it did in 2021, and set an even more important, though informal, deadline: early to mid-March 2027, the drop-dead date for potentially losing regular-season games.
What happens between today and a year from today could have significant bearing on avoiding the doomsday scenario: that not only are the players locked out, but the sides cannot find common ground thereafter. The greatest threat of an extended work stoppage — baseball’s last was in 1994-95 — would come if owners insist on an overhaul of the game’s economic system to include a salary cap. Player leadership has indicated it won’t even entertain the notion of a capped system.
At the same time, the union and executive director Tony Clark are in the middle of a federal investigation into MLBPA finances that launched around May 2025. Any pursuit of a prosecution by the government could have a demonstrable effect on union leadership and, potentially, its positions in bargaining. — Jeff Passan
What is the timeline for negotiations between now and Dec. 1, 2026?
While the sides held a preliminary meeting this fall and could have more informal sessions over the coming months, bargaining typically cranks up during spring training.
At that point, the sides will begin to make their priorities clear to each other, and it will offer a better sense of the issues that are expected to be central to the negotiations. The most pertinent will be just how firm the league is on its desire for a cap.
The initial offers are important to outline the broad strokes of the negotiations to come. The most important meetings, however, will take place closer to the Dec. 1, 2026, deadline, with November the most vital month to establish where the sides stand before the expected lockout. — Passan
Who are the primary names fans should know on both sides of the negotiations?
For the players: Deputy executive director Bruce Meyer is the lead negotiator, Clark the ultimate authority. There is a 38-member executive board of players, made up of eight elected, high-ranking subcommittee members (Cy Young winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, plus veterans Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Marcus Semien and Brent Suter) and one representative from each team — the delegates for the rank-and-file.
For the league: Deputy commissioner Dan Halem is the lead negotiator, commissioner Rob Manfred the ultimate authority. The league’s labor policy committee — headed by Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort, who is joined by Hal Steinbrenner (New York Yankees), John Sherman (Kansas City Royals), Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago White Sox), Ray Davis (Texas Rangers) and Jim Pohlad (Minnesota Twins) — is the proxy for the 30 owners. — Passan
How will the looming potential of a prolonged labor stoppage impact free agency this offseason?
Executives, league officials and agents are in agreement on one thing at this moment in the offseason: They’re simply not sure how things will shake out just yet in terms of spending. There are no grand predictions about the theme of the offseason, and the few early signings haven’t foreshadowed much, either.
Having said that, two emerging narratives seem to be prevalent. It’s business as usual for the annual World Series contenders like the Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers — and now we can include the Toronto Blue Jays in that category.
Phillies president Dave Dombrowski didn’t even hesitate when asked how the final year of labor might impact their winter.
“That is not something we talk about,” he said. “We’re going to proceed normally.”
You can expect the same from the Dodgers, who are attempting a rare three-peat in 2026.
Other organizations are waiting for more certainty, potentially in the form of a new economic system, before they jump back into serious spending. That might not come until after the next CBA is signed, which means that the looming end of the CBA will have some say in the offseason, even if it’s a small impact.
Chicago Cubs president Jed Hoyer admitted at the end of last season that many of his player contracts were designed to be up after 2026 — in other words when the CBA expires — in order to have relatively clean books heading into 2027 and beyond. Several agents and teams believe that cost certainty in the form of a new CBA — and, if MLB gets its way, a first-ever salary cap — will return spending back to higher levels simply because teams will understand their yearly costs more intimately after a new deal.
In the meantime, there’s a postseason and World Series to be played in 2026. And it’s just not the major markets that want to get a playoff run under their belts before things change, according to insiders. So look for free agents to do well in the market even with labor concerns percolating this winter. Yes, a few might take one-year deals, hoping the next economic system benefits them when they go back into the market — but there is certain to be plenty of momentum.
Agent Scott Boras summed it up when asked if spending would be depressed this winter, knowing what’s to come after next season.
“Historically we haven’t seen that, because teams always want to be their best,” he said. “The bottom line is teams understand they don’t have to pay players when there are strikes [or lockouts].” — Jesse Rogers
Will the battle over a potential salary cap be the primary topic discussed between owners and players in the year ahead?
There doesn’t appear to be much doubt about that. Economic disparity has been a hot-button issue for decades. The crumbling of the regional sports network (RSN) television model, which led to several teams losing out on local media revenue, has brought that topic to the forefront in recent years. And the unmitigated spending of teams like the Dodgers and New York Mets has only exacerbated the anger from owners throughout the industry, who continue to claim they don’t have the revenues to keep up.
Even Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner recently downplayed his franchise’s profit margins and spoke out in favor of a salary cap. If Steinbrenner, who presides over one of the most powerful sports franchises in the world, sounds open to one, imagine how strongly his counterparts in markets such as Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Tampa feel.
But the prevalence of free markets has been a tentpole issue throughout the MLB Players Association’s existence. Remember that, and you’ll start to understand how ugly this could get. — Alden Gonzalez
Which other issues will fans hear most from each side in the year ahead before the CBA expires?
A central issue for the union during the last round of talks was on how to get players paid sooner, a counter to the middle class of free agency continuing to dry up. As a result of the current CBA, minimum salaries went up, the prospect promotion incentive was introduced, and pre-arbitration bonus pools were established. Expect more talk around that subject in general. In all likelihood, MLB will once again argue that higher compensation for younger players needs to be coupled with a lower luxury tax threshold and will try once again to pair that with a salary floor. The MLBPA probably will say that steers too close to a traditional salary cap system, and on and on we’ll go again.
So, yes, economics will dominate — particularly with changes to the revenue-sharing model desired by both parties and potentially providing a path to an agreement. But two other topics figure to be front and center. One is how MLB implements rule changes. In the last basic agreement, the league secured full autonomy over the implementation of new rules. The union desires more control. And then there’s the subject of an international draft. The league wants one.
During the last round of talks, the union entertained the possibility. After a new CBA was ratified, the two sides gave themselves an additional four months to agree on a trade: The league gets an international draft, the union does away with the qualifying offer. They couldn’t agree by the deadline, but this will come up again. — Gonzalez
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024