The industry has some issues to settle.
Major League Baseball ends 2019 with a number of problems with the accusations that the Houston Astros organization was stealing signs probably way down on the list of woes. Major League Baseball finds itself in a battle with minor league operators over the future of farm teams. MLB wants to get rid of 42 teams and short season summer leagues. Minor League Baseball wants to keep those 42 teams and Congress, which is allowed to look into the business of baseball, after all Congress has never repealed Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption which allows the business of baseball to operate as a monopoly, may take a look at the MLB-minor league squabble. Another problem that has not be resolved is the Tampa Bay Rays ownership saying it needs a new stadium and perhaps the Tampa market just is not rich enough to support a full-time baseball team. There is a plan on the table that would see Rays home games split between St. Petersburg and Montreal. Local politics will decide the future of the Rays in the Tampa Bay market. MLB has some other stadium problems. Anaheim seems to have resolved its stadium issue with Angels owner Arte Moreno. Oakland A’s ownership is going through the government and bureaucratic process to get an Oakland waterfront stadium built. Arizona Diamondback ownership is looking for a new facility in the Phoenix market. Toronto ownership is trying to figure what to do in the stadium game.
Some Major League Baseball owners have handed out enormous contracts to players in the 2019-2020 off season but that should not mask the fact that the owners and players have two years left on the collective bargaining agreement and that the owners have shown that they are willing to play hardball with minor league operators and could do the same with the players.
