Lockout a chance for NPB to increase competition with MLB

TOKYO — It looks like the lockout imposed by MLB owners last Dec. 1 will  drag on. Opening Day is lost. There is no end in sight. The standoff has dragged on a lot longer than it should have.

Players are upset by the fact that the MLB revenue has increased by 4% over the past five years of the recently expired Collective Bargaining Agreement but their share of the revenue has not.   

MLB is 8th in the top 10 paying sports, behind the NBA, NFL and NHL, with an average salary of $4 million per year. (The highest MLB salary is $43,333,333 of Max Scherzer, whereas Lebron James of the NBA makes $96 million, the highest in sports.) it makes you wonder how they cope.

Among the MLBPA demands are higher salaries for younger players not yet eligible for free agency (the minimum is $570,000), an end to service time manipulation (referring to the practice of keeping a player on the farm until after the season starts thereby costing him an entire year toward free agency), and an increase in the CBT (Competitive Balance Tax).