Philadelphia, PA – April 25, 2015- Citizens Bank Park: Batting practice for the Philadelphia Phillies prior to a regular season game
(Photo by Allen Kee / ESPN Images)
Major League Baseball and the Players Association publicly released on Friday the latest collective bargaining agreement, which includes provisions banning the use of data garnered by wearable technology for commercial use or for admission in salary arbitration.
Baseball permitted two wearable devices for in-game use last year — the Motus elbow sleeve and Zephyr Bioharness — although few big leaguers actually used the gear, citing concerns over the privacy and use of the data. The primary concern was that some of the collected information could subsequently be used against them in contract negotiations.
“We understand that the technology is for our betterment,” New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker said last summer, as CBA talks including the governance of wearables were ongoing, adding: “There’s a pretty mutual feeling that it’s somewhat of an invasion of our privacy, and guys don’t want it to be used against them, say, in arbitration or free agency or whatever the case may be. We feel like we should obviously have a choice.”
The newly released CBA document includes a three-page appendix outlining the agreement about wearable technology. The key takeaways:
- All use of the devices is strictly voluntary, and there will be no consequences for players who decline.
- The club must make the data available to the player, and only a specified list of team employees — such as the manager, general manager, strength coach and medical and training staff — will have access to the information.
- A joint committee on wearable technology will review other devices for approval, such as this year’s addition of Catapult and Whoop. This is the same system the NBA recently agreed to in its CBA.
- The data will be for player performance enhancement only, with the wording clearly prohibiting “any commercial use or exploitation of such information.”
The last point answers the question posed last summer by Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson, who is part of the MLBPA’s leadership: “Is it going to be monetized, where viewers at home might get a chance to see what your heart rate is in the ninth inning against a closer? Obviously that’s something that people will definitely be interested in, but if there’s some monetary stuff involved, is that going to be a benefit for the owners and not us? There are a lot of moving parts to it.”
The CBA settles that question as a “no,” in contrast with the NFL Players Association’s latest agreement with the wearable company Whoop, which states that “NFL players will have the ability to commercialize their Whoop data through the NFLPA’s group licensing program.” While the use of such data is now possible in football, it’s already in use for Australian broadcasts of that country’s basketball, football and rugby leagues.
Officials intimated during negotiations last summer that some language would be left open-ended, such as the delegation of authority to an ongoing committee, because few could guess where the technology would be by the agreement’s term ending in 2021. As Colorado Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino put it at the time, “That’s the way of the world: things are happening a lot quicker than a CBA period.”
Even New York Yankees reliever Dellin Betances, who became a paid endorser of Motus last April, did not wear the device while pitching until the All-Star Game three months later. One of the few players open about his use of wearables is San Francisco Giants closer Mark Melancon, who while with the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, said he wore the Zephyr Bioharness and also used Omegawave, which the club offered its players for off-field use. Melancon said the devices were “helpful to bring awareness to certain things. You know, internally, you feel that, but having the data to back it up and support it is kind of nice. Like with the Omega, it allows you to understand why and what’s tired. The big thing for me is taking a nap before the game, so I can see ‘Yeah, I definitely need a nap today’ or something like that. Just recovery, it’s a big thing now.”
This bargaining agreement is conservative in its approach to wearable technology but meets the needs of the players who were clamoring for the performance help but wanting the peace of mind that it wouldn’t ultimately hurt their careers.
“If everything’s done transparently,” Ottavino said, “I think a lot of the wearables could be in play.”
