NPB players making bid for more rights

CALIFORNIA — In late July, Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, visited Japan to announce support for players in the country’s top league, Nippon Professional Baseball. Japanese ballplayers are trying to take control of their name, image and likeness rights, or NIL — rights long held by Major League Baseball Players and other professional athletes. It’s about time. Even college athletes in the United States have been fighting to wrest these rights from their respective institutions. In Japan, by contrast, NPB clubs hold those rights, and therefore, the final say over the endorsement deals players make.

The Tony Clark visit ultimately pointed out big differences between the respective MLB and NPB unions. One has power. The other doesn’t. One demanded and won its rights through hard work, determination, strikes and litigation. The other did not. Freedom versus indentured servitude might be a more apt description.