MLB owners' labor negotiating committee will hold a
conference call today. Rockies Owner Jerry McMorris said the
committee will meet at the All-Star game next month, "then resume
talks" with the players. McMorris, Red Sox CEO John Harrington
and Royals CEO David Glass are expected to comprise the
"bargaining team." McMorris said negotiations with players will
resume "definitely in July" (AP/Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE, 6/30).
Two pieces this morning examine baseball's low attendance and how
the lack of a CBA is in some way responsible. Allan Barra, in
the WALL STREET JOURNAL: "What is remarkable, however, is that
attendance this year isn't lower than it is, given that another
strike would render the games fans are watching now meaningless.
And don't kid yourself: in the absence of a Basic Agreement
between players and owners, a strike looms as a real possibility"
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/30). In Philadelphia, Lynn Zinser
writes, "No one is going to fully invest their emotions in
baseball until they are reasonably sure they won't have the rug
pulled out from under them. As it is, the next World Series
seems as endangered as the last one" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS,
6/30).
