MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Says Teams Lost A Combined $3 Billion In 2020
Major League Baseball officials, owners and players braced themselves for significant financial losses in 2020.
And commissioner Rob Manfred has revealed just how much the 30 clubs lost in the significantly shortened 60-game 2020 regular season.
During an interview with Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, Manfred revealed that the 30 teams lost a combined $3 billion in operating losses this season.
A key factor, of course, was that all 30 teams had to play their 2020 games with no fans in attendance because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fans weren’t allowed until the NLCS and the ALCS.
The World Series, which is being played in Arlington, Texas, will hold up to 11,5000 fans per game.
The 2020 regular season was scheduled to begin on March 26, but it was postponed indefinitely because of COVID-19. The NBA and the NHL also had to suspend their respective seasons for nearly five full months before resuming play in late July and early August, respectively.
The league and players’ union endured intense and difficult negotiations on a format and structure for the 2020 season. The two sides finally reached an agreement on a 60-game regular season on June 23. The season began one month later on July 23.
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The league introduced several changes for the 2020 season. The main one? They expanded the postseason field from 10 to 16 teams. The universal DH rule was also put into effect. And in order to finish games in faster time, all teams would start extra innings with a runner on second base.
It’s unclear when the 2021 MLB season will start, and what the format will be. The NBA and NHL won’t start their respective 2020-21 seasons until the new year, and they haven’t completed the formats and structures yet.
At the end of the day, Manfred, league officials, owners and the players will certainly be pleased that they managed to play baseball in 2020.
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