“Nothing Happens Until The Very Last Minute” – NBA Insider Explains Why MLB Lockout Will Last Long

The MLB is currently in a lockout. Effectively a strike, but imposed by the owners. And while the lockout lumbers on, the regular season draws ever closer. The MLB season would see spring training start as usual in late February. A prospect seeming more and more unlikely as the lockout lengthens.

The nature of the lockout is that team owners are not permitted to speak to the players. And neither are the players allowed to speak with any team owners. This effectively stops the teams from signing any players both in free agency as well as trades. Needless to say, the offseason has been drab so far.

Revelations about the MLB Lockout

The MLB has been in lockout since early December and fans are hopeful that talks will resume with some momentum. This on the back of reports that Major League Baseball is putting together a new core economic proposals to deliver to the Players Association.

An Athletic report also goes into how it may be unlikely that any real talks begin until more than spring training is at stake. As things stand, it seems unlikely that the pitchers and catchers will report as usual in mid-February for spring training.

While the MLB hasn’t had any strikes in the past 26 years, with the last stoppage coming in the 1994 season, its basketball counterpart, the NBA has had 4. And an insider, speaking from experience has made some revelations.

Said the insider, “Nothing happens until the very last minute,” speaking from his experience in past labor negotiations in the NBA.

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The reason for the slow progress

Revealing why most talks don’t usually progress without something at stake, the insider revealed, “It’s a very primitive mentality that people feel the other side is not going to give its best offer until they are looking down the barrel of what’s ahead.”

The insider went on to say that usually the point of such a measure is to hold back on the economic payout. And those will only come in at a time when the season would be supposed to have begun. So it seems but natural that the talks will not pick up pace until a bit later.

Meanwhile, the players association seems to have kept things relatively open. A number of changes have been forwarded and discussed without really ironing the exact nature of what they want.

Said the insider, this could be effective negotiation tactics. Explaining why, “You want to keep everything open, and then you can give a little here, get a little there. And so I don’t know that you’re going to necessarily plant your flag on any issue at this early point.”

One thing meanwhile remains clear from the players association, that salary caps are not tenable.

While the lockout may still be in its early talk stages, we sure want baseball to be back as soon as possible.