As part of the lengthy report from The Athletic about MLB's proposal to the owners expected to go down on Monday, players are likely going to be asked to take a pay cut due to no fans being allowed in attendance for whenever, if at all, the 2020 season starts.
And it could be the key factor in baseball's return.
It hasn't been solidified yet, but the thought at the moment is owners are going to try to walk back their initial agreement from March 26 that stated players would be paid on a pro-rated basis based on the number of games played due to no fans. A big chunk of a team's revenue to pay those millions of dollars per year to players comes from ticket sales, concession sales, etc. In turn, a compromise between the owners and players on the matter will have to be reached if that does in fact become the case.
As a compromise, a revenue-sharing plan could be the eventual answer. Players, though, might not be happy with that and it could start an argument. However, as The Post's Joel Sherman suggests, could MLB and the MLBPA truly not have a baseball season because of this?
With everything else going on to those affected by the coronavirus across the country, compensation for playing is the least of worries. Yes, these players are putting themselves at risk by playing, traveling, etc. But the necessary precautions that have been worked on since this all went down back in March should be in place.
And though owners are going through hardships compared to a normalized season, which would've been into second month by now, they still have the resources necessary to figure it out for both sides to be happy at the end of the day.
No matter what that happiness is, commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark need to reach an agreement about this specific area of resuming play, or things make take a real turn for the worse.
Video: BNNY: Mets and Yankees in the same division for 2020?