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MLB

Minor League Baseball teams face uncertain future over canceled season

The league's future was murky even before the COVID-19 pandemic

By Ryan Gaydos Fox News
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Minor League Baseball will not have a season for the first time since 1901 because of the coronavirus pandemic and several teams might not be able to make it to 2021.

MiLB president Pat O’Conner told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that it would hard for the organization to predict what’s going to happen next because the future is so murky, according to the Des Moines Register.

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According to Baseball America, O’Conner warned that about half or possibly more than half of minor league baseball teams could sell or fold completely.

“It’s north of half (of MiLB teams) who could either have to sell (or go insolvent without government or other help). This is the perfect storm. There are many teams that are not liquid, not solvent,” Conner said. “I could see this (economic impact) lingering into 2022, 2023 easily. In some cases, possibly a little longer.”

Minor League Baseball was reportedly talking about contracting 42 teams in the winter before the pandemic swept the globe. Adding the coronavirus on top of an already uncertain future, minor league baseball is in peril.

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O’Conner added that the talks between Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball about the expiring Professional Baseball Agreement are “at a standstill,” according to Baseball America.

Chris Phillips, the president of the Colorado Rockies’ affiliate Rocky Mountain Vibes, told the Denver Post that things don’t look good for most minor league teams.

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“Teams across the country are going 18 months straight without a steady revenue stream,” Phillips said. “That’s brutal, and in addition to potential contraction you’re going to see a number of teams who wind up folding because they weren’t able to make it financially.”