SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warms up before a baseball game against the Leaders Believers Achievers Foundation at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa on August 19, 2019. (Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Sanders Welcomes End of Major League Lockout But Slams 'Baseball Oligarchs'
"We are dealing with an organization controlled by a number of billionaires," the democratic socialist senator said, while vowing to introduce legislation to end MLB owners' antitrust exemption.
Mar 10, 2022
As Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced Thursday that they'd come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders welcomed news that the 99-day lockout was over and the full 162-game season would be saved and promised to introduce a bill aimed at ending the "baseball oligarchs'" antitrust exemption.
While Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement that he is "delighted to see an agreement reached so that the Major League Baseball season can start," he slammed the "unacceptable behavior" of team owners, who he said "negotiated in bad faith for more than 100 days in a blatant attempt to break the players' union."
"We are dealing with an organization controlled by a number of billionaires who collectively are worth over $100 billion," the democratic socialist and two-time U.S. presidential candidate noted. "It should be clear to all that these baseball oligarchs have shown that they are far more concerned about increasing their wealth and profits than in strengthening our national pastime."
\u201cBernie Sanders on MLB\u2019s attempts to union bust. \n\nLet\u2019s also not forget that MLB oligarchs have created one of the most anti-union and anti-labor systems in contemporary sport \u2014 minor league baseball.\u201d— Derek Silva (@Derek Silva) 1646952329
Sanders excoriated the owners for eliminating their teams' affiliation with more than 40 minor league ballclubs, "not only causing needless economic pain and suffering but also breaking the hearts of fans in small and mid-sized towns all over America."
The senator took the "baseball oligarchs" to task for paying minor league players "totally inadequate wages," for seeking to "eliminate the jobs of another 900 minor league players," and for taking "billions of dollars in corporate welfare from taxpayers to build expensive stadiums" while charging "outrageously high prices for tickets that many working-class families cannot afford."
"It would be wrong for Congress to simply celebrate today's agreement and move on," Sanders asserted. "We must prevent the greed of baseball's oligarchs from destroying the game. The best way to do that is to end Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption and I will be introducing legislation to do just that."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
As Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced Thursday that they'd come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders welcomed news that the 99-day lockout was over and the full 162-game season would be saved and promised to introduce a bill aimed at ending the "baseball oligarchs'" antitrust exemption.
While Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement that he is "delighted to see an agreement reached so that the Major League Baseball season can start," he slammed the "unacceptable behavior" of team owners, who he said "negotiated in bad faith for more than 100 days in a blatant attempt to break the players' union."
"We are dealing with an organization controlled by a number of billionaires who collectively are worth over $100 billion," the democratic socialist and two-time U.S. presidential candidate noted. "It should be clear to all that these baseball oligarchs have shown that they are far more concerned about increasing their wealth and profits than in strengthening our national pastime."
\u201cBernie Sanders on MLB\u2019s attempts to union bust. \n\nLet\u2019s also not forget that MLB oligarchs have created one of the most anti-union and anti-labor systems in contemporary sport \u2014 minor league baseball.\u201d— Derek Silva (@Derek Silva) 1646952329
Sanders excoriated the owners for eliminating their teams' affiliation with more than 40 minor league ballclubs, "not only causing needless economic pain and suffering but also breaking the hearts of fans in small and mid-sized towns all over America."
The senator took the "baseball oligarchs" to task for paying minor league players "totally inadequate wages," for seeking to "eliminate the jobs of another 900 minor league players," and for taking "billions of dollars in corporate welfare from taxpayers to build expensive stadiums" while charging "outrageously high prices for tickets that many working-class families cannot afford."
"It would be wrong for Congress to simply celebrate today's agreement and move on," Sanders asserted. "We must prevent the greed of baseball's oligarchs from destroying the game. The best way to do that is to end Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption and I will be introducing legislation to do just that."
As Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced Thursday that they'd come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders welcomed news that the 99-day lockout was over and the full 162-game season would be saved and promised to introduce a bill aimed at ending the "baseball oligarchs'" antitrust exemption.
While Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement that he is "delighted to see an agreement reached so that the Major League Baseball season can start," he slammed the "unacceptable behavior" of team owners, who he said "negotiated in bad faith for more than 100 days in a blatant attempt to break the players' union."
"We are dealing with an organization controlled by a number of billionaires who collectively are worth over $100 billion," the democratic socialist and two-time U.S. presidential candidate noted. "It should be clear to all that these baseball oligarchs have shown that they are far more concerned about increasing their wealth and profits than in strengthening our national pastime."
\u201cBernie Sanders on MLB\u2019s attempts to union bust. \n\nLet\u2019s also not forget that MLB oligarchs have created one of the most anti-union and anti-labor systems in contemporary sport \u2014 minor league baseball.\u201d— Derek Silva (@Derek Silva) 1646952329
Sanders excoriated the owners for eliminating their teams' affiliation with more than 40 minor league ballclubs, "not only causing needless economic pain and suffering but also breaking the hearts of fans in small and mid-sized towns all over America."
The senator took the "baseball oligarchs" to task for paying minor league players "totally inadequate wages," for seeking to "eliminate the jobs of another 900 minor league players," and for taking "billions of dollars in corporate welfare from taxpayers to build expensive stadiums" while charging "outrageously high prices for tickets that many working-class families cannot afford."
"It would be wrong for Congress to simply celebrate today's agreement and move on," Sanders asserted. "We must prevent the greed of baseball's oligarchs from destroying the game. The best way to do that is to end Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption and I will be introducing legislation to do just that."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.