MLBPA fires back at A-Rod's suggestion of cap system

[July 17, 2020]  The Major League Baseball Players Association fired back at Alex Rodriguez on Thursday after the former 14-time All-Star and current bidder to own the New York Mets suggested that the league move to a salary-cap system.

Rodriguez, who is also an analyst for ESPN, was speaking on a conference call about how MLB could increase its market share as the NFL and NBA continue to gain popularity.

"The only way it's going to happen is if they get to the table and say the No. 1 goal, let's get from $10 to $15 billion, and then we'll split the economics evenly," Rodriguez said. "But that's the type of conversation, instead of fighting and fighting against each other because there's too much competition out there right now."

While the NFL, NBA and NHL operate with a salary cap and revenue sharing, MLB does not. The semblance of any revenue-sharing system was a non-starter for players during negotiations the last few months, talks that proved to be contentious and resulted in a 60-game season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

MLBPA director Tony Clark rebuked Rodriguez for suggesting a system that he likely wouldn't have favored as a player.

"Alex benefited as much as anybody from the battles this union fought against owners' repeated attempts to get a salary cap," Clark said in a statement. "Now that he is attempting to become an owner himself his perspective appears to be different. And that perspective does not reflect the best interests of the players."

Rodriguez, who made close to $450 million in his career, said his stance has changed in large part because MLB is less popular than it was when he debuted in 1994.

"Then we had a stranglehold on professional sports. Baseball was 1," he said. "... Today we have to really work collaborative, with the players and the owners, to say how do we compete together to become No. 1?"

Rodriguez and his fiancee, Jennifer Lopez, are leading one of five groups bidding to buy the Mets, according to multiple reports.

ESPN senior vice president of production and remote events Mark Gross said Thursday the network will "shy away" from Rodriguez calling any Mets games this season.

--Field Level Media

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