New LVSportsBiz.com Contributors Adding Insight: Today’s Guest Writer Is Attorney Dan Lust
(Publisher’s Note: You may have noticed some new names of contributing writers. In addition to Cassandra Cousineau who reports on MMA and boxing and Dan Behringer who writes on sports betting, South Florida public relations expert Toby Srebnik and San Diego sports marketing specialist Vivi Lin have added excellent essays to LVSportsBiz.com’s mix of sports-business stories the past few weeks. Now, welcome New York lawyer Dan Lust to our line-up of contributors. Dan, a lawyer at Goldberg Segalla and a national sports law analyst heard on several sports radio networks, will be contributing a weekly take on the intersection of sports and legal issues. Dan has a keen eye for fascinating legal trends and unique issues interwoven into sports news and will add a weekly column to our flow of sports-business news. — AS)
By Dan Lust for LVSportsBiz.com
Crazy enough to work? Major League Baseball has a plan for the sport to return in May.
The proposal is for teams to move to Arizona and play without fans at the Diamondbacks stadium and 10 other AZ spring training facilities.
“Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium, sources said. Federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institutes of Health have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation, promote social distancing and allow MLB to become the first professional sport to return.”
Assuming the league could pull off the logistics involved, players would still need to formally agree to this “bubble” idea via the signing of an interim labor deal. It’s a loaded proposal from the players’ standpoint.
Put yourself in their shoes: would you agree to be away from your family for months if it’s the only way to get fully paid? How about Mike Trout whose wife is due in August. He’d be agreeing to miss the birth and the next few months. One could reasonably view these kinds of moments as “priceless.”
This is just a snapshot of the complex hurdles facing sports before they can return. For more background, check out this ESPN story.
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While authority to cancel the NBA season is found in their “Force Majeure” clause, the MLB equivalent is its “National Emergency” clause.
This clause, found in player contracts, allows MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to suspend contracts when games are forced to be cancelled after the declaration of a “National Emergency.” Accordingly, a cancelled season is now very much on the table.
With this in play, Major League Baseball and the Players Association opted to negotiate an interim labor agreement to guide baseball through a cancelled season due to coronavirus. Among several key items, they agreed that the 2020 season won’t begin until:
– There are no bans on mass gatherings that limit the ability to play in front of fans
– There are no travel restrictions
– Medical experts determine games will not pose a risk to health of teams and fans
Owners could have refused to pay players but, instead, guaranteed them $170M even if there’s no season. Moreover, it was agreed that a cancelled year would count towards service time and contracts. This is massive. To put it in perspective, the Dodgers’ prized acquisition, Mookie Betts, may never end up playing for Los Angeles since he only has one year left on his current deal.
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Dan Lust is a national sports law analyst heard on ESPN, CBS & FOX Sports and translates the legal issues that all sports fans need to know. On Twitter, Dan is @SportsLawLust
