Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990 TAG: 9003161987
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The New York Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
Chuck O'Connor, the owners' chief negotiator, Thursday told reporters of the proposal. But his announcement that a negotiating session would take place at 1 p.m. today at the union's offices touched off an angry reaction from Don Fehr, the players' labor leader.
Fehr called the announcement "a bush-league tactic."
"I haven't heard about a meeting at our office," Fehr said. "In my last communication with Chuck, we left it that he would call me in the morning and we'd talk about a meeting. I'm angry. This is discourtesy in the extreme. This is clearly a public relations attempt to pressure the players."
When Fehr's reaction was relayed to a spokesman for O'Connor, Rich Levin, he quoted O'Connor as saying that a meeting had been set with Fehr.
The league presidents, Bobby Brown of the American and Bill White of the National, are expected to announce today that the first games are being canceled. The season is scheduled to begin April 2.
O'Connor said he expected some games would be canceled even if there is an agreement today, but said the announcement from the leagues would not be made until after the bargaining session.
Players began returning to New York on Thursday evening, and a full meeting of the union's executive board is scheduled for Saturday.
Talks stalemated over the issue of salary arbitration for players with between two and three years of major-league service. The union has asked that half those players be made eligible, but management wants the level for arbitration to remain at three years and has countered by offering a $4 million bonus pool for the players affected.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations said the management plan is a hybrid of the two concepts. According to the sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, some of the two- to three-year players would be made eligible for arbitration under the plan and a bonus pool also would be offered.
The sources cautioned that the situation was changing rapidly, and could change again after a meeting of the six-owner Player Relations Committee in New York this morning.
"At some point in time . . . you have to sit and figure what is the very best we can do," O'Connor said. "I tell you as honestly as we can, this is what we have done. . . . It is not just another proposal."
The union has rejected the pool concept, saying the automatic bonus provisions would cause teams to offer lower base salaries to those players. Owners rejected the union concept of arbitration for half the two- to three-year players because they don't want to give back the year they won from the union in the 1985 agreement.
"It is substantial and beyond what the industry has seen before," O'Connor said, in describing what he called "a wall-to-wall proposal."
"But I have to tell you, this is a funny business. What would normally lead to optimism does not give me total confidence that we will get [an agreement]."
O'Connor, speaking early Thursday evening, said the proposal had not yet been completed.
"There are some areas we need to finalize," he said. "There are some areas we are discussing with the union as we speak."
Fehr, speaking later in his office, was angry about the way the proposal was announced.
"Usually, before somebody says they have the deal-maker proposal, they ask somebody on the other side if they think it is that," Fehr said.
Meanwhile, baseball's contracts with CBS and ESPN do not call for any refunds for games canceled during the season. Instead, the networks will receive additional games in future seasons.
Several television officials and past and present baseball officials, all but one of whom spoke on the condition they not be identified, confirmed to The Associated Press that major league teams are not required to make refunds under the four-year contracts.
CBS's deal is for $1.06 billion and ESPN's for $400 million. CBS is scheduled to start its 16-game regular-season schedule with a split telecast on April 14 of the Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston.
"Any games that are missed, we will make up in subsequent years," said Jeremy Handelman, CBS Sports vice president of program planning.
According to a source familiar with baseball finances, the television contracts with CBS and ESPN and the national radio contract with CBS total $345 million this year, with the television money providing more than 98 percent of the money.
Network and baseball sources say that approximately 80 percent of the CBS contract is for the league playoffs and the World Series. Without confirming the split, O'Connor has cited the large postseason money as one of the reasons for the owners' lockout.
O'Connor has said the owners fear a midseason strike would jeopardize the World Series and the CBS money.
by CNB