The 1990 Major League Baseball lockout was the seventh work stoppage in baseball and, at the time, the second-longest since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. Beginning in February, the

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...

lasted 32 days, virtually wiping out

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

, moving

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

back a week to April 9 and extending the season three days to accommodate the normal 162-game schedule.

Background

The five-year Basic Agreement between the players and owners was set to expire on December 31, 1989. During the buildup to the lockout, the two sides spent months trying to iron out long-standing disagreements over

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

and

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

; following arbitrator determinations that the owners had colluded in suppressing player wages in the mid-1980s, with a more open labor market player remuneration had rapidly increased. By the end of the 1989 season, salaries for nine top players had reached the $3 million-a-year level. In 1988, national television broadcasting contracts had been negotiated which brought revenue to $1.5 billion over four years, amounting to a 102 percent increase on the previous contract. Given the significant increase in funds available and the earlier disagreements over free agency there was a likelihood of a dispute.

Owners' plan

The owners set forth a

revenue sharing Revenue sharing is the distribution of revenue, the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services among the stakeholders or contributors. It should not be confused with profit shares, in which scheme only the profit is share ...

plan in which 48% of gate receipts and all revenue from local and network broadcasting would go toward paying player salaries. These salaries would be based on a pay-for-performance scale, in which players with less than six years of experience would be compensated based on a ranking against their peers. Perhaps most importantly, a salary cap would be placed on each club. In the process, there would be a stipulation put in place that teams reaching the said cap could make no more free agent signings or salary increases. Owners claimed that under the plan, average player salaries would proceed to rise over 20% to $770,000 by the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. They cited rising attendance figures as well as solid television contracts with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

MLBPA's response

Although revenue sharing of this type had worked considerably well in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union representing all current Major League Baseball players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a signed contract with a Major League club ...

(MLBPA) Executive Director

Donald Fehr Donald Martin Fehr (born July 18, 1948) is the fifth executive director of the NHL Players Association, since 2010. He became nationally prominent while serving as the executive director of the MLB Players Association from 1983 to 2009. Life an ...

, feared that a salary cap would restrict the number of choices free agents could make. He argued that a pay-for-performance scale would eliminate multi-year contracts. Players were concerned that the owners were trying to limit free agency and had been engaged in long term preparations for a dispute.

Resolution

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Fay Vincent Francis Thomas Vincent Jr. (born May 29, 1938), known as Fay Vincent, is a former entertainment lawyer, securities regulator, and sports executive who served as the eighth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from September 13, 1989 to Septembe ...

worked with both sides and, on March 19, a new Basic Agreement was reached. The minimum major league salary was raised from $68,000 to $100,000. Meanwhile, a six-man study committee on revenue sharing was established.

Sources

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Major League Baseball Lockout

Lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...