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CNN Live Today

Can They Keep Players on the Field?

Aired August 19, 2002 - 12:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they're back at the bargaining table. But can they keep the players on the field? Negotiators for the Major Leaguers and team owners only have until next Friday to make a deal. Otherwise, players say they will walk. That decision was made on Friday, last Friday. Two sides reportedly remain far apart on at least one issue. That of imposing a luxury tax on teams with the biggest payrolls. So what needs to happen to keep a strike from happening? Joining us with his insight is Mel Antonen, the national baseball writer for "USA Today."
Hi, Mel.

MEL ANTONEN, "USA TODAY": Good afternoon, Carol. How are you?

LIN: I'm all right. I'm hoping baseball stays on the field. What are you hearing over the weekend? What was ret action from fans?

ANTONEN: Fans are upset, obviously. They've very upset. They're very upset. They're all saying that they're never going to come back if the players walk out. But you know, history tells us that eventually fans always come back to the ballparks.

LIN: Yes, that's true, these fan's strikes, which have been called by a couple of national fan clubs, they really don't work over time, do they?

ANTONEN: No, they haven't worked in the past, and I don't think they will work now. Although it is fair to say that the game will heard if they do go on strike. If players walk out, you know, baseball will take a hit, a big hit, who knows how much. But I don't think the fans are going to stay away forever, and I don't think players and the owners believe that either.

LIN: How does a it take a hit then? The fans keep coming, the money keeps rolling in.

ANTONEN: I think public relations wise, people will just leave baseball for a while. They'll get turned off. Attendance is down now about 5 to 10 percent. It could drop further if there is a strike. It will have some negative ramifications, but overall, fan strikes, they don't do much.

LIN: All right. Well, is there a simple explanation for the controversy over this luxury tax, and why it has become the central issue now in these negotiations?

ANTONEN: Yes, there is. A luxury tax is designed to help slow down payrolls. The two sides are arguing about the threshold of a luxury tax. Let me give you an example. Let's say that owners win, and they get a threshold of $102 million as a threshold. Any team that goes over that amount in a payroll have to pay a luxury tax. If the New York Yankees, for example, pay $122 million in their payroll, they would be $20 million over the threshold, and they would have to pay 50 percent of that, which would be about $10 million.

So there's about seven or eight teams that possibly could go over that threshold. The players want the threshold to be about 130 or 140 million. The owners had it about 100 million or 102 million.

LIN: What is going to be the compromise in an issue like this?

ANTONEN: Well, it seems like the compromise would be easy. We're in a billion-dollar industry. We're talking billions of dollars here. You think they would be able to compromise, split the difference and go play baseball. But the history of these two sides, the players and owners always going down to the last minute, and I think hat what's going to happen here. There is a lot of reason to be encouraged though, Carol, because they have agreed on a lot of issues. If they get this luxury tax settled, if they figure out how much to tax new teams that go over the threshold, the baseball season will remain in tact, and we'll probably have a World Series.

LIN: So your prediction, Mel?

ANTONEN: My prediction is, I'm positive, even though history has been negative, I'm positive. I believe that given that there are two sides are talking, and given that they have agreed on a lot of issues already, if they can just get this luxury tax taken care of, and I think they will, I don't think there is going to be a strike. That my prediction.

LIN: It will be a first time in 30 years. So let's hope for it. Keep your fingers crossed. Thank you very much.

ANTONEN: Mel Antonen, "USA Today."

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