MLB sued by 4 former affiliates over minor league cuts
3 years, 3 months ago

MLB sued by 4 former affiliates over minor league cuts

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Four minor league teams that lost their big league affiliations before the 2021 season have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball, using a law firm that has represented players’ unions. Parent companies of the Staten Island Yankees, Tri-City Valley Cats, Norwich Sea Unicorns and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accusing the baseball commissioner’s office of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. MLB ended the Professional Baseball Agreement that governed the relationship between the majors and minors in late 2020, after minor league seasons were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Congress passed the Curt Flood Act of 1998, which President Bill Clinton signed, to say antitrust laws apply to MLB affecting the employment of major league players at the major league level.

Baseball New York League Mlb Minor  antitrust  affiliates  professional  players  cuts  sued  minor  baseball  york  suit  yankees  league  mlb

History of this topic

MLB players’ union affiliate reaches agreement with FanDuel after agreeing to dismiss lawsuit
4 months ago

MLB players’ union affiliate reaches agreement with FanDuel after agreeing to dismiss lawsuit

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — A commercial affiliate of the Major League Baseball Players Association reached a licensing agreement with FanDuel after agreeing to dismiss a lawsuit against the company. MLB Players Inc. said Tuesday it signed a non-exclusive product and marketing licensing agreement for FanDuel Sportsbook along with OneTeam Partners, a union commercial partner. MLB Players sued FanDuel and Underdog Sports …

Comcast-Diamond dispute ‘profoundly harmful,’ MLB argues
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Comcast-Diamond dispute ‘profoundly harmful,’ MLB argues

New York Times  

Major League Baseball on Tuesday again ripped Diamond Sports Group’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, this time as the carriage dispute between Diamond and Comcast reached the two-week mark. “Without incoming revenue from Comcast,” MLB’s filing continued, Diamond faces “substantially increased risk of shutting down altogether.” A spokesperson for Diamond declined to comment when reached by The Athletic. MLB tried …

Ex-minor league umpire sues MLB, says he was harassed by female ump, fired for being bisexual man
11 months ago

Ex-minor league umpire sues MLB, says he was harassed by female ump, fired for being bisexual man

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — A fired minor league umpire sued Major League Baseball on Wednesday, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because he is male and bisexual. Brandon Cooper, an umpire who worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, filed the suit in federal court in Manhattan against MLB and PDL Blue …

Scouts sue MLB for age discrimination, claiming the league had a ‘blacklist’
1 year, 9 months ago

Scouts sue MLB for age discrimination, claiming the league had a ‘blacklist’

LA Times  

Major League Baseball scouts use radar guns to measure ball speed during a 2007 spring training game in Surprise, Ariz. A group of scouts has filed a federal age discrimination lawsuit against MLB and individual team owners. Major League Baseball “blacklisted” older scouts and used analytics and the pandemic as “pretext for coordinated and systemic discrimination based on age,” a …

MLBPA, MLB agree to first minor-league CBA
2 years ago

MLBPA, MLB agree to first minor-league CBA

New York Times  

MLB owners ratified the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in minor-league baseball history in a 30-0 vote, a landmark moment in the sport’s history, and for the players in particular. ET on March 29, Major League Baseball Players Association leadership notified thousands of minor-league players that the union had reached a tentative five-year agreement with MLB in time for Opening Day. …

‘Hit the go button’: The six years that made baseball’s minor league union
2 years, 5 months ago

‘Hit the go button’: The six years that made baseball’s minor league union

New York Times  

When the longtime activist Bill Fletcher Jr. told friends he wanted to help minor leaguers form a union, they reacted the same way they had when he said he wanted to write a novel. “That’s when I fell back in love with baseball,” Fletcher said, “And it was basically for social reasons, social justice.” Many years later, in 2016, Fletcher’s …

Minor league baseball union creates massive change nearly unthinkable 3 years ago
2 years, 6 months ago

Minor league baseball union creates massive change nearly unthinkable 3 years ago

New York Times  

Minor league players have a union, a monumental change for baseball and the culmination of an effort that moved at a blistering pace. “It’s no doubt going to be difficult to start a minor league union,” Garrett Broshuis said in March 2020, on a conference call introducing a new organization, Advocates for Minor Leaguers. Statement from MLBPA executive director Tony …

Major League Baseball prepared to voluntarily recognize minor league union
2 years, 6 months ago

Major League Baseball prepared to voluntarily recognize minor league union

LA Times  

Major League Baseball is ready to voluntarily accept the formation of a minor league union, a key step that will lead to collective bargaining and possibly a strike threat at the start of next season. launched the unionization drive on Aug. 28 and told MLB on Tuesday it had obtained signed authorization cards from the approximately 5,000 to 6,500 players …

MLBPA wants to represent minor league baseball players
2 years, 7 months ago

MLBPA wants to represent minor league baseball players

LA Times  

Rob Manfred did not make his name in baseball as a former player, as a general manager or team president or team owner, or as a marketing or broadcasting executive. If enough minor league players agree, Manfred and the major league owners would no longer decide for themselves how much minor leaguers should be paid. “Poverty wages, oppressive reserve rules, …

MLBPA wants to unionize minor leaguers, takes first step by sending authorization cards to players
2 years, 7 months ago

MLBPA wants to unionize minor leaguers, takes first step by sending authorization cards to players

New York Times  

The players’ union long heralded as the strongest in sports, the Major League Baseball Players Association, wants to newly include minor-league players in its membership, a potentially massive change to the baseball landscape. “We strongly encourage you to become involved in this historic effort by signing the confidential authorization card.” The story on the MLBPA attempting to unionize minor leaguers: …

MLB to Congress: Without our antitrust exemption, players and fans lose
2 years, 8 months ago

MLB to Congress: Without our antitrust exemption, players and fans lose

LA Times  

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, shown in November, wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee that players could lose job opportunities and communities could lose minor league teams if baseball is stripped of its antitrust exemption. Instead, players could lose job opportunities and communities could lose minor league teams, the league said in a 17-page letter to the committee exploring whether to …

Dick Durbin wants MLB to boost support for minor-league players
2 years, 8 months ago

Dick Durbin wants MLB to boost support for minor-league players

LA Times  

As summer turns to fall, the baseball spotlight shines on the brightest stars on the postseason stage: Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, José Altuve. He said a hearing could take place “in September or October.” As the committee considers legislation to kill the antitrust exemption, it has focused on the impact on the minor leagues. What I’d like to see, other …

Senators ask MLB why antitrust exemption needed in minors
2 years, 8 months ago

Senators ask MLB why antitrust exemption needed in minors

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to explain the impact of potential legislation stripping the sport’s antitrust exemption from covering the sport’s relationship with minor league players. Senators asked about the potential impact of repealing 2018 legislation exempting minor league players from federal minimum wage and overtime laws — the Save …

Congress asks Rob Manfred for MLB antitrust rationale in letter
2 years, 8 months ago

Congress asks Rob Manfred for MLB antitrust rationale in letter

LA Times  

The Senate Judiciary Committee got right to the point in a letter to Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday: If America’s other major sports have to follow antitrust law, why should baseball remain exempt from that law? In Monday’s letter, the committee told Manfred it wished to focus on “the exemption’s impact on competition in the labor market for minor league …

MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit
2 years, 8 months ago

MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball agreed to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws, a case that progressed through the courts for eight years without reaching a trial. “This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair and just compensation system,” Garrett Broshuis, the players’ lead …

MLB has one real use for antitrust exemption. Here's what it is
2 years, 8 months ago

MLB has one real use for antitrust exemption. Here's what it is

LA Times  

To baseball fans across America, the time-honored cry of summer is this: Kill the ump! The understanding, at the time that was passed, was that we were going to preserve the franchise relocation benefits that existed in the exemption.” The Senate Judiciary Committee asked for information from Advocates for Minor Leaguers, an organization that considers the exemption as the reason …

Minors rep asks Congress to restrict MLB antitrust exemption
2 years, 8 months ago

Minors rep asks Congress to restrict MLB antitrust exemption

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — The executive director of the nonprofit Advocates for Minor Leaguers has recommended that Congress enact legislation nullifying Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption as it applies to minor league players. Because baseball’s amateur draft and international signing period are covered by collective bargaining with the major league players’ association, those structures would remain even with a Minor League …

Senators ask minor leaguers for information on MLB antitrust
2 years, 9 months ago

Senators ask minor leaguers for information on MLB antitrust

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to an advocacy group for minor leaguers asking questions about baseball’s antitrust exemption. The senators asked for information on “the impact of the antitrust exemption on the negotiation of minor league players’ length of contract, wages, housing or other working conditions.” Baseball’s antitrust exemption …

Department of Justice asks federal court to limit scope of baseball’s antitrust exemption
2 years, 9 months ago

Department of Justice asks federal court to limit scope of baseball’s antitrust exemption

LA Times  

The shadow of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is projected on an MLB logo backdrop in Phoenix. The Department of Justice on Wednesday formally asked a federal court to limit the scope of baseball’s antitrust exemption, the latest challenge to a century-old Supreme Court decision cherished by major league owners but increasingly criticized beyond the commissioner’s office. In Wednesday’s filing, the …

Minor league players, MLB reach deal in minimum wage suit
2 years, 10 months ago

Minor league players, MLB reach deal in minimum wage suit

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Minor league players and Major League Baseball have reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging teams violated minimum wage laws. Spero wrote in a pretrial ruling in March that minor leaguers are year-round employees who work during training time and found MLB violated Arizona’s state minimum wage law and was liable for triple damages. Spero ruled MLB …

Freedom, faster? California bill could limit how long MLB teams control minor leaguers
3 years ago

Freedom, faster? California bill could limit how long MLB teams control minor leaguers

LA Times  

State Sen. Josh Becker said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation that would require major league teams to grant a player freedom after four years in the minor leagues, instead of seven. Sen. Josh Becker said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation that would require teams to grant a player freedom after four years in the minors instead of seven. …

Major League Baseball labor agreement details
3 years ago

Major League Baseball labor agreement details

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Details of the memorandum of understanding agreed to Thursday by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, as obtained by The Associated Press. For a free agent who had spent the entire season with one team, there would would be four compensation tiers based on: — $25 million in guaranteed salary or $18 million …

News Analysis: MLB oligarchs? Sen. Bernie Sanders again takes aim at antitrust exemption
3 years ago

News Analysis: MLB oligarchs? Sen. Bernie Sanders again takes aim at antitrust exemption

LA Times  

Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking with reporters in the Senate subway last fall, says he wants to introduce legislation to repeal MLB’s antitrust exemption. Then a Bernie Sanders email hit the inbox with a blistering statement in which the Vermont senator labeled the owners as “baseball oligarchs” seven times in 12 sentences and vowed to pursue stripping Major League Baseball of …

Play ball! MLB players reach deal, salvage 162-game season
3 years ago

Play ball! MLB players reach deal, salvage 162-game season

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball’s players and owners ended their most bitter money fight in a quarter-century Thursday when the players’ association accepted management’s offer to salvage a 162-game season that will start April 7. “Our union endured the second-longest work stoppage in its history to achieve significant progress in key areas that will improve not just current players’ …

Minor league baseball, hockey teams seeking COVID-19 relief
3 years ago

Minor league baseball, hockey teams seeking COVID-19 relief

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Laying off 17 people in the Charlotte Checkers front office of 25 felt like gutting a team for chief operating officer Tera Black. Two years in and countless jobs and millions of dollars lost, over a hundred minor league baseball and more than a dozen minor league hockey teams are hoping to finally receive some COVID-19 relief from …

Locked out MLB players reject offer of federal mediation
3 years, 1 month ago

Locked out MLB players reject offer of federal mediation

LA Times  

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says his side is being proactive, not wanting to risk a late-season strike similar to the one that wiped out the 1994 World Series. The start of spring training probably will be a casualty of Major League Baseball’s lockout, which will threaten opening day unless the drawn-out talks lead to a deal in less than a …

Guardians MLB team settles lawsuit with roller derby club
3 years, 4 months ago

Guardians MLB team settles lawsuit with roller derby club

Associated Press  

CLEVELAND — Cleveland will have two teams called the Guardians. The Major League Baseball franchise and a local roller derby club have reached a resolution in a lawsuit filed over the use of the name Guardians, allowing both to continue using it. Last month, the Cleveland Guardians roller derby team, which was formed in 2013, filed its lawsuit alleging the …

MLB decision to provide housing for minor leaguers was sparked by players themselves, could have ‘drastic impact’
3 years, 5 months ago

MLB decision to provide housing for minor leaguers was sparked by players themselves, could have ‘drastic impact’

New York Times  

To a leading voice in the push to reform baseball’s minor leagues, MLB’s decision to require teams to provide housing for minor-league players was a change sparked by the players themselves. “The culture around the minor leagues for decades has been one of silence, where players were expected to keep quiet and endure exploitative and frankly dehumanizing conditions,” said Harry …

Commentary: Did the Supreme Court hint at trouble for MLB’s antitrust exemption?
3 years, 9 months ago

Commentary: Did the Supreme Court hint at trouble for MLB’s antitrust exemption?

LA Times  

The Supreme Court’s ruling against the NCAA on Monday might put Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption on shaky legal footing. In writing on behalf of a unanimous court, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch cited evidence submitted by Advocates for Minor Leaguers, noting that the court has declined to extend the exemption to other sports and has acknowledged criticism of what Gorsuch …

‘A collective voice’: Group fighting for minor league player salaries, rights, enters next stage
3 years, 11 months ago

‘A collective voice’: Group fighting for minor league player salaries, rights, enters next stage

New York Times  

Harry Marino’s time as a minor leaguer was short, but long enough to be troubling. “About the antitrust exemption, about the true impact that MLB’s exploitative labor practices have on minor league players and on their families,” Marino said. But our view is that 100 players, a thousand players, 3,000 players speaking out, collectively, that’s a different story.” About 80 …

Supreme Court rules lawsuit against MLB over minor league back wages can proceed
4 years, 5 months ago

Supreme Court rules lawsuit against MLB over minor league back wages can proceed

LA Times  

The Supreme Court has denied Major League Baseball’s request to reconsider a ruling that all minor leaguers who had played in California, Arizona and Florida are eligible to sue over alleged violations of federal minimum wage laws. Six years after a group of minor leaguers sued Major League Baseball over alleged violations of federal minimum wage laws, the suit can …

U.S. Supreme Court allows minor league players’ class-action lawsuit to continue
4 years, 5 months ago

U.S. Supreme Court allows minor league players’ class-action lawsuit to continue

New York Times  

More than six years after Aaron Senne and other Minor League Baseball players brought a lawsuit against Major League Baseball over player pay, the case’s path to trial is clear. “Every other company out there can do it, then MLB can do it as well.” The Supreme Court’s decision comes at a time of great economic upheaval across Minor League …

Baseball players say talks futile, tell MLB to order return
4 years, 9 months ago

Baseball players say talks futile, tell MLB to order return

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball appears headed to its shortest season since the 1870s. “The MLBPA’s position that players are entitled to virtually all the revenue from a 2020 season played without fans is not fair to the thousands of other baseball employees that clubs and our office are supporting financially during this very difficult 2020 season,” the commissioner’s …

AP source: No MLB economic plan in 1st session with players
4 years, 10 months ago

AP source: No MLB economic plan in 1st session with players

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball did not include an economic proposal during its opening presentation to the players’ union on terms to start the coronavirus-delayed season. “If they’re able to come up with safety precautions, as has been suggested by Major League Baseball, that works, I hope that the players will understand that the people of our United States …

AP source: MLB owners OK plan that could lead to July start
4 years, 10 months ago

AP source: MLB owners OK plan that could lead to July start

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball owners gave the go-ahead Monday to making a proposal to the players’ union that could lead to the coronavirus-delayed season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans, a plan that envisioned expanding the designated hitter to the National League for 2020. “I think when MLB is proposing a revenue split, …

AP source: Minors prepared to accept cut to 120 affiliates
4 years, 11 months ago

AP source: Minors prepared to accept cut to 120 affiliates

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — The minor leagues are prepared to agree to Major League Baseball’s proposal to cut guaranteed affiliations from 160 to 120 next year, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a plan that would impact hundreds of prospects and cut player development expenses. In informal talks, parties have discussed the possibility of a radical overhaul …

MLB agrees to pay minor league players a stipend through May
5 years ago

MLB agrees to pay minor league players a stipend through May

LA Times  

By the end of May, it should be clear whether professional baseball will be played at all this season. Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that a weekly $400 stipend for minor league players has been extended through May 31. Major league team owners, not minor league team owners, pay minor league players. But the agreement between major league owners and …

AP Exclusive: MLB raises salaries for minor leaguers in 2021
5 years, 1 month ago

AP Exclusive: MLB raises salaries for minor leaguers in 2021

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is raising the minimum salary for minor league players in 2021, according to a memo sent Friday from the commissioner’s office to all 30 teams and obtained by The Associated Press. “I think it’ll keep guys mentally in it longer,” said Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Joe Mantiply, who has played six minor league seasons. Said …

Commentary: As baseball embraces efficiency, scouts and minor league teams fight to hang on
5 years, 2 months ago

Commentary: As baseball embraces efficiency, scouts and minor league teams fight to hang on

LA Times  

Baseball scouts and minor league teams are not alone in America. The major league owners lobbied for better facilities, but the minor league owners did not consider a plan to kill one of out every four minor league teams a reasonable way to address the issue. The doomed minor league teams found an even more powerful champion, and a presidential …

MLB threatens to walk away from Minor League Baseball
5 years, 3 months ago

MLB threatens to walk away from Minor League Baseball

LA Times  

Major League Baseball threw a high, hard brushback pitch at Minor League Baseball late Friday night: Shut up and negotiate, or we’ll run our own minor league system without you. MLB quickly responded, choosing not to rebut the MiLB statement point-by-point but instead to threaten to end minor league baseball as we know it. “Otherwise, MLB clubs will be free …

‘If we are forced to defend ourselves and fight for our mere survival, we will’: MiLB president responds to MLB plan
5 years, 5 months ago

‘If we are forced to defend ourselves and fight for our mere survival, we will’: MiLB president responds to MLB plan

New York Times  

Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball have 11 months to bridge an enormous chasm. In an interview Friday, Minor League president Pat O’Conner called the plan radical and said those 42 teams would be “basically given a death sentence.” “Those communities will lose their baseball as a result of the economics,” O’Conner said. If you don’t, we’ll go find …

Baseball players in minors to lose minimum wage protection
7 years ago

Baseball players in minors to lose minimum wage protection

Associated Press  

Minor league baseball players who make as little as $5,500 a season were stripped of the protection of federal minimum wage laws under a provision in government spending legislation signed Friday. The “Save America’s Pastime Act” is included on page 1,967 of the $1.3 trillion spending bill and appears to pre-empt a lawsuit filed four years ago in U.S. District …

Baseball: Sense prevails as strike avoided
22 years, 7 months ago

Baseball: Sense prevails as strike avoided

The Independent  

Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our …

Discover Related