Is A Christmas World Series A Good Idea Or Just A Money Grab?

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Major League Baseball is one of many sports leagues that is putting its new season on hold. Baseball plays 162 games and fitting in all of those games in is important to the league because of revenue. More games being played brings ticket sales, concessions and TV money either to regional sports networks or the national networks.

Fitting in so many games in a truncated time frame will be difficult, especially if baseball does not get started until June or July. There is already is a deal in place for baseball to continue, which includes loaning players money to start the year, prorated salaries, allowing tenure to be earned and more.

One thing that hasn’t been finalized? When the season can actually resume.

“The players are open to having a discussion just about everything,’’ MLB union chief Tony Clark said. “Obviously, the calendar is going to dictate a lot of what can and cannot be done. Right now, no door is closed. That possibility exists [of playing neutral site games]. …The opportunity to play in neutral sites is something both sides are willing to discuss.’’

Then there is the other side with the agent’s point of view and the most well-known MLB agent is Scott Boras. He wants to play as many games as possible to ensure his clients, as well as himself, get as much money as possible.

Boras has submitted a 162-game schedule for a June 1 start date and 144 games if July 1 is when the season can begin. Also, he has ideas about neutral-site playoffs and World Series games played in domed and warm-weather stadiums in Southern California from Dec. 3-26.

It’s snowing. It’s 14°. It’s expected to continue all night.

5,280 retweets and we’ll make the boss do a snow angel on the field in the morning…face down…in jorts 🥶 pic.twitter.com/m3MTQ7OGk6

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) October 29, 2019

“We have it all mapped out,” Boras told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s workable. We’ve done climate studies, and in Southern California, the average temperature in December is 67 degrees, which is better than late March and early April in most cities. We have 11 stadiums we could play postseason games in. I’m gonna get my neutral-site World Series after all.

“I think having a planned World Series at a designated site would be a tremendous economic gain for our industry,” Boras added. “You could secure corporate sponsorships and have entertainment surrounding it. The Super Bowl has one game. Here, we can have five to seven days of festivities.”